[devinfan]

I have been looking for an inspiration to lose weight. I was 147lb for most of my life, but two kids later (I know, my wife had them not me) I found myself at 176lb!!! (there are not enough exclamation marks to express my dismay at this). So, when I spied "Jenny" on ebay, I thought here is one of the most notoriously whippy frames ever made, designed for a bantam weight rider, and I love it! Jenny (named after Jenny Craig, the weight loss plan) is an early 70's ALAN frame, made in Italy but branded Gitane.

Plans quickly began forming in my head, all of them ending in a lean and mean me flying down the road on this Franco-Italian beauty. Usually I am a conservative bidder on ebay, but not this time. I ended up breaking up a bidding war between two excited novices with a killing snipe in the last 3 seconds of the auction. Boo-yah.

I then scrambled to sell bikes and parts to finance my impulsive move. More bids on jewelry for Jenny followed. The one I am most excited about is an Ofmega Mistral Maglia Rosa derailleur, "a Rose for Jenny" which I think will look fantastic and startling on this bike when it is built up.

The set can be found here:

Jenny - a set on Flickr

and I will continue to add to it as parts come along. I am living on nothing but salads and am already down to 170lb, so I would think by early summer I should go under 150lb, which is my plan. I am sure Jenny will be finished by then, and am looking forward to the first ride with great excitement.

Happy riding, Devin

[Xela]

That's looks like it's gonna build up into one beautiful bike! Keep us updated as you get more parts and post more pics.

[Keith]

Looks like a fun build. Def. keep us updated with images.

[ScottRyder]

That's gorgeous .. I'm glad someone else likes pink, I'm putting pink toe straps and bar wrap on my Fuji Pro ..

Scott

[chh55]

Weird that Gitane would brand an ALAN instead of a french VITUS, they were quite similar.. Cool rear derailleur... I had a black one which I figured was quite rare since you just don't see any... but a pink one??? One of a kind perhaps.
I had a pink early 80's CHIMO for a while, got lots of looks.

[devinfan]

Hi all and thanks for the kind words. Collecting these parts has been a lot of fun so far. Yesterday I found a set of Huret Jubilee shifters and front derailleur (for Jenny) that need A LOT of cleaning up, but hey, it's Jubilee! I got them from George at Parts Unknown in Toronto. If any of you are familiar with that place you can imagine the scene, everybody drunk except me, the crazy dog and beer cans everywhere and parts piled on parts. Yesterday I couldn't actually enter the "shop" because the floor was covered with ice!

As to the derailleur, I have wanted one for a LONG time. The Maglia Rosa version represents the jersey worn by the leader of the Giro D'Italia, but there is also a yellow one (Maillot Jaune) a blue one (Azzuro I think?) a grey one and a black one. I am on the hunt for the whole set so let me know if you see any out there!

Happy riding, Devin

[devinfan]

Originally Posted by ScottRyder

That's gorgeous .. I'm glad someone else likes pink, I'm putting pink toe straps and bar wrap on my Fuji Pro ..

Scott

I would like to see this! I love Fuji's, and this sounds like fun. Edit- I just realized you got the Fuji Pro from the other post. SCOOORRRRRE!!!! I was wishing that bike was my size - it is stunning. Congrats! I'm glad that bike went to someone who will appreciate it. Suntour Superbe! Those lugs! That colour!...

[ScottRyder]

Originally Posted by devinfan

Hi all and thanks for the kind words. Collecting these parts has been a lot of fun so far. Yesterday I found a set of Huret Jubilee shifters and front derailleur (for Jenny) that need A LOT of cleaning up, but hey, it's Jubilee! I got them from George at Parts Unknown in Toronto. If any of you are familiar with that place you can imagine the scene, everybody drunk except me, the crazy dog and beer cans everywhere and parts piled on parts. Yesterday I couldn't actually enter the "shop" because the floor was covered with ice!

As to the derailleur, I have wanted one for a LONG time. The Maglia Rosa version represents the jersey worn by the leader of the Giro D'Italia, but there is also a yellow one (Maillot Jaune) a blue one (Azzuro I think?) a grey one and a black one. I am on the hunt for the whole set so let me know if you see any out there!

Happy riding, Devin

That shop sounds like my type of place!!! The Jubilee group is wonderful, like little bits of bike jewelry ... I'm sure you've visited this awesome website:

Disraeli Gears - a derailleur collection

I'm such a geek, I could look at this site for hours ..

Scott

[ScottRyder]

Originally Posted by devinfan

I would like to see this! I love Fuji's, and this sounds like fun. Edit- I just realized you got the Fuji Pro from the other post. SCOOORRRRRE!!!! I was wishing that bike was my size - it is stunning. Congrats! I'm glad that bike went to someone who will appreciate it. Suntour Superbe! Those lugs! That colour!...

Devin, many thanks! Just curious, what size do you ride?

This Pro is special but I had to make the extreme sacrifice ... I sold my 1982 Professional Super Record to fund it:

http://www.classicfuji.com/ProfessionalSuperRecord_1982_Page.htm

It's was the holy grail of a good friend so no regrets .. It was just Superbe vs. Super Record. Superbe won.

Scott

[devinfan]

Wow - that's some choice. However, I think you made the right one. There's definitely something special about that Pro, and honestly what's not to love about Superbe? It's beautiful and it actually shifts up to its name!

If you're looking for pink bar tape, I just saw some yesterday on the Rivendell website, they're stocking some new cloth bar tape in awesome colours.

Disraeli Gears is one of the best websites ever, it's one of my favourites, and actually the website that got me interested in the Ofmega Mistral derailleur in the first place. He has something interesting to say about every derailleur, even the crappy ones. I have gotten happily lost in that website many times, and there's still a lot I haven't read.

As to my size, I'm 5'10" and I ride anywhere between a 54cm and a 56cm. My preference is for a 54 or 5, but everyone has sized me at 56cm. I would guess your pro is a 60 or 61?