Gitane Mixte Crank bearing repair

[JanJ]

Starting in on Wife's 1970-ish bike...
Removed cotter-ed crank after oiling pins for a few days.
Brief look at insides.. RUST! 7 Bearing 'assembly' coated with rust... closed that area for now.

At present, soaking crank and gear parts in solvent to remove light rust from chrome... Will examine bottom end cups and cones later today...

This bike will remain steel BB.

Saving grace for both bikes is they were in a garage for entire life....

[JanJ]

The Rust I saw was not exactly rust. There is no plastic "accordion" covering the crank area as on Peugeot. Also, on the cotter-ed shaft and cup(s), there is a black coating on the metal, which protects all the pieces from corrosion.
Combination of the above caused whatever fell from the tubes to form a 1/4" of crusty/rusty 'looking' stuff on everything....

Cones and cups are good, though nearly dry (I squirted heavy oil in them when I took the bike out earlier this year...

Replaced 7 bearing assemblies with 11 loose bearings...

Re-assembly took far less time because I've done it recently !