Motobecane Steel frame

squeaky crank

Good Morning
Theres a bike shop on Bolton Street that are importing old steel frame road bikes from Holland and Germany and France - they have a couple of Motobecane pre 84 road bikes that are in great nick. €250 ish -
I heard the threading on these bikes is different to most other makes and thus makes maintenance and replacing parts a problem. Does anyone have any experience with Motobecanes
Merci

Mycroft H

Ahh thats sounds cool. I like motobenacanes.

Generally they have French threaded parts apart from the bottom bracket, which is Swiss threaded.

Not a huge problem, but if you've a gammy headset or anything like that, you may have to pay a little more then the going price for an ISO/English threaded part.

French headsets are still made new for not too much (about 30-40% more then the equiv ISO threaded one)

Wibbs

Here's a handy link with all the info you could need. Those motos could be very nice bikes. Before you buy have a good look at the frame, look at the lugs, look for bad brazing and too many file marks as from what I recall their quality control could be variable. Goes for any vintage steel frame regardless of the name on the downtube(even among the "big name" italian stuff).

squeaky crank

Wibbs wrote: »

Here's a handy link with all the info you could need. .

Very interesting site that. I like this bit..
' That stem, the AVA alloy unit sometimes referred to as the "Death Stem". That stem was know to catastrophically fail, snapping in half, and creating what was an interesting situation for the rider,'

Reading it made me realise I would enjoy trying to source obscure and rare french bike parts!

Mycroft H

Wibbs wrote: »

Here's a handy link with all the info you could need. Those motos could be very nice bikes. Before you buy have a good look at the frame, look at the lugs, look for bad brazing and too many file marks as from what I recall their quality control could be variable. Goes for any vintage steel frame regardless of the name on the downtube(even among the "big name" italian stuff).

Bear in mind that there was a push later in the french bicycle industry to use more standard parts towards the eighties.

And not every french bicycle was fitted with french pattern parts to confuse matters too. High end peugeots were often fitted with italian BBs.

Wibbs

The other beauty of the French stuff is it goes for half the price of the flashier Italian stuff. Often works better too. The Mavic SSC components were very nice. Huret made some lovely stuff too, including the lightest rear derailleur ever. The Huret Jubilee which weighed in at 145gms The latest greatest Campag Super Record 11 comes in at a claimed 155, but actually weighs slightly more(173) and the Dura Ace comes in at 165(claimed). To be fair the new ones do more, but still...

Mycroft H

And mavic came up with an electronic shifting system long before the Di2 was even thought of.

squeaky crank

Wibbs wrote: »

Huret made some lovely stuff too, ...

the bike I was looking at at has Huret deraillers - though Id say its their entry level stuff. Motobecane chainset and brakes

I took it for a spin and seems to be perfect for a 30 year old- so i think ill pull the trigger. Only issue is the hoods or lack of - suppose that can be my first project..
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/Site%20Contents/How_To_Do_It/HoodRepair/BrakeLeverHoods_1_Introduction.htm

Wibbs

Hoods come up on ebay often enough and unless its for campag stuff, usually cheap enough too.

I like yer mans page on the actual weights of the older stuff. Sub 20 pounds in old money being rare. Then again there can be a lot of ehh... "invention" with brand new modern bikes too when it comes to actual weights.

happytramp

Wibbs wrote: »

Hoods come up on ebay often enough and unless its for campag stuff, usually cheap enough too.

I like yer mans page on the actual weights of the older stuff. Sub 20 pounds in old money being rare. Then again there can be a lot of ehh... "invention" with brand new modern bikes too when it comes to actual weights.

It's a fantastic site alright. It's a great 'visual' resource for anyone getting into classic bikes. Regardless of how Sheldon describes brazing there's nothing quite like seeing a 'good' versus 'bad' set of pictures.

Brendan Hennessy

Hi folks,

Just a quick follow on to this thread - I have an original gold Motobecane Vitus Double Butted Le Champion for sale. As original it comes with huret gears but these can be upgraded to Suntour or Campagnolo if wanted.

Best wishes

Brendan

Brendan Hennessy

Hi all,

Photo of Motobecane here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66347375@N02/sets/72157632134317200/

Brendan