Motobecane Grand Touring, Town & Country Edition

The Co-Habitant has been riding his Motobecane redux creation for the past month, and as far as what he was looking for it is a mission accomplished: The bike is nice enough to enjoy riding, but not so nice that he is unwilling to leave it locked up in the city. 

This project started out as a game of sorts, where the idea was to build up a complete bike using only parts we already had.

The frame is a Motobecane Grand Touring that an acquaintance gave the Co-Habitant a year ago. Made of Vitus 888 tubing, it is nicer than the Super Mirage model of his former roadbike. Being a touring frame, it is also somewhat more relaxed, so it made sense to build it up as a transportation bicycle.  

Many of the components were moved over from the other Motobecane frame. 

Others had been acquired in the past, waiting for the right project. It was particularly nice to finally have occasion to use these original Belleri handlebars. Surprisingly, they fit bar-end shifters. The combination looks eccentric, but it's convenient. The stem could be longer, but this one was already filed down to accommodate the French  sizing, and we did not want to ruin another one.

Fizik handlebar tape, in brown. The only exception to the "must already own it" rule, I bought this in Vienna (the brown and honey colours are not sold int he US). "City" brake levers from Velo Orange - these are very convincingly "vintagey."

The least vintagey part of the bike is the Sugino Alpina crankset. We figure that the out of place crankset and bar-ends lend a sense of humor to a bike that may otherwise have come across as too perfectly French. This way it feels more approachable. 

Speaking of approachable, initially we were not sure whether this vintage Brooks Colt I'd acquired some time ago could ever be made ridable, as it had a nasty ridge along the center. I'd tried the "blocking" (water soaking) method, but the ridge persisted. However, the Co-Habitant managed to flattened it after a couple of rides on the water-softened leather and reports that it is now quite comfortable. 

He mounted a Spanniga Pixeo tail light on the rear fender, and uses a removable CayEye headlight on the handlebars.

In the future there might be a rear rack in this bicycle's future, but for now it sports a roomy (but rather inconvenient to open and close) Minnehaha saddlebag.

I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying the existance of this bicycle: Finally we can go out and leave our bikes locked up in the city for hours, without the Co-Habitant constantly worrying about his. It is by no means a "beater," but it is sufficiently unprecious for him to relax about its fate.

An additional benefit of having built up this bike, is that it showed us how different two models from the same manufacturer and vintage could be. This Grand Touring frame is exactly the same size as his former Super Mirage, but the front wheel on this bike is considerably "further out" - probably a combination of a more relaxed headtube angle and more fork rake. Unfortunately, he no longer has the other frame to compare exact measurements or to photograph them side-by-side. And while he expected for a bike with Vitus 888 tubing to feel nicer than a hi-ten bike, the difference between the two (with the same wheelset and tires) still managed to surprise him. The ride is considerably cushier and the bicycle is much lighter in weight (26lb with the build shown, not including the saddlebag). Having ridden this bike myself and enjoyed it a lot more than any other '70s-80s Motobecane bike I'd tried earlier, I am now curious to try the mixte version. A number of readers have written me about being disappointed with the ride quality of the vintage French bikes that one typically finds for sale in the US, so this might be a good model to look for. More pictures of this bicycle here, for anyone interested.

Vintage French Redux

Here is a bike tinkerer's parlour game for you: Assemble a complete bicycle using whatever wayward frame and spare parts happen to be in your possession at the moment. You can't go out and buy anything - not even cables or bolts. And you have exactly one evening. What would you come up with? The Co-Habitant ended up with something kind of neat. And mostly French. And both of us could ride it!

We have this Motobecane Grand Touring frame that we considered selling, but in the end decided to keep. The frame is too small for him and too large for me, but we were curious about the Vitus tubing and wanted to compare it to other Motobecane models we'd ridden. Maybe some day we'd build it up just for the heck of it, we thought - though not really expecting this to happen. But sometimes, things fall into place. Say you're cleaning, and you notice a box full of stuff you'd forgotten about. And then remember another box, with more stuff. Then out comes the frame and in a matter of hours a bike is born. Vintage touring wheels, Suntour derailleurs and original Belleri Porteur bars were mixed with a modern Sugino Alpina crankset, VO city brake levers, Tektro sidepulls, and Shimano bar-end shifters. We found a sanded-down stem from another French bike, a seatpost that happened to fit, and an old saddle. It was getting too late in the night to mess with fenders and handlebar tape, but we do have some.

The result so far is unexpectedly lightweight - especially compared to the Super Mirage the Co-Habitant had earlier. We took turns riding the bicycle around the empty neighbourhood in the middle of the night and marveled at how nice it felt. I've ridden lower end Motobecane bikes and have also tried a couple of higher end ones - but this one feels different from either. No toe overlap on the 58cm square frame. 

Not sure what we will do with this bicycle, but he may keep it as his fast city bike - especially since he is infamously nervous about leaving his Pashley locked up on the street. I will post daylight pictures once it's fitted with fenders and handlebar tape. Not bad for a neglected frame and a box of spare parts!

Motobecane "Mirage Sport" First Ride

I have no prior experience with shifters that are integrated into the brake levers. So I was having a little trouble getting the derailleurs dialed in. So "Thanks For All The Help" to my friends at Cycle Therapy in Waterford Mi. Yesterday I took the MotoBecane to Indian Springs Metro Park in WhiteLake Mi for it`s "First Ride". And so far I really like the bike. I managed to ride the paved path twice for a total of 16 miles. Climbing the Hill near the end of the first lap I was feeling pretty good. Then this young man passed me like I was standing still.(I am still in denial about being in my 50`s). I caught up with this kid in the parking and told him. (half joking) "You made me feel old flying by me on the hill like that". He said "I almost hit a deer on the trail,(that's right, change the subject punk...lol)"It jumped out right in front of me". I told him I have seen lots of Deer there but never had one do that before. As he loaded up his bike I headed back to the path for another lap.Thinking "I`ll show this kid,! I`ll do another lap! (Like anyone gives a crap..lol) I decided I better take it easy (once I`m out of sight) because this is only my second real ride this year. Last year my goal was to make it around the path 2 times with out stopping. I managed that ok. So this year I am going to raise the bar and try for 3 laps. Before I go on I should mention that I smoked for 30 years. And by the time I quit in Feb of 2003 I was in a constant non stop asthma attack. When I got to the emergency room I thought they were going to tell me I had cancer or emphysema or something like that. When the Doctor told me I was having an Asthma attack. All I could say was "Well I`ve been having it for a couple of months now" Well I was finally ready to quit smoking. So with some help from my doctor, who we call Dr Jay (not her real name)I managed by some miracle to quit.
So now here I am a 50 something ex smoker, ex drinker, ex junk food eater trying to recapture something. I`m not really sure what that something is. When I was a young man I played Hockey. And I was pretty good for a yank. And I also played tennis (weird combo there) and rode my bike everywhere. And I loved to ride wheelies on my Sting-Ray. I could run all the way home from school (almost a mile). I was a healthy kid for the most part.And I assumed that I always would be. I was only gonna smoke till it affected my ability to play sports. And I could stop drinking any time I chose to. Well,I was wrong on both counts. So I try not to compete with anyone but myself at least for now. Maybe a few years down the road I can find some other geezers to race. That might be a possibility. Anyway today was one more step in the right direction, and that's not too bad.

New Ride MotoBecane Mirage Sport

My New Ride. Finally got a chance to assemble it!