Daveyates

Well as some of you know i purchased a Motobecane Randonneur last week.
It is , was , a great ride but i have had some time on my hands and decided to modernise it a little bit.

Here it is as i bought it.



I have stripped it and started building it back up with Campagnolo mirage components.

It has been a bit of a pain so far as i have had to come up with different ways of trying to make everything work! Especially trying to change from cantilever brakes! As i have changed from 650b wheels to 700.

So far i have managed to add the front brake by cutting a recess into the front mudguard. It didn't work very well so i lowered the mudguard down slightly to allow room for the brakes to constrict it is working well now.

I have got the crank changed and the derailleurs are working so so.
The rear is working well but still needs fine tuning!
The front is a different story as i only had one spare axle here and it is a bit too long and so it is hard for the change from the smaller cog to the large one.
A new axle at some point will sort that out!

I now have to try and fit a rear brake which will be tricky as there is no hole for a brake to fit into! The hole goes down the tube instead of the standard way.
I have an old Mafac brake with an adaptor for this type of set up and so i need to design a way to do it nicely and still be able to have the rear guard in place.

Well i suppose you guys want to see the bike!

Here is how it is looking at the moment.



I would say it is about 60% done so far.

Anyway that's all for now and i'll update it later with new shots as i progress further.

4Rings6Stars

Is there anyway you can put some adjustable height Cantis on there instead of adapting for caliper brakes?

I'm not familiar with that frame... is it straight guage hi-ten or something decent?

Daveyates

The frame is really nice but metal wise it is nothing special and only 1020.
I must say though it is actually quite a nice weight now since all of the improvements.

I haven't heard of adjustable canti brakes and can look into it but there is a pretty big gap now between the original wheels and these ones.
I'm not sure if i could find some that adjustable.
But i'm happy using caliper brakes anyway and i have various ones lying around to experiment with.

Daveyates

Also i forgot to add that it rides like the wind now!

due ruote 

Nice looking bike. I'm having a little chuckle over someone in Paris buying a 650B randonneur and converting it to 700c with brifters, but hey, have fun with it.

Daveyates

Cheers and at least it is better than everyone else in Paris converting everything to fixie! ;-)

due ruote 

It's all good. Here in the states lots of people are inspired by the French rando builders and go to great lengths to convert bikes to 650B, sometimes even adding canti brakes. Ironic, no?

vjp

Did you cut off the canti posts?

bibliobob

+1. Most people would kill for the bike as it came, with guidonnet levers, cantis, and 650 B. Not to mention intact fenders. The only thing that I would have done is to change the cranks, pedals, and saddle.

Daveyates

No i haven't touched them.

Daveyates

The bike was pretty cheap and plus i have the luxury of being somewhere where these aren't rare. The only thing i have destroyed during the build is to cut away parts of the fenders to allow the brakes to fit and work. The original derailleurs and shifters aren't worth anything here and they will go in my parts bin for spares etc. The Randonneur guidon and levers will be put for sale and the wheels will be kept aside incase they might be needed later.

I think the bike was nice but it drastically needed updating and i love how it is starting to look.
I have ended up with a bike that has classic looks but with more race performance.
I have tonight managed to fit the rear brake and fender and rack and it is looking really nice.

Daveyates

Here is a shot with the rear end now finished.
I just have to fit new bar tape now.

Road Fan

Those Ergo levers are mounted too high for me. I'd move them farther down on the bars so the top of the hood is even with the top of the handlebar.
Might want to keep the old 'bars, too. anatomic bars don't work well with Ergos in my experience, at least for my hands. Especially, you might want to experiment a bit with placement before wrapping. It's a pain to fine-tune this with tape installed.

matt0ne

C'est un beau velo!

Daveyates

Merci Matt!