rootboy 

well John, welcome to the Champion Team / Team Champion appreciation thread. But yeah ...we're going to have to see some pics of your bike. EIGHT HUNDRED dollars? In 1974? Wow, that really surprises me, for some reason.

rootboy 

Thanks Lynn. Splendid. Well, now we know there are at least three of the old orange ones among this crew. Maybe four!


Thx.
Scott

ggl205

Hi rootboy. Yes, $800 for a bike in 1974 was a lot of money and I was looking at Paramount at the time. That orange, full Campy bike just caught my eye and I would never have considered anything other than Campy for a racer. Probably the thing that interested me most was its rarity, even back then when they were somewhat available. I used this bike for everything and even gave it to my oldest son while attending Kansas University. It came through all this in great shape but does need a complete cleaning and overhaul. Once I get this done, I will post pictures and serial number. Right now, I am just trying to determine if I should sell the bike or not and what its approximate value is. It will be a 9 out of 10 bike when cleaned.

John

rootboy 

John,
Well, of course, given that you bought it new, and that it has so much personal history to it...I wouldn't sell it, but then....
Evaluations aren't really allowed on this forum John, so they say ,but they have a separate sub forum for valuations, etc. That said, it's tough to put a price on something like that. Rarity, condition, size, etc. It of course depends on if you find the right person who is really looking for one of these, etc. Just off hand, I would venture a guess of $1200 to $1600. Just a rough estimate. Would love to see some pics.

rootboy 

No offense John, but...
looking at your bike list, I would sell several of those other bikes before I sold your Moto Champion Team. That's just me, and I am, of course, prejudiced.

ggl205

None taken rootboy. Make no mistake, I am thinning the herd. I haven't completely decided to sell the CT but would like resources to get a full Campy SR group to finish a unique Cinelli-made frame set. But before I do anything, the CT will be put right. Pictures will follow.

And thank you for venturing an educated guess on valuation. I did think about using the valuation thread but this one was so specific to Motobecane TC and CT bikes, I thought I would take a chance.

John

dbakl

Ok, my Le Champion getting a spa treatment makeover in the basement dungeon. Gotta sort out the wheels next.

badger_biker 

Well if you insist....my Le Champ is a poor stepchild to the beautiful orange ones like yours in this thread but I'm loving it more every ride.







Wonderful information in this thread and I've learned a lot about my bike which I believe is a 1975 or 1974. I got it with Campy brakes but the specs say Universal. It came with straight bars and a short stem so dumped those and built it up with Cinelli set and Campy levers and hoods. The wheels weren't original either but are nice with Miche hubs and Mavic rims. Maybe Verktyg can help with the year ID. This is all I can find regarding any serial numbers.




Looks like it might be 57D4 but it is very light. Not sure about the other numbers. Thanks for the great thread and information.

ggl205

Beautiful bike, gorgeous color and I really like your component choices. As I look at the frame, it appears to be a carbon copy (do we still say such things?) of the CT.

John

rootboy 

Yeah. As Chas Vertyg has stated, the Le Champion and Champion Team were likely the same frame. Or close. "poor stepchild"? badger_biker? Hardly. I for one think of these beautiful early Le Champions as every bit as nice as the Champion Team. Gorgeous bike. I'd love to have one of these silver lilac frames. They're just plain classy.

rootboy 

So few of these bikes ever change hands I think it is really difficult to put a market value on them. I think I've only seen 3 orange Champion Teams sold in the last 3 years. One was that partial bike a couple months ago that went for an astounding, to me, thirteen hundred. I seem to remember another one sold on ebay about 3 years ago for something like $6-700, but my memory is unreliable.
And then there is Schnibop's fine example. Whatever he paid for it, I think he got a good deal.

himespau 

I love the color of that bike. It almost looks titanium.

ggl205

Rootboy, a few years back, I passed on buying track Champion Team in the same size as my road version. What a dunce I was. At the time, I thought $600 was too much and that I would see another for much less. I have not seen another one since!

John

dbakl

My circa 72 blue and white Le Champion certainly does not match the build details of the orange Team Champions pictured.

leaping_gnome

I agree that the earlier TC/CT ('74) had nicer details than my 74 Le Champion - with fishmouth or slash stay-to-dropout attachments vs the round "standard" tube ends that my Le Campion has. Looks like later ('75) Le Champions the details got closer.

On a nice OT tangent - heres a French blog featuring a domestic TdF BIC team bike
https://velosvintage.over-blog.com/ar...-52244717.html

dbakl

Nice pics of the bike there. Love the subtle use of chrome.

rootboy 

Yeah, I was quoting Vertyg's contention that they were the same frames, but I'm not sure I believe it. I can't imagine Motobecane making two different models exactly the same and then calling one their Team BIC reproduction. Still, those Le Champions are awfully nice bikes. I think I'm just struck by the beautiful lilac color of some of them.

rootboy 

That's a neat bike. Look how tiny the holes are on the drilled out calipers. Hugh Thornton of England is restoring one of those that he believes was a Team bike. Even had decals reproduced for it, which are offered online.

due ruote 

Re: rivnuts, I added some to my Raleigh a while back. Here's how I did it without the proper tool. No problems so far. I guess the straps are a more conservative approach, but since the holes are already there I don't see a huge downside risk to installing rivnuts.

Gorgeous bikes on this thread, all of them.

I have a 1979 TC that I bought new for $500. I was told that was 1/2 price, purchased through a shop in MI that sponsored my roommate's team. And because I'm a rule abider, here is a picture. The dt decal is a replacement - I yanked the original stripey decal off before I ever rode the bike.

due ruote 

Also, +1 on drilling the inner ring to match the big one. I recently needed to do that with a Stronglight ring, and made this jig. Pretty easy stuff.

CV-6 

Here is a photo I posted a while back in another thread. I believe the final conclusion was that the frame was not a TC/CT. Not that I necessarily agreed with the conclusion. Belongs to an acquaintance. He purchased it off eBay and it was represented as a TC/CT.

BlueDevil63 

I don't know where this fits in, if at all, but it is an orange Moto and I believe it to be a high end model. I picked this frame up over the winter. It is supposedly a France only model. It looks a lot like the BIC team bike pictured above and the bike posted right before this post, but it is not quite the same. I believe it is from the early 70s. Any info would be appreciated.

dbakl

I know nothing, other than there was a similar one on ebay. Maybe that's it. I never saw those graphics in the US.

BlueDevil63 

It's an Ebay frame so probably the one. I had never seen those graphics either until the pics of that restored BIC team bike, which has the same down and seat tube decals and head badge decal. I did find one in this flickr set
https://www.flickr.com/photos/1070387...n/photostream/
same one on Eisenherz
https://www.eisenherz-bikes.de/detail...uage=en&id=126
Not sure where it fit in the lineup relative to US models but it seems to be a fine frame with Huret dropouts and lugs similar to the Le Champion. I think the lug paint and lining is all original.

due ruote 

Interesting frame. I don't recall seeing that butterscotch color on another Moto, or maybe on any other bike for that matter.

It's also kind of cool that a bike called 'Criterium' has fender eyelets. It strikes me as very European.