MBK advertised in Bicycling magazine during the late 1980s. That's usually a pretty indication that they were sold in the USA. Motobecane is still available, but haven't seen MBK for a while. The Motobecane name was acquired by a US company who are offering bicycles using a lot of the old model names.

Water with a little detergent makes the rubber grips go on easily regardless of the length and number of turns. It even works works for putting those two foot long grips onto the convoluted bars of exercise machines.