Here's a Bike World Magazine review of a Grand Jubile from May, 1974.

http://velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_it...geViewsIndex=1

I think that the bike is a 1973 model not a 74 as stated in the article.

I added the 1974, 75 and 76 Grand Jubilee catalog pages to my Flickr set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2826722...7623992423353/

For starters, the 1974 bikes had the 3 main tubes made of butted Reynolds 531. The 3 main tubes in the bike in the review are straight gage Reynolds 531.

Next, the stamped steel crown is chrome plated. The 1974 and later GJs had painted Wagner fork crowns. Last, the bike in the review had Campagnolo rear dropouts.

The 1974 and most 1975 GJs had Huret dropouts. The original GJs had the short arm Huret Jubilee derailleurs as shown in the 1974 Moto catalog. The 1975 catalog shows the long arm Jubilee derailleur. These were rather flimsy and were designed to handle a 13-28 freewheel with granny gears up front.

The 1975 catalog spec sheet lists Huret Jubilee or Suntour Cyclone GT derailleurs and Stronglight 49 or SR AX5 cranks with the Motobecane name on the arms. The bikes with Cyclone derailleurs used Suntour dropouts.

By 1975 the bike boom was over so delivery issues were no longer a problem. Motobecane probably switched to the Japanese components because of price.

The review calls the Grand Jubile a "touring" bike with 70° angles (which I think is wrong) and a short top tube. Both of my 74 GJs are 23" frames (58cm). They have identical geometry with 74° head and seat tube angles and 57cm top tubes. They are hardly touring frames.

I've only assembled one of the frames, the bike in my Flickr set. I built it as a wet weather beater bike. I had the frame and fork realigned by a local frame builder since it had gone through a garbage compactor truck.

The bike was a pleasant surprise to ride. It handles great, stable but responsive and the ride is smooth.

Chas. verktyg