Thread: Motobecane ?
View Single Post
Old 11-01-22 | 04:00 PM
  #18  
T-Mar
Senior Member
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 23,212
Likes: 3,123
Originally Posted by jdawginsc
I have those top tube grooves on what seems to be a mid-level gravel-xcross MBK frame (the badge for the 90s I think after Motobécane became MBK). I have never been able to place or find the frame since I got it.
I don't think that the frame that the OP is questioning goes into the 1990s, let alone the late 1980s. It's obviously a higher grade frame by virtue of the Cinelli BB shell, Campagnolo dropouts, reinforcing tangs, etc. Yet it only has a single set of bottle bosses. Two bottles were de rigeur on high grade racing models, let alone team replicas, by the late 1980s.

I also just noticed that the frame has a Camapgnolo style front derailleur mount. The 1983 and 1984 Team Champion had the Simplex mount that looks like a bottle boss. None of the lower models had brazed-on front derailleur during this era, outside of the Profil, which required one due to the teardrop shaped set tube.

This frame was obviously built for Campagnolo components, which would seem to contradict the LaRedoute tie, as the team was only in existence form 1979 to 1985 and used either Huret or Simplex derailleur systems.

BTW, I made an error in an earlier post, stating that the 1984 version of the Team Champion was inexternally brazed, It was traditional lugged construction, like 1983. I advertently referred back to the next model down, Le Champion.
T-Mar is offline  
Reply