Originally Posted by Tom2slow
no help at all?
Hi, Tom!
I have a Motobecane "Grand Sprint" that I bought a couple of years ago though the ecommerce site you're probably referring to. I have been delighted with the bike. It was easy to set up out of the box...the one caveat is that the wheel are built pretty loose...in addition to truing, you should probably tighten them all down at least a half-turn. To my mind, my Motobecane was a great deal for the money, allowing me to get a much better group of components on a nice, light frame than I would have been able to do otherwise. And I know not everyone is crazy about aluminum frames but the carbon fork offsets a lot of the brittle ride aluminum has a reputation for. (The same model now has carbon forks and stays and maybe even a carbon seatpost.) I have about 6k miles on it with no major flaws or defect to report. I'm exceedingly happy with it. Plus, it's yellow. The only problem, really, is that a couple of times the mechanic at Bicycle Habitat has jokingly referred to it as a "so-called Motobecane" as it is, admittedly, Chinese-built by a company w/no relationship to the French Motobecane of yore.
As far as vintage Motobecanes, my dad still rides my brother's old (French-built) Motobecane Mirage, which is a good, solid, reliable bike. It's probably 20 or25 years old and he's just now having to replace components, but the frame and wheels are still rock solid.
If you have specific questions I'd be happy to answer them here or via PM.