Hi. I'm looking for a decently priced but good quality touring bike for my girlfriend. We're planning on doing self supported trip to Serbia with panniers and all. I've found this on eBay.de:
Damen Rennrad Motobecane Touring | eBay
I've been looking for some information on this bicycle, however most of them refer to Grand Touring, not Touring. Does anybody know anything about this bike? Like tubes/ride quality, rear stays spacing (I'm guessing 126mm but possibly 120mm?). Is BB shell BSA or could it be some old school French standard? How long would horizontal tube be? It's for 165cm girl so I think 50cm seat tube is fine.

I'm planning to rebuild it slightly with new wheels and 7 speed derailleur. I just wonder how easy would that be.

Cheers!

Thats a really nice looking Motobecane Mixte. The frame has a Vitus 172 tubing sticker on it so its made with double butted cromoly tubing. I'm not familiar with Vitus but here is a short history of Vitus you can check out. *Vitus history by Norris Lockley

I would say a french bike made of french tubing will most likely have french threading on the bottom bracket and head set.

If the rear spacing is 120mm it would be easy to respace the rear to 126mm to fit a 7 speed cassette. Sheldon Brown's website is a treasure trove of information on upgrading old bikes and what will work and what won't. Upgrading Older Road Bicycles That bike does have 15 speeds already with what looks like a fairly wide gear range so you may be able to leave it the way it is. Although I would be tempted to at least replace those derailleurs.

Overall that would be a very nice bike for your girlfriend to tour Europe on. Maybe look at what you can do to upgrade the brakes if she's going to be carrying a load.

I've heard mixed opinions about center pull brakes. Some say they're good, some say they don't stop at all. I don't think changing brakes is a possibility where I live and it would be expensive too. So, is it possible to set up them to make the bike stop with moderate load?

Center pull brakes are not great but a lot of the problem is also due to these older bikes using steel rims. I replaced the steel wheels on my Nishiki with alloy wheels and upgraded to a larger more modern set of brake pads with a pad compound made for alloy wheels. That made a lot of difference on my bike even while using the old Dia Compe center pull brakes it came with.

Dzień Dobry! Jak się masz?

Should be an ideal bike for your GF to tour on.

The main tubes are Vitus 172 which is similar to Reynolds 531. The rest of the tubing is standard steel that Motobecane used on many on their models.

The distance from the seat tube to the bars which would be the top tube length is usually a little longer on most mixte frames that on standard diamond frames.

The seat looks like it's adjusted all the way to the rear. It can probably be moved at least 50mm forward.

You mentioned that you are going to overhaul the bike which to me means repacking all of the bearings, replacing the cables and cable housing plus the brake pads. The bottom bracket and headset may be metric. Occasionally Motobecane bottom brackets have Swiss metric threads. You live in a metric county so I don't see any problem....

The Stronglight 99 triple cranks should give a good range of gears. Check the width of the rear hub. If it's 120mm wide then you may be limited to a 5 speed or a narrow 6 speed freewheel. A 126mm wide hub with take a narrow or standard 6 speed freewheel or a narrow 7 speed freewheel. Some 7 speed freewheels require a wide rear axle plus they don't always shift as well as a 6 speed. A 28T or 30T with the inner chain ring should give her low enough gears for climbing. You can also get 28T & 30T 86mm BCD chainrings from both Stronglight and SR Sakae Ringo.

If you are planing on rebuilding the wheels I'd recommend using stainless steel spokes. If the rims are Super Champion Gentleman models they're fairly decent. If they are Rigida, I'd replace them. There are some better quality rims available today. If the hubs are better quality then they should be good too.

The tires appear to be low quality. I recommend 700x32c which may be the largest that will fit inside the fenders.

The steel front rack should be adequate.

The most important thing for your GF is to find a comfortable saddle.

Good luck...


verktyg

Chas.

They are alloy rims not steel. New brake pads and cables should make them work satisfactorily.


verktyg

Chas.

I see that the bidding has ended, did you win?

For what it's worth, I had a very similar Vitus 172 Grand Jubile earlier this year that has found a new home. Rear spacing was 126 and everything was English threading.

Unfortunately no. I'd go for it and perhaps win it but the seller didn't want to ship it to Poland :/ I'm continue looking with this on my mind right now:
Rower miejski KOGA MIYATA RANDONNEUR.damka Gazelle batavus DAMKA Warszawa Bia?o??ka ? OLX.pl
I think this will make excellent touring bike after I convert it to drop bars. It's about 300€ and we can see it in person before buying. I only wish it was C&V...

i'd vote no on going a vintage mixte for legitimate touring. even when screwing around town with a modern plastic coke bottle rack on the back of a retro-restored mixte, i've felt significant sway coming from the rear triangle. if you're really interested in doing self-supported touring, i'd suggest you'd go with as much modern stuff as you can, without violating the aesthetic of C&V. for 300 euros, you'd probably be able to buy a sturdier used steel frame, either in drop tube or mens' style. obviously the caveat of 26" > 700c and rim brakes > disc applies.

I'm sorry you didn't get the Motobecane. It looks a lot like Mom's Motobecane Grand Jubilee, with the same Vitus tubing, as well as the single top tube that splits part way.



I did pick up a Grand Touring, which wasn't quite as nicely finished as the Grand Jubilee. Also, the Grand Jubilee uses 27x1 tires/wheels, while the Grand touring had 27x1 1/4.

Anyway, for a women's bike of the era, the Grand Jubilee was a great bike.

I know she did take it touring a bit in the past, but probably not with a heavy load. I do know the flexy feeling with touring on my vintage road bike. Perhaps I should try a LHT or similar someday.

It might depend a bit on how much of a load your GF is planning to carry. She might not notice any flex if weights are kept below 30 pounds or so.

Thank you everyone for your input!!
It really got me thinking about what to buy. I think Julia will be carrying about 30-35 pounds and weighting about 100 pounds herself, I don't think the bike will be under too much stress. However since we're planning to go touring along Elbe river in May, there's really no time left for me to look for a bike. I will still need/want to overhaul the bike before we go and it might take some time. However the most important factor would be if the bike fits her.
She already has her Brooks B66S saddle which I believe will provide good comfort.
We're going to see Koga tomorrow and if she likes it we'll take it.

I know you want the Moto, but you really cant go wrong with a Koga.

Here's a few more options:

vintage Koga Miyata WORLD TRAVELLER LADY frame & fork

Miyata 310