Help Please - What Year is my new Motobecane Team Champion
04-20-16, 09:28 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Great Southern Land
Posts: 173
Bikes: 71 Cinelli SC; 72 Cinelli SC ; 2011 Baum Corretto Ti; 2007 BMC SLC01; 1986 Pinarello Team Bike; 1983 De Rosa Professional; 1959 Bianchi TdF; 78 Masi GC Ca
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 15 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
Help Please - What Year is my new Motobecane Team Champion
I have been very lucky to pick up an 80s Motobecane Team Champion in great condition. Im keen to work out exactly what year it might be if anyone can help I know there are a few Team Champion fans in the group.
This particular bike was purchased in Sheffield after being a bike show display bike for Motobecane
Im guessing 82 or 83 from the little I can find out. The key detail for me seems to be the gear cable routing it is over the bottom bracket and top of the chainstay.
Photo isnt great but the BB is a Cinelli casting.
Hubs and pedals are Spidel.
This particular bike was purchased in Sheffield after being a bike show display bike for Motobecane
Im guessing 82 or 83 from the little I can find out. The key detail for me seems to be the gear cable routing it is over the bottom bracket and top of the chainstay.
Photo isnt great but the BB is a Cinelli casting.
Hubs and pedals are Spidel.
04-20-16, 10:55 AM
#2
Senior Member
To me it looks like a match with the one in the '82 catalog. Sweet bike; congrats.
https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/catalog...m_Champion.jpg
https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/catalog..._specs_pg2.jpg
https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/catalog...m_Champion.jpg
https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/catalog..._specs_pg2.jpg
04-20-16, 02:04 PM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Fredericksburg, Va
Posts: 9,227
Bikes: '73 Bottecchia Giro d'Italia, '83 Colnago Superissimo, '84 Trek 610, '84 Trek 760, '88 Pinarello Veneto, '88 De Rosa Pro, '89 Pinarello Montello, '94 Burley Duet, 97 Specialized RockHopper, 2010 Langster, Tern Link D8
Mentioned: 67 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1474 Post(s)
Liked 1,870 Times
in
944 Posts
GREAT find! Love that crank, even if it is a Campy knock off!
__________________
Bikes don't stand alone. They are two tired.
Bikes don't stand alone. They are two tired.
04-20-16, 05:29 PM
#7
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Great Southern Land
Posts: 173
Bikes: 71 Cinelli SC; 72 Cinelli SC ; 2011 Baum Corretto Ti; 2007 BMC SLC01; 1986 Pinarello Team Bike; 1983 De Rosa Professional; 1959 Bianchi TdF; 78 Masi GC Ca
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 15 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
Thankyou Due Ruote - 1982 looks like a pretty good match to me. I'm really very happy I found it - a genuine loft find and only ridden for less than a year before being put in storage for 33 years or so. It is very pretty and the French componentry is quite different for someone entirely used to handling Campy. The quick release lever system on the brake callipers for example - and the extensive cross branding of the components.
It was a very easy household purchase - my wife is a huge fan of Paul Sherwen (she got given a La Redoute team jersey for her birthday) This bike is his size and I will be temporarily mocking it up as his team bike for the 2017 TDU Legends exhibition. Now I know which year Sherwen photos to refer to.
It was a very easy household purchase - my wife is a huge fan of Paul Sherwen (she got given a La Redoute team jersey for her birthday) This bike is his size and I will be temporarily mocking it up as his team bike for the 2017 TDU Legends exhibition. Now I know which year Sherwen photos to refer to.
04-20-16, 08:17 PM
#8
Disraeli Gears
The 1984 model was the same, I think, including the over-the-BB cable guides. I have such a frame, acquired on the cheap because it had a fractured dropout. I have the original sales receipt from 1984, though it's possible it was a previous year model (sold to an avid teen racer). Very well-constructed and beautiful frame, with the fully-chromed rear end.
04-21-16, 07:15 PM
#9
What??? Only 2 wheels?
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Boston-ish, MA
Posts: 13,444
Bikes: 72 Peugeot UO-8, 82 Peugeot TH8, 87 Bianchi Brava, 76? Masi Grand Criterium, 74 Motobecane Champion Team, 86 & 77 Gazelle champion mondial, 81? Grandis, 82? Tommasini, 83 Peugeot PF10
Mentioned: 189 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1222 Post(s)
Liked 604 Times
in
225 Posts
Pretty nice looking bike! I do wonder if that is repaint however. From those pics it appears that the paint is metallic with a slightly greenish tint. The catalog describes it as Night Blue. From the name I would not expect paint quite like that. But what do I know?
I am pretty sure mine is older. For one thing my fork has a flat crown like the early CTs. My fork is half chrome like the earlier ones. I did a ton of research on little details, or at least as big a ton as I could manage, and many things looked inconsistent. The paint is dark, rich blue, which fits my concept of Night Blue but that's just after the fact of seeing it. The DT letters on mine are a blockier font than the catalogs showed and each letter was individually painted, not a decal. A few other details from what I was told were original parts made it look like a '74 and lo! I then found a '74 date code in the hubs. But someone had done some work on it, removed all the orange paint, added cable guides and a chain stay cable stop, but not brake housing loops. The rear wheel had been rebuilt with a NISI rim and same-gauge but plated spokes, and the fork was slightly askew (I had it straightened). So I conjecture that someone crashed it around '82 and before rebuilding it had stuff brazed on then painted by someone who knew what he was doing. It is possible that someone special-ordered it, and maybe put older parts on a new frame. But the details still don't fit a new frame as well as they fit an older one. If my memory serves, 82 was the first year of Night Blue, but I didn't think they were using chrome then. From that pic above I might mistaken because it shows a full-chrome fork.
I am pretty sure mine is older. For one thing my fork has a flat crown like the early CTs. My fork is half chrome like the earlier ones. I did a ton of research on little details, or at least as big a ton as I could manage, and many things looked inconsistent. The paint is dark, rich blue, which fits my concept of Night Blue but that's just after the fact of seeing it. The DT letters on mine are a blockier font than the catalogs showed and each letter was individually painted, not a decal. A few other details from what I was told were original parts made it look like a '74 and lo! I then found a '74 date code in the hubs. But someone had done some work on it, removed all the orange paint, added cable guides and a chain stay cable stop, but not brake housing loops. The rear wheel had been rebuilt with a NISI rim and same-gauge but plated spokes, and the fork was slightly askew (I had it straightened). So I conjecture that someone crashed it around '82 and before rebuilding it had stuff brazed on then painted by someone who knew what he was doing. It is possible that someone special-ordered it, and maybe put older parts on a new frame. But the details still don't fit a new frame as well as they fit an older one. If my memory serves, 82 was the first year of Night Blue, but I didn't think they were using chrome then. From that pic above I might mistaken because it shows a full-chrome fork.
__________________
Real cyclists use toe clips.
With great bikes comes great responsibility.
jimmuller
Real cyclists use toe clips.
With great bikes comes great responsibility.
jimmuller
Last edited by jimmuller; 04-22-16 at 05:03 AM.
04-21-16, 07:41 PM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota
Posts: 2,360
Bikes: 92 Colnago Master PIU, 83 Pinarello Record, 92 Tommaso, 92 Merckx MX Leader, 90 Serotta Colorado II, 99 Tommasini Sintesi, 90 Pinarello Montello, 89 Tommasini Super Prestige, 08 Look 585, 89 Merckx Corsa Extra, 72 Holdsworth Professional and 3 more
Mentioned: 17 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 336 Post(s)
Liked 488 Times
in
217 Posts
Very nice!
04-21-16, 07:46 PM
#11
Senior Member
Really nice moto. Like the fork.
05-08-16, 04:10 AM
#12
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Great Southern Land
Posts: 173
Bikes: 71 Cinelli SC; 72 Cinelli SC ; 2011 Baum Corretto Ti; 2007 BMC SLC01; 1986 Pinarello Team Bike; 1983 De Rosa Professional; 1959 Bianchi TdF; 78 Masi GC Ca
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 15 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
I just noticed on Bulgier.net site that the ’82 and ’83 catalogues for Motobecane used the same photos for the Team Champion so [unusually for Moto] possibly no change that year. This is a close up of Sherwen riding in ’83 taken from October edition of ICS magazine. Pretty much a match I think although cable routing appears to be under BB . In relation to the paint colour in my photos – the room illumination was from a fairly warm-coloured which may have caused the blue colour to appear more green – I am pretty confident the paint and decals are original.
Last edited by dadoflam; 05-08-16 at 04:15 AM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
jorglueke
Classic and Vintage Bicycles: Whats it Worth? Appraisals.
13
11-03-16 02:33 PM
errantlinguist
Classic and Vintage Bicycles: Whats it Worth? Appraisals.
0
05-20-16 07:17 AM
due ruote
Classic & Vintage
44
06-03-15 11:47 AM
joe englert
Classic and Vintage Bicycles: Whats it Worth? Appraisals.
0
04-10-13 10:06 AM
