murdomino

well guys i have saved a bicycle that my grandfather had in the garage for as long as i can imagine. its a Motobecane just like the one in the link below. it needs a complete tear down. things do not turn freely just about everywhere. the wheels are about the only ones but they are bent up pretty bad. i need a commuter bike for my 2 mile downtown ride and would love to remember my grandfather every day on my commute. any help for parts sourcing, or manual with specs would be great. i am not well versed in the older bikes, but am very familiar with my 700c road bike.

1970?s MOTOBECANE ?Mirage? 53cm ROAD BIKE in Emerald Green | GALAXY BIKES

PhotoJoe 

I moved this to the C&V where I think you'll get more help.

non-fixie 

Unless anything is actually broken you might not need any parts, other than consumables like cables and tires. As for the manual, just post your questions here.

non-fixie 

Oh, and we need pictures. Nice, big pictures.

Vintage_Cyclist

bulgier.net - /pics/bike/catalogs/Motobecane/

AlexCyclistRoch

He meant pictures of the ACTUAL BIKE....

murdomino

Picked up some tires and tubes for it this weekend. One of the spoke protectors on the wheels was quite old and torn, so glued it back on haha. other was still slightly pliable so i just put the new tube and tire on that one. Got some Craigslist deal Duro tires and tubes for 25 bucks. cant go wrong pikcing them up at 9pm on a sunday. anyways, where might i be able to get these "consumables" like cables. I did notice while i was cleaning and degreasing the bike that the rear Simplex derailleur has two broken teeth on the upper guide sprocket. So looks like i will need to source a replacement one of those too. pictures will come up later today, once i take a few. Also last thing, i stretched the rear frame to fit a 700c rear wheel since i needed it today. interesting thing that i never considered, the chain itself is too think to ride on the 9spd cassette. gap between sprockets on the old 27" sprockets is much thicker. so going forward, what should i do, i measured the stretch with a chain gauge it is is definately worn. should i replace that as well? Thanks guys

3alarmer 

.
...it's a mistake to reuse the old rim strips. You would do well to remove and remount the tyres using new rim tape. If you live somewhere where there is an existing bike co-op, it's often a good source for stuff like freewheels, but they are also available on Amazon pretty cheaply. The problem you will have is removing the old one, and figuring out whether your hub is French threading or not. The wheels on a bike this old are often not original.

As already stated, you won't get good information here unless you are prepared to post photos. Good luck with your project.

Kevindale

Sounds like a cool project! Looking forward to photos.

I recently picked up a 1980 Univega that the flipper had put Duro 'Speedy' tires on -- they were so terrible that I took them off right away. They were clearly meant from wider modern rims and I almost had to tear them off the skinny vintage rims on the Univega. They were so poorly made that the made the wheels look out of true when I spun them. I'd recommend sourcing better tires before you put it into service. For a commuter, you might just get some appropriately sized Gatorskins or something in that vein. Just make sure to note how skinny your rims are, and what kind of chain-stay and brake clearance you have.

Charles Wahl

No photos, no interest . . .

murdomino

Here is a pic of my bike, taking a train ride downtown to school in Los Angeles. still could use advice on where to get new cables, and also ive read about the different chain sizes, HG, IG, and the new HG 10speed. tried mounting a set of Alex rims i had lying around and they fit, but the chain was too thick to fit the rear cogs.

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