Hi Everyone

I just picked up a bike that I am fixing up as a commute bike - steel frame. It is has "MBK Trainer", on the downtube and the style of the font suggests to me 1980's. It has no badge on the head tube but MBK printed? on. The breaks are Weinman and when I dismantled them to give them a clean, it has TYPE 500 imprinted on the back. They are side pull breaks. The front and rear deraileur are Sachs Hurets and the cranks that are on it are made by Thun (German I think). The handlebar has this reasonably thick rubber grip on it- its a little weird. The rubber has fake stitching as if to imitate a leather cover. Also on the rubber grip is "BREV MOTOBECANE" and directly underneath that is "FAB HUTCHINSON " - as below.


BREV MOTOBECANE
FAB HUTCHINSON

Were MBK bikes any good? I paid $90 Aud for it. I will only need to replace the cables and break pads pop a new seat and have a look at fixing or replacing the BB as the cranks dont spin freely. Other than that, It just needed a good clean. Interested to know any details that anyone has about MBK. I can pop some pics on tomorrow if it helps.

Thanks in advance everyone- Have a good day aswell

Pictures would be invaluable as far as assessment goes. I kinda like the rubber grips. I have 'em on a motobecane ultra lite (vitus).

What you have is a re-badged Motobecane. In the early 1980s Motobecane got into financial difficulties and went bankrupt. When the bicycles re-appeared, they were going by MBK. The components suggest a mid-range, mid to late 1980s model, but I'm not familiar with particualar model name. Any tubing decals?

thanks for the info. I will add some pics tonight when I get home from work. They will assist better than my poor descriptions.

were MBKs ever sold in the US, and are there any dealers for them now?

I don't know how they get those rubber grips on some of them have the hoods integrated into the grips too.

here are some pics of the frame. Hope this helps. Its a bit dark but you should see it ok

That looks like a MOTOLITE tubing decal. Just before before the name change, Motobecane was using this tubing on the upper, entry level models like the Mirage and Mirage Sport.

MBK advertised in Bicycling magazine during the late 1980s. That's usually a pretty indication that they were sold in the USA. Motobecane is still available, but haven't seen MBK for a while. The Motobecane name was acquired by a US company who are offering bicycles using a lot of the old model names.

Water with a little detergent makes the rubber grips go on easily regardless of the length and number of turns. It even works works for putting those two foot long grips onto the convoluted bars of exercise machines.

yah, but the trick is sliding the levers on with the rubber thingies. I cheated with weinmann and just slid the handlebar clamps on, and then wrestled the levers into the integrated hoods. It were a beatch, tho. best bet is to leave 'em in place unless you have to dink wif it.

MBK picked up where Motobecane left off in the mid 80s. I think Sheldon Brown discusses them on his vintage site (a google search will turn this up). They had some good bikes -- I have an early 90s MBK Super Record with Columbus SL tubing and a full Campagnolo C-Record group. They're good reliable bikes.

Hey, I realise this thread is probably long dead.... but I myself just picked up what looks to be (using colour alone) an early to mid 80s "MBK Trainer" from a verge in my suburb, just before a bulk rubbish collection by our city council. I mainly just grabbed it cos it was my size-ish & and semi-horizontal dropouts for a single speed conversion. I first first noticed some of the finer build details as I was stripping it; the funky recessed brake line conduit in the underside of the top tube, and the low-key seat tube clamp <i>within</i> the apex of the seat stays & seat tube.. and then I noticed the "made in france" sticker.

Been googling a little bit since, but apart from finding out they're rebadged motobecane - yet to turn up much more.

Am I gonna have grief with the b/bracket thread? It was all pretty period, vanilla shimano exage I've stripped off it. Yet to crack the ol' adjustable cups

Sorry, you lost me there, what pics? Can't see anything, dark or otherwise...

Here's mine... got it rolling again as a fixie;

https://velospace.org/node/3442