Am I seeing a Mirage?
 

... Sport Model, or just Mirage. I see no indication of remnants of another label other than "Mirage" on the top tube. Mirage owners with a similar bike I'd like to hear from you. This model is an 83 I think.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e1bd34d07e.jpg

While the model name decal does not appear to have been tampered with, it does more closely resemble a 1982-1983 Mirage Sport. Motobecane wasn't very widely distributed in Canada compared to the USA, so I don't have any Canadian literature from this period and I'm wondering if the differences are related to Canadian versus USA models. There were certainly differences between the two markets for other French marques of this era, such as Peugeot.

Hi T-Mar, from what I understand the Motobecane serial number system is a touch bonkers. The serial on this bike is on a seriously faded sticker mounted to a chainstay. This is what I could decipher:

top 6 digit code: 021 633
bottom code: G6490175

These bikes are apparently a very nice ride but I bought it purely as a standby or "disposable" bike, and ideally as a trader for a hardtail mountain bike frame in my size. For a near BOTL bike it is very nice. I can only imagine how nice the upper echelons of this series is. The Huret & Maillard parts don't seem to hold up to well to weathering, but then again I have no idea how this bike was stored.

Here are the other pictures of the components: https://www.bikeforums.net/22135553-post205.html

I'm pretty sure that this is a 1982. That was the 1st year for Motobecane's inexternally brazed frames and the only year that they used a set screw for the seat post on traditional round seat tubes, though there was an associated casting (see attached). In 1983 they went to a more traditional binder bolt, located beneath the junction of the seat stay and seat tube, though they did retain the set screw on frames with non-round, aero seat tubes.

To date, all the Motobecane serial numbers that I've seen have been seven, numeric characters, so the the G-prefix is puzzling.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4c6a749a13.jpg

Hi, I could be wrong about the letter prefixing the numbers because it is so difficult to make out what's there. The seatpost is a 25.4 I think. Whatever is in there right now is tight and it even looks like someone lathed a seat post and shaved a 10th of a millimetre off the diameter. The bike didn't come with the alloy seatpost clampage.