Another Perplexing Motobecane
 

I just acquired my third Motobecane - it was sitting in my neighbor's trash across the street. The frame is just about my size, and has the 2040 High Resiliency decal that I'd expect on this low end bike. From the BB s/n and Maillard rear hub date codes it looks to be a 1982 model. Front wheel is clearly a replacement, since the hub, the rim, and the QR skewer are marked Raleigh. Nice six-speed Atom freewheel exactly identical to the one on my Mirage Sport. The brakes are Dia-Compe's with quick releases and suicide levers, the front derailleur is a Huret Rival, the rear derailleur (trashed and broken) was a Suntour ARX - I think I can salvage one of the pulleys, but the rest of the RD is gone. The DT shift levers are nice long throw Hurets. The stem is SR, the cranks are marked Motobecane, but the dust caps say Sakae. Pedals look like MKS but I can't tell for sure. The saddle is also identical to the one on my Mirage, original equipment all around.

The frame decal says "Randonnee", but there's no "Made in France" as I'd expect.....
What's that on the seat tube? EEEK!!!
"Made in Taiwan for Motobecane". OMG, what gives??

Motobecane was outsourcing to Taiwan in 1982? Say it ain't so, somebody!

Motofan

When I asked about my motobecane they said that the taiwan frames are more desirable and much lighter than the french. I just nod my head. The local shop really likes to fixie the bikes from taiwan.
Mine is a winter beater and I love it. $9 at the goodwill. LOOK

At least you have ISO/English BB threading, instead of hard-to-obtain Swiss.

Well, actually it isn't so great - I originally picked it up in hope of scavenging the BB cups and headset for the two other Motos in my fleet!!

However, after looking it over, I do believe I'll fix it up for fitness riding. The frame fits me better than anything else I have, and it is pretty light compared to the Mirage.

Motofan

Actually, it occurred to me to do the same thing when I saw those horizontal dropouts. But I had all the parts lying around to make it ridable as a 12 speed, so tonite I put her back together and started the long process of cleaning all the accumulated crud from the frame.

Your bike looks a lot better than anything I ever found at the Goodwill! I'm definitely going to stop by more often!


Cheers!

Motofan