Motobecane Grand Touring found on fence
05-30-06, 01:37 AM
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Motobecane Grand Touring found on fence
I posted this on the Catch of the Day and will post pictures tomorrow. It's maybe early 80's, not really sure, 58cm ST and TT, 45-46cm chainstays, Vitus 808 tubes, Motobecane cranks, Suntour shift system, Weinmann brakes, Normandy hubs and sewups on Regida rims. It has eyes for fenders but no braze on's for racks, or water bottles! Certainly the long chainstays indicate touring geometry, but I was surprised that there isn't any way to mount racks on a French touring bike. I thought they were really into the complete bike idea. I'll do a search for cleaning this stuff off (aluminum, chrome etc.), but I think it will need to be repainted. It looks like a fair amount of work and I have to ask if anyone else thinks it's worth the effort? Thanks.
05-30-06, 05:28 PM
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Originally Posted by rlong
I posted this on the Catch of the Day and will post pictures tomorrow. It's maybe early 80's, not really sure, 58cm ST and TT, 45-46cm chainstays, Vitus 808 tubes, Motobecane cranks, Suntour shift system, Weinmann brakes, Normandy hubs and sewups on Regida rims. It has eyes for fenders but no braze on's for racks, or water bottles! Certainly the long chainstays indicate touring geometry, but I was surprised that there isn't any way to mount racks on a French touring bike. I thought they were really into the complete bike idea. I'll do a search for cleaning this stuff off (aluminum, chrome etc.), but I think it will need to be repainted. It looks like a fair amount of work and I have to ask if anyone else thinks it's worth the effort? Thanks.
The Grand Touring never had the toiuring braze-ons. Mine is a 77, and it doesn't even have the long chainstays-- strictly sport touring geometry. Sometime later Motobecane extended the chainstays to give the GT a longer wheelbase, but as you noticed, never included the braze-ons. It is worth the effort, in my biased opinion, but would need eyelets and braze-ons for racks, water bottles, and cantilever brakes to make a standard loaded touring machine out of it. I've decided mine is best suited as a randonneur, rather than a loaded tourer. Pretty much the same conclusion the road tests came up with. With your longer wheelbase, it is possible to turn it into a loaded tourer, however. Would be an interesting conversion....
10-05-09, 10:21 AM
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Bikes: Late 1970's Rodriguez Tandem, 1982 Trek 614, 1983 Motobecane Grand Touring, 1983 Raleigh Gran Sport 12, Early 1980's Basso, 1986 Univega Gran Turismo, 1989 Schwinn World - Fixed Gear/Single Speed, 2003 KHS Flite 800, early 2000's Giant DS2 MTB
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Here is my 1983 Motobecane Grand Touring - 63.5cm
More pictures and the 1984 cataloge page can be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9765217...7622453592136/
More pictures and the 1984 cataloge page can be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9765217...7622453592136/
