I picked up a Motobecane Mirage for free tonight, bought new in 1974. Very large frame is 1020 (that the same as high tensile?) so pretty basic, but the lugs are nice. Suntour drivetrain equipment (V-GT I think), with a Nervar cottered crank. Weinmann centerpulls, and the Rigida Superchromix rims I read about in another thread. The tires are the original ones, and completely useless at this point, and the leather saddle is rather like a rock, but overall it is in great shape.

The Mirage is fairly low end as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) and I know this is old enough that I'll have a bad time of trying to find replacement parts of just about any kind, but this one should still clean up really nicely and be good for cruising around. There isn't really a point to this I guess, just excited to find something neat.

Pictures!! You forgot pictures.

Mirage was lower-end but not bottom. Nomade was a step lower. Not sure about '74 but a few years later ('77) when I bought a Nomade the Mirage had 2 tone paint, better shifters (the SunTour you mentioned opposed to steel Huret) and quick release wheels. Same 1020 frameset which is hi-ten.

On a '74 model you're looking at either Swiss or French threading which makes replacement parts fun but if the bike is as clean as you say the headset and BB probably only need re-greasing, not replacing.

Motos have a deserved reputation for really nice paint & decals even on lower models so if yours is well preserved it should be a pretty bike.

Phil Wood sells French and Swiss thread bottom brackets. They're not hard to find at all. They are pricey, but they're also the best quality, so you're getting what you pay for. Everything else on the bike can be replaced inexpensively.

I did forget pictures! How thoughtless of me.

Not sure if this will end up a keeper for me (the steel wheels look neat, but have their problems) but it will sure shine up nicely by the time I'm done. I'll have to post pictures of it when I finish.

I bet if you dropped in an alloy crank and put on a pair of alloy wheels it'd end up being a keeper; that'd knock about 7 or 8 pounds off the weight, and make it an even sweeter riding bike than it is already. I've had three of them and I swear I like them better than my Grand Touring.

can anyone tell me about the 1988 Motobecane Boulevardier?
I owned one of the 'mixte' bikes until I gave it to charity last week--it was a nice little bike though I found some design flaws in the frame design, which is why I gave it away.

I did just that, the wheels anyways by '77 they had alloy cranks, with a Nomade and had a bike which lasted many years/miles. Went overboard and swapped on alloy bars and a first generation Superbe derailleur and barcons too but the wheels were the big change, though barcons are much better than stem shifters.

[QUOTE=Walter]Mirage was lower-end but not bottom. Nomade was a step lower. Not sure about '74 but a few years later ('77) when I bought a Nomade the Mirage had 2 tone paint, better shifters (the SunTour you mentioned opposed to steel Huret) and quick release wheels. Same 1020 frameset which is hi-ten.

On a '74 model you're looking at either Swiss or French threading which makes replacement parts fun but if the bike is as clean as you say the headset and BB probably only need re-greasing, not replacing.

Just a quick note on this, I just put a cotterless crank on a 75 Mirage, and all I did was replace the spindle. The bearings were the same on the cottered spindle as the cotterless spindle.

I love my Motobecane. Got it in '76 or '77 . Rear weinmann hookless wheel is still original. Alloy crank and suntour deraileur. Lots of maintenance and the crank bearing races are getting pretty noisy. Great memories with a great bike.

I concur. That's what I did with my lowly Peugeot UO-8, which is my current daily driver.