BEFORE









DURING




AFTER (need better pics)

Damn. What did you do to those Mafac brake lever covers? Do you just wax the bike to protect it from further rust?

The hoods were in bad shape. Very dried out, so I figured I didn't have much to lose. I started by removing/cleaning the white hoods. Then I sprayed several light layers of Plasti Dip onto the hoods. But I was still getting little holes in the top of the plastic dip due to the uneven surface of the dried out hoods. I then went over the Plastic Dip with some fast drying silicone caulking, which I may have brushed on with a nylon brush if I recall correctly. So far so good, and, with the new coating on the hoods, they actually clean up really easily with Simple Green.

Yes, it's got a heavy coat of wax. There are a lot of areas where the paint has almost entirely faded away. The bike spent far too many years outside, against a wall, unused.

'72 Motobecane Le Champion. Still isn't 'done' (e.g., new decals, seatpost are currently en route), but given that it'll likely never be this clean again, I thought I'd get in some photos.

As bought:



With some fairly substantive surgery:



Getting closer:



As it sits at the moment:

Awesome progression pics... fun to see more than just the before/after sometimes! Great build also!

I have a few recent builds for flips to post:

1999 Kona Hahanna

1999 Trek 830 AL

And a fun SS conversion to an old Raleigh Sprite. Original bars flipped upside down for that cafe racer look.

Before (oddjob2's pic)


After (650b conversion)

Before:


After:


(1980ish Apollo Prestige in Legnano drag.)

Slick!

^ I like that one a lot, too.

And I hate to admit it, but I think I'd actually buy a white chain to put on it.

LOL, I know exactly what you mean! It's not often I find myself enjoying a "modern-style" fixie, but I have to hand it to raftink. Well played. That crank is sexy without being ostentatious. The white accents work well. I'd definitely ride it.

Thank you both!

Classic? Not hardly. Vintage? Too many modern components.

Old and shiny? YES!

'77 Speedster

Before



Before



needed straightening



After. Converted to 700c

Nice work. Rattlecan or powdercoat?

A local powder shop owner has a BMXer son, so he knows bikes and really cares about results. CHEAP too. $65.00 for a frame and fork including clear top coat.

Did you rattle can this? It looks great

No way, Mr. Tim.

Well, the white primer was rattlecan. The rest was done with an airbrush kit from Harbor Freight, a proper air compressor and this stuff. Using the airbrush is pretty slow going but gives you great control and efficiency. (That bike is wearing exactly 2 oz of green color mixed with about 0.5 oz of reducer.)

Always wanted to do an upright road bike - and have had these pink cables laying around forever... so for the first version of this frame build up:

before:
Barn find 78 Grand Sprint on 27", jap parts and depicted after I cleaned the pigeon poop, removed the rear rack, cleaned the mold of the bars and saddle (actually removed the covering), spray of WD40, air in the fragile rubber and test ride. Small for me and second guessed keeping it.

Took it up to a C&V rally to see if anyone had interest. No such luck. Granddaughter eyeing it as I dismantled it.







Good bye Shimano Altus / Arabesque, 27" wheels, seatpost, saddle, pedals. Kept Motobecane marked parts, brakes (Weinmann), crank (Sugino), bars (SR)

almost finished: (toe clip straps, pads, and have to machine make a lower rail seat clamp for the Campy NR post + make a Vitus 888 decal)
Details later but something fun for one of the girls. Fresh on tubulars, some re-salvaged N.Record parts, wheel build, B17 narrow, etc. under $240 as complete. Gave away or sold a few original parts from it, a little trading and stuff from the B.O.C. thread.





the low down-
1978 Motobecane faux team BIC, Luis Ocana tribute derived from a Grand Sprint
made in France
Junior racer based on Grand Sport. No braze-on eyelets for racks or mudguards. Oval tapered chainstay no crimps.

Vitus 888 tubing
Bocama lugs
Lower end dropouts - unknown make, perhaps Motobecane?
Dropout / axle adjusters are internal nylon thumbscrew. Kept them as they do the job, but cheap looking.
120mm spacing
55 cm top tube
54 cm seat tube (crank center to top of lug) OR if you prefer: 52 cm crank center to center of top tube
42.5 cm chainstay length (center of bb shell to intersecting of seatstay at dropout)
head tube angle 73 degree
seat tube angle 75 degree
Vitus fork blades - labled Fourreaux 28-19 Haute Stabilite, forged crown
frame weight 2082 gm
fork weight 865 gm
complete as built weight ________?
orange finish, gold outlined lugs, chrome letters, BIC logo, L. Ocana depicted on seat tube, Motobecane chrome / gold square headbadge

Sugino crankset Motobecane machined in arms, 170mm length, 9/16" pedal threads, 52-40t rings
Weinmann 506 sidepull calipers, Motobecane labeled, made in West Germany
Weinmann brake levers, drilled
Campagnolo Nuovo Record front derailleur
Campagnolo Nuovo Record rear derailleur
Campagnolo Nuovo Record downtube shift levers
Campagnolo Nuove Record seatpost diam. 26.2 mm
SR drop bars, Motobecane engraved
Hutchinson handlebar wrap integrated boots for brake levers, Motobecane logo molded in
SR stem 0.865 / 22mm o.d. and 85mm length
Sugino headset
Sugino tapered square bottom bracket
Brooks B17 Pro narrow saddle
Campagnolo Superleggeri pedals, Christophe toe clips + straps
REG ally bottle cage
WHEELSETS-
training:
Mavic G40 700c 36 hole clincher 14mm width rims
stainless non-butted spokes 3X
Maillard 600 hubs w/ sealed bearings
Maillard release skewers
Shimano freewheel and cogs 14-16-18-21-24-28t
weight with f.w.
front: 876 gm
rear: 1530 gm

race:
Wolber - Aspin - Super Champion 700c 36 hole tubular
stainless Wheelsmith spokes butted 3X pattern
Campagnolo Super Record hubs
------ skewers (from above Maillard, but eventually hope to find an old pair of Campy)
Shimano freewheel and cogs 13-14-15-16-17-18t
weight with f.w.
front: 770 gm
rear: 1162 gm
Tires/ Continental Giro 700x25
tire savers from the BOC

Few more:
Also in the budget is another wheelset, training 700c clinchers / hill cogset.


https://www.cyclingrevealed.com/Aug11...LuisOcana.html

... and finally the disclaimer: If by chance in the future someone finds this bike, its just a tribute / faux BiC and nothing more. As matter of fact, Ocana rode a titanium Speedwell, painted orange and badged Motobecane. Cheer's

Dang! Nice refurb on the Moto. Did I miss details on the repaint?

^thanks mountaindave
Not worthy of a separate thread on the project but here's the refinishing story.


Paint professionally done by Mr. Rusty Oleum. With material and all supplies, cost approximately $12.
I had this bike 300 miles away from the workshop and just wasn't up to dragging
another project to block the doorway or mix with the others...lol. My thinking was
while at the other location, it would stand out and say 'fix me'! Decided late last
Fall when the mosquito's left, the winds were calm and the temps hovering at 70, I
used Mother Natures paint booth.

The Motobecane stickers of that 70's era are tough to remove with some clear over
them. Used a heatgun and mild scrape to remove them. With a razor blade, was able to
cut around the fork blade decals, lift and save. Received a degrease bath with liquid
Dawn. She's hot in the water.

Most would probably strip the finish to bare metal, but sometimes its just as good to
not bother. All depends though. This one had good original paint adhesion (no chrome
underneath) but did have the surface corrosion areas. The rust portions were taken
care of and the frame sanded to 320 grit only. Areas of knick or scratches the paint
edges were sanded level, feathered.

A thorough wipe down just prior to paint with thinner and tack cloth. At this point,
its hands off - no oil.

The magic of Rusty Oleum. This rattle can stuff is really good. Its the 2X coverage
with primer. A can cost $6 but I found it on sale for half that! Of note - you can
spay while inverted plus the plastic nozzle doesn't spit and has a more atomized
output. For out of a can, coverage is excellent and its the best I've found. This
bike was a complete color change, NO pre-primer! Didn't want to go with multiple
coats and have that thick or powdercoat look plus later was getting clear urethane.

Post paint. Left it outside for an hour before handling. Later shove it up on a shelf
in the garage and forget about it. Winter time with a nice long cure. Gather parts,
wheel related, decal ideas, etc..

Spring arrived and got carried away with a gold paint pen outline, DIY sort of
graphics. Spent $10 for the chrome Motobecane letters. The rest is my own concept home
made sort decals. Love, hate, odd or indifferent, brings up conversation of triumph
and battle both race drama and personally of Ocana.

Anyways, back outside in Ma Natures paint booth on a perfect, no wind day. Received a
top coat of clear urethane by Mr. Rusty 2X again. This covered good but was a little
trickier in the flow. Seemed thin on the output. Had a few minor runs but while wet
fixed immediately and had to rotisserie the frame for a few minutes preventing runs
on the tube surfaces. It would be a different story using this stuff on flat surfaces
but for compound surfaces like tubes, its challenging.

Really impressed how tough this paint cured. Excellent coverage and no soft feel to
it. Nice and hard cure. Thought to have chipped it a few times moving around and
during a realignment of the front derailleur, loosened and rotated with the cable
still on, no mar on the tube.

Fortunate to have all the good equipment and anytime access to a pro paint booth but
with a tight budget in mind, didn't want to invest in the high cost paint / chemicals,
etc.. The goal was completing the project and something different. Hope one of the
girls will ride on some C&V events or will be loaned out.