fender1

I don't know much about French bikes. Can anyone tell me about this model? I ran into a person selling one and was wondering where it stood in the Motobecane hierarchy.

MajorA

Middle-high; while there were definitely bikes above it (Motobecane made 20-lb. race bikes in that era fully equipped with Campagnolo Nuovo Record) the Grand Jubilee featured the Huret Jubilee drivetain which definitely has its fans, and the frame was Reynolds 531, but main tubes only (not the forks and stays). Value will vary a lot, depending on condition. This is particularly true because Motobecane did beautiful paint jobs ... a cherry Grand Jubilee (think garage-stored, NO rust, etc.) could probably fetch $350-$450 on eBay, going down to $100 or so for a still-salvageable frame with throwaway parts, which would be bait for the fixie crowd.

Keep in mind ... I'm not a pro, just a guy with a Grand Jubilee frame waiting in the line of projects, so I kinda pay attention when I see one for sale ...

Blue Order

In 1978, the Grand Jubile was the top of the line "touring" bicycle, just above the Grand Touring. Both frames were Vitus 172 in the main triangle. The difference lay in the components. For example, the Grand Touring was spec'd with a Suntour V-GT, the Grand Jubile was spec'd with a Suntour Cyclone (although originally, it was spec'd with Huret Jubile, thus the name "Grand Jubile.").

In 1978, there were three different geometries available-- touring, sport, and racing, plus a tandem. The touring lineup-- meant to denote a more relaxed geometry, I think-- was, from entry-level to top of the line, as follows:

Nomade, Nomade Sprint, Mirage, Super Mirage, Grand Touring, Grand Jubile.

caterham

dependant on the year, the Grand Jubilee was an upper end bike 3 steps down from the flagship-
it was their top all french equipped model until the early 80's when it was switched over to Shimano 600,etc. i'm sure i'll be corrected but the pecking order for many years went something like-
Nomade- Mirage- Super Mirage- Grand Touring-Grand Jubilee- Grand Record- Team Champion

MajorA

+1 on the other comments ... I'd forgotten that Motoebecane switched from 531 to Vitus tubing in the mid-70's (mine's a '74 I think). Also, I seem to remember reading somewhere that they led the way among the major European makers in switching to quality Japanese components in '76 or so.

Mhendricks

I had a frameset that I just recently sold for $80 that was in pretty good shape albeit a few scratches. The kicker was that I sold the long cage Huret Jubilee RD and the Jubilee shifters for $125.

retyred

The Le Champion should be between the Grand Record and Team Champion IIRC.

Blue Order

Yes.

The Grand Record was what Motobecane called a "Sport" bike, and was positioned above the Grand Sprint in that category. The Racing bikes from entry to top of the line were Le Champion and Team Champion.

At least in 1978.

caterham

haha.... i just knew some young punk kid would want their johnny-come-lately models inserted in there. next thing ya know, someone will want mention of the vitus/bador prolight too.

dck

The early 70's Grand Jubile was I think a somewhat underrated bike. In '74 and '75 it was equipped with a Stonglight 49 crankset and Huret Jubilee derailleurs/shifters, Pivo bar and stem, Weinmann centerpulls, Normandy hubs with Weinmann clinchers...certainly not top of the line componentry. Nevertheless, it is a very quick, agile bike and I find it compares nicely with my Le Champion and PX-10. I've substituted Normandy Competition hubs with Superchampion rims and sewups.

digitalbicycle

Speaking of....

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/bik/526765628.html

Walter

I have a (I'm pretty sure) '78 Gran Jubile' which I snagged off eBay a few years ago for 80$ or so + shipping. It's a transition model with the Vitus frame and Sugino/SunTour drivetrain and Weinman sidepull brakes. Wheelset was 27" and French. In the attached pics its sporting a Nitto Technomic stem and 700C wheels with campy Record hubs and new Sun rims. I also added Campy SL pedals in place of the Japanese (KKT?) originals.

(Yes, I kept the original parts.)

It is a nice bike and I got it b/c it was the bike I wanted back in '77 when all I could afford was a Nomade but models a few years older with the Reynolds frames are nicer and have a better paint scheme.



edit: I rotated the bars back down. I took a bunch of pics that day whether the bikes were "ready or not."

velocity1

hello everyone... Just picked up a Motobecane Grand Jubile... Hoping to see if I can get some help here in figuring out the year. Most of the bike is original from what I can tell. I checked out all over the net and couldnt find anything similar in specs. Here are some of the details of what I know so far...

-Frame Grand Jubilee
-Suntour Cyclone GT
-Rims are concaved Weinmann (patent) with eyelets. After removing the tires I found a single -stamp inside that said 80
-Normandy hubs. front and rear One has stamped 18 80 and the other 18 90
-Saddle is Italia (anatomic?) couldn't read as it was rubbed off
-Brakes are Weinmann 610
-Levers, Weinmann
-Cranks, Nervar
-Color is blue

I found online some catalogs on Velobase for 74, 76, 79, 84 etc, but none match these specs.. I am thinkiing it is something around 80? have a look at the photo and tell me what you guys think.

gearbasher

I had the same exact bike/components (different rims...mine were Rigida) you describe. I bought it new in 1980.

old's'cool

I assume mine is a '78 since that is the year I purchased it, to the best of my recollection (it could have been 1977, definitely not 1979). I haven't heard of a way to correlate the serial number to a date, so I haven't tried that yet.
Anyway, my bike's spec's match yours above with the following exceptions/notes:

• Rigida rims, size 1-1/16"
• Bocama suede saddle, branded with Motobecane 'M' logo
• crankset is Sakae
• Frame is Vitus 172 double butted
• I'm pretty sure fork is Vitus too; there are remnants of a decal; here is the spec on the fork from the 1979 catalog: VITUS blades
• Here is the 1979 catalog spec page link: https://equusbicycle.com/bike/motobec...moto197915.pdf
• Mine has Pivo Randonneur handlebars; haven't spotted this on other years that I have seen info on

In general, mine matches the 1979 catalog spec except: rims & handlebars as noted above; the pedals are all silver, no black; seat post is SR but two-bolt style, not Laprade; and color is silver with black trim, which was not offered in 1979.

As a side note, for commuting purposes and to preserve my Rigida wheelset for less utililarian riding; I've acquired a Weinmann 1-1/4" wheelset on the same type Normandy hubs; they seem like a fairly "correct" mod to me.