scozim 

I already posted on my free Motobecane mixte frame today on another thread. Well, I ran into town with basketball shoes for my son for his practice tonight and met my wife at the local Goodwill thrift store. Lo and behold in the lobby sat another Motobecane mixte - complete bike.

I walked inside and told my wife it was too bad she didn't like to ride because that bike would be perfect for her. Unbelievably five minutes later the mixte was in the back of my car - $19.99 price tag and my wife gave her blessing. That's never happened before.

So, I'm dubbing today Moto Monday. Serial number 3363896. Unsure of the year. Components:

Tourney crankset, Suntour Comp V front derailleur, V-GT Luxe rear derailleur, power ratchet downtube shifters, 27" rims (possibly steel - I haven't checked yet). Weinmann center pulls. The seat post is one of those narrow French ones with the insert in the seat tube and it looks like steel randonneur bars. Stem is SR.

I've wiped it down with a wet rag and it's really in great shape compared to the other frame. Some alloy bars and lighter wheels and it could be a great rider

auchencrow

Assuming it has alloy rims, I'd swear it was a mid 70's Grand Touring. (The lower models had stem shifters and steel cranks). Your Vx GT Luxe and Nervar cotterless crank seems to fit, but the lack of black bands on the ST kind of confuses me.

In any case - that was a STELLAR deal and all the stars must have aligned to get TWO great Moto scores in one day !

due ruote 

I don't know about the GT. I would have thought that level would be 531, and this bike appears to have a 1020 sticker, plus stamped dropouts, nondescript lugs and a funky fork crown. Don't get me wrong - I still think it was a great deal and probably rides nice. And I do love the downtube graphics.

Robofunc

I just got a '74 GT frame and it has the 1020 sticker. Also, the '74 catalog shows a mixte that exact color, but with the black ST decals. The description for both bikes says they are 1020.

Also, I wish I had luck like yours.

due ruote 

I think perhaps I had a brain cramp and was thinking Grand Record. Anyway it's a nice bike for sure.

scozim 

Funny thing is it snowed all day and I live in a town of 15,000 people. So, to stumble across two of these on the same day is strange.

Based on the components I had put the blue one as mid-70's. It's a fairly heavy bike as it is set up right now and I think most of that is in the wheels and handlebars. The white one must be a little newer with the English threaded bb - but, then I don't know much about Moto's and when they switched from French thread to English.

Edit: the blue bike has a 1020 and the white one has a 2040 sticker.

WNG

Play Lotto!

auchencrow

Hi due route - The Grand Touring could be anythng -From what I've gleaned, it went from 531 way early on, to Vitus 172, 1020 around 1975 or so, and Vitus 888 in the 1980s.
I have no idea what the cutoff dates were. Stamped drop outs certainly existed too.

So I would not rule out a GT Thrift store find here.

(If T-Mar could weigh in it would be good, because I think he is the most knowledgeable person on these bikes.)

scozim 

Other components - Tange bottom bracket that has 35 X P1 (?) on it. So, should be french thread. Atom 440 pedals, Normandy high flange hubs with quick release axles, Dia Compe brake levers with suicide bars.

The date code on the hubs is 1976.

auchencrow

So my guess is a 1976-7 GT:

35x1= French cups.
The Normandy Hubs and Atom440s are right.
Don't know about the DiaCompe suicide bars though - My 74 has Weinmann centerpulls.

scozim 

I was leaning toward 1977. This one has the Weinmann centerpulls - the levers had me confused also. I suppose they could have been changed out.

I told my wife I was going to pilfer the parts and sell the frame. I think I've changed my mind since it seems to be almost complete original.

I haven't found any rust but did find bird droppings on it so I suspect it was in a garage or something for quite a few years.

The color matches the Mirage and Super Mirage for 1977 just based on these links. The detective work is what makes C&V bikes so much more interesting.

1976 specs - based on these I'm leaning more toward a 1976 Super Mirage

auchencrow

I agree - And if it has an SR stem instead of a Pivo stem, that would about clinch it for the Super Mirage.

Motofan

My wife has a 1976 Grand Touring Mixte in Vitus 172. The componentry of your bike pretty well matches hers. I agree that 1977 looks right for the year (I have a 1977 GT with the same componentry. The BB threading won't be French, it'll be Swiss. If you need to service the BB, don't freak out! The cups on those things must be made of really high-chrome steel, because they never seem to wear out. If the spindle is scored, you can just replace it and you're good to go. Pay attention to the race spacing on the spindle you take out, because that will determine whether or not you have enough threads left outside for the lockring.

Oh, and Auchencrow - every Super Mirage I ever saw had stem shifters. Could this be a mixte version of the Mirage Sport?

auchencrow

Good point. I also think the DT shifters are an anomaly on the Super Mirage, and that's why I thought it was a GT at first.
The rest seems to match pretty well though.
-Do you have the specs for the Mirage Sport?

scozim 

The downtube shifters were the only item that didn't match for the Super Mirage - but everything else, including the color is close. I don't know much about the Mirage Sport but am interested in the specs also.

Motofan

The Mirage Sport (and I have no idea whether it was ever offered in a mixte frame) was a club bike. Mine is a 1981 model. The frame is 1020, and it has downtube shifters(Huret), alloy wheels, Huret Rival RD, Huret FD, Tourney crank, Weinmann alloy (sidepull) brakes and levers, Motobecane alloy handlebars and seatpost, Motobecane saddle stamped "BMX" on the underside, fully painted fork (no chrome), and a blue paint job that's a dead ringer for yours. No, the components don't match up; however, my bike is five years newer, and Moto had a few changes in their offerings over that time period. I mentioned the Mirage Sport mainly because it was a low end offering that was designed to be light, so everything was alloy even though the frame is basically gas pipe. The Super Mirage was a pretty bike, but it often had many heavy components.

scozim 

This mixte of mine has steel bars and seat post. Everything else is alloy. The wheels, though, are pretty heavy.