Lana1555

I bought this beautiful, but beat up old Motobecane mixte a few days ago, and am trying to get a sense of what model and year it is. The frame is pretty light and mostly lugged, the fork is all chrome but with details at the top that don't look like the later 70s all-chrome forks, the shifters (on the downtube) and front derailler are Huret (I'm guessing the back one was too, but somebody put a new wheel and Shimano derailler on it recently), the pedals are Nervar. It has a Pivo stem, but I don't think the handlebars are original, though I don't know enough about it to say for sure. The front brake, which seems to be original, says Weinmann Vainqueur on the part of the sticker that's still attached.

Any ideas? I haven't been able to find a similar head badge or lugging pattern in any of the catalogs or sites I've looked at. I love the bike already and don't care much what it's worth, just want to know more about it.

wayback

Hi Lana.
Your bike appears to be a pre-1973 model, which helps to explain why you haven't found it in the catalog scans. Another approach would be to locate date codes on some of the components and interpret them at this site:

https://www.vintage-trek.com/component_dates.htm

Once you've zeroed in on the model year you can continue your research and possibly identify the model name.
Good luck and good hunting.

Cheers!

michael k

Hi Lana,
I can't help to think the fork has been replaced at one time as most would have been painted.I've owned several Moto mixte's (74' to 75') and none of them had the model names on them,possibly a Mirage.

The wheels look like replacements as the originals most likely would be steel rims.

Can you post pictures of the seat tube decal ( looks interesting) and the rear derailer area?

Heres my '75.


When I brought her home...


And a quick shot of the '74.

oddjob2

I sold a later model MB Super Mirage Mixte probably early 80's with a full chrome fork that was original to the frame.

Lana1555

Thanks everyone for your replies! Michael, that 75 is exquisite - what handlebars and brakes do you have on it?

I looked around Tonton Velo a bit and found some similar head badge shapes from the 60s. I haven't been able to find any date codes on the components, but here's a picture of what's left of the seat tube decal. It looks like it was a diamond with the two heads facing each other in the middle.

The fork is a mystery. There are a few frames in the 80s that had full-chrome forks, but they didn't have the swoopy M fork crown that mine has - I haven't been able to find one like that in any of the pictures I've looked at. Does anyone recognize it?