Orange Motobecane - Now a Flat Bar Road and Work Bike
 

There has been a number of threads featuring road bike frames with flat bars. I figured I could slip in another one without attracting too much attention. Haha

I have just completed my re-build of a Motobecane Turino Team gravel/adventure bike I purchase new in July. A theft-related insurance settlement made it possible to replace the frame with a higher spec model. And so I donated the Motobecane's WTB wheels to my son and contemplated how N+1 would play out with the bright orange frame hanging in my workshop.

What good build doesn't start with a "real" need? My need? I no longer owned a bike I could comfortably leave in front of the grocery store without panic. The bike would be for my shopping trips and other "pull out the bike" errands that come up.

Here's the concise build list (skip ahead for the pics):

* Motobecane Turino Team Frame & Fork (aluminum w/ carbon fork) 55cm, 73/72 st/ht angles
* Nashbar MT2 crankset (170mm, 44/32, no inner ring)
* Specialized 120mm alloy stem
* Carbon flat bar (3K, generic), 600mm
* MOWA alloy bar caps
* Specialized P2 Overendz bar ends
* ODI Ruffian lock on grips
* Avid Elixir 3 hydraulic brakes w/ 160mm Shimano discs
* Sram X5 9-speed rear shifter
* Sram X9 2-speed front shifter
* Sram X9 rear derailleur, long cage
* Shimano R440 (mtb pull) 9-speed front derailleur
* Shimano CS-HG70 9spd, 11-32 cassette
* Vuelta Nine LE wheels, 29", 32 spokes 3X f&r
* WTB Volt Satin steel saddle
* Vittoria Rondonneur tires, 700X32
* 3M Black reflective tape

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps7uoetsps.jpg

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http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...pseuio8zyy.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...psedrhiexv.jpg

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Looks great! I applaud all cyclists. And especially those that wrench!

Nice! Only thing I'd do differently would be to use a more townie-like bar with more sweep and ditch the bar ends but that looks like it should be a fun ride.

I don't like bars with sweep and without bar ends my hands cramp too quickly. I need the added positions they provide. I wish I could have been more inventive but the townie bars are too difficult to climb with on our hills. From my house, it's 390 feet to the bottom of the hill. About 3/4 mile in distance. With that kind of elevation gain for "errands", I need to be able to use my arm/chest muscles to brace my legs while grinding out the pace which means hands on the grips or ends and lots of tugging.

Anyway, a lot of choices were for purely practical reasons. At heart I'm a road rider and I finally found the stretch* I needed by going 20mm longer on the stem, dropping 10mm in stack height, and flat bars with minimal sweep.

Thanks for the compliments!

* I think I must have long arms for my height.

Nice. Orange must be my favorite bike color, I have 4 of them. :)

I'm not sure I like the tape, but you sure did a neat job with it. Well done!

Fenders are fitted nicely too. Do they rattle and/or rub the tire? Seems like with that style of stays and being that close to the tire they would.

Nooobody likes stickers! (In your best Monty Python/John Cleese voice.)

In all honesty, I'm not sure I like them either. But Mom always reminded me, "Neatness counts." I made a cardboard template of a chainstay protector and then cut out the shape over and over. The tape lights up very brightly when lit by headlights. I like the visibility it brings and while I too am a fan of orange, I don't object to covering some of the Motobecane art (of which there is an abundance, haha) and "breaking-up" visually some of that orangeness. It's a very strong color!

I'd like to be more creative with the stickers. (Because our days are extremely short this time of year, I really feel I need to add reflective elements.) I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination.

The fenders don't rattle. This is my first use of Raceblade fenders and frankly, i'm pretty impressed with the system. Being able to take off the fenders in a matter of seconds means I don't necessarily have to ride with them. They don't rub either. The stays are pretty close to the tires but the triangulation of the piece, its light weight, and the strong rubber bands that attach to the stays/fork keep them from shifting around. These are the largest size offered as a "Raceblade" and I don't think they are intended for use with a 32mm wide tire. But the Vittoria's are a narrow 32 (more like 31) and I've been able to keep the spray to a minimum. I didn't use more traditional fenders because the fork doesn't have a fender mount and I really stalled creatively when it came to coming up with a work around. The brake posts on the fork make it extremely difficult to affix any sort of mount for a left front stay. Like the stickers, the fenders may not have been the best choice. Time will tell.

@cale
In the spirit of a couple of recent, now thankfully closed, threads, I can only say (without irony): Badger approves:thumb: Very nice build.

I am confused, sorry. What happened to the original components of the Turino TEAM? The Omni Strada TRAIL would have saved you a lot of trouble and money, and it comes in that exact same orange but with a unpainted carbon fork.

@cale , I'm a bit confused too. Were you able to buy just the frame set or a whole bike? It seems that none of the spec'd parts from the BD model it left. I've been almost ready to pull the trigger on one of these but just can't do it for one reason or another. The BD complete bike seems to be nicely equipped, too much so to have not used any of the parts if you did get a complete bike. It looks great, well minus the tape but still nice.

The Motobecane Turino Team was my replacement for a bike stolen on July 11. I choose it because I was excited to try out the latest Shimano mechanical/hydro dual control levers. The fact that the bike fit really well and was a nicely balanced ride (pretty neutral handling) made it a great purchase. What I didn't know at the time and would learn 3-weeks later was that my insurance claim which included a replacement frame and that with the purchase of this replacement frame, I would be entitled to receive the depreciation that had been deducted when calculating replacement value. (A clause in my homeowners policy made possible depreciation recovery. I had been paying for it, 16 years , and didn't know it existed. I'd never made a claim before this stolen bike.)

Here's where things get a little goofy. My stolen bike shared its name with a Ti model made by the same UK company; the company's products are not distributed in the US. The insurance company was limited by their internal policy to sourcing price quotes exclusively from domestic vendors. Despite the records I had submitted at the time I made my claim, the insurance company provided for a Ti replacement frame. The valuation would apply towards any similarly priced frames and with its purchase (I'd send the receipt to the insurance company), I would receive the depreciation. In fact, every part, component, accessory on the bike, etc. was fair game for depreciation recovery, I just had to buy the stuff and provide the receipts.

Once I had the Litespeed T5g in my hands, there was nothing that could have forced me to return it, even though the amount of money it cost was obscene. Haha

So the Motobecane gave up its drivetrain and cockpit (sans saddle and seatpost) to the Litespeed. Because the wheels from the Moto weren't compatible with the thru axle design of the Litespeed and fork, I gave those parts to my son's bike. (That's a different story.)

I was left with a frame and fork (plus saddle and seatpost) and that's where this thread comes in.

Sorry for the long winded reply.

Thanks for sharing your interest.

I don't know if it's up to the high mark set by @ErichVonCartman, but that's a nice looking bike.

Thanks for the compliments. See my reply above for the explanation of how a few weeks changed my outlook for the Motobecane Turino Team. It is, in fact, an extremely good bike and as is evidenced in my posts, I really wanted to keep it and build it up again.

Thanks for clearing that up. I have an Onni Strada TRAIL, love the orange.

Wow! That's a whole lot like what my Moto became (get it? moto-became, motobecane, ... nevermind).

I love carving corners on the bike and bombing down hills. I love this Moto bike and always smile when I see fellow orange riders.

Good job Cale! Looks great... I am sure butt hurt by the drop bar girls will follow shortly!

Thanks for pointing me to this thread Andy. For a moment there I thought I was the only one on this Earth that did the "crime" of putting a flat bar on a road bike! Glad to find another "Rebel".

Cales bike is good to go.

my flat bar road bike is a road bike, so that is why I posted in the road bike section... But that irritated a lot of people, they told me I should post in the mountain bike section or the hybrid section! I don't even know what a hybrid is! What is a hybrid? Half bike and half shoe?

Now I know! Even though I have a road bike, I can't post it in the road bike section because it has flat bars. Now I know! Knowledge is Power!

so I moved my bike to the commuter section, and it gets locked there too! What do I need to do to be legal and legit around here?

I guess I'm curious with all of the above, what the point of installing flat bars was then?

I think the bike is outstanding. Very nice contrast with the orange and the black. I too at first was a little put off by the reflective tape, but safety is paramount and you did excellent work

Thanks. It is a whole lot like the Omni, that's why I said what I said. At any rate, you did a spectacular job.

I'm running an upside down north road bar. No use in buying the drop bar version and paying for brifters that I wasn't going to use. Besides, the drop bar version comes with cable discs, yeck. The brake levers and shifters that came with the Omni slide right on the north road bar without having to change the cable/hose lengths. The Tektro hydraulic discs are as good as any I used and I've used a lot.

Wondering though, if you covered up the Motobecane because of a status issue. I think people who ride Motobecanes are the smart people and those who won't have an issue. The TEAM is an unbeatable deal and now there are titanium versions, $2000 and $2300, incredible.

It wasn't your bike (which is actually pretty nice) that got your threads locked, it was your relentless over the top posts. Kinda troll like. Now you know, knowledge is power. :thumb:

You raise a good point. I still have the original bars from the Turino Team (which came with mech/hydro brifters) and could have picked up a great set of mechanical disc calipers with Tiagra brifters (the wheelset choice has to be factored in, so no 11spd). But the build would have been very close to what I did with the Litespeed. (See my posts regarding the raison d'etre of this build.)

Now (pausing to reflect).... somewhere down the line... the mech/hydro brifters (who knows? maybe DiX) will either come down in price or become more generally available "used". That would be great because I don't object to drop bars and am very comfortable with them. I appreciate the accuracy of your analysis and can only tell you that time will tell.

Over the years, I have owned a flat bar bike or two and can attest to the fact that you can get Great exercise on them. I think comfort is improved on longer errands with gloves and though I'd never owned a pair of bar ends, I like the Specialized P2 Overendz because I can shift around on them (like I can on the "hoods") to relieve pressure on my hands. I can also yank pretty hard on them to brace when climbing. They're a versatile addition whose weight is somewhat offset by the carbon bar.

Overall, the build is more "SUV" than "sports sedan". I'm okay with that and the flat bars do keep me more upright which is appropriate for our crowded city streets.

@cale,
Could you explain the mech/hydro brifters? I thought the bike had full hydraulic brakes. As I said, this is a bike I've been considering but just haven't been able to pull the trigger on. Did you ride this bike as it came? If so, how was it compared to other bikes you've ridden (what would those bikes be, high end entry level etc)?

It was the bike. It lead to comments and the Haterz exposed themselves. Can I help it if I like to be trolled? I think it's fair game to troll back to the trolls. No?

What at was so over the top? All I did was defend my choices and was willing to discuss. We all have different tastes, so if you criminalize for mine, I am always willing to discuss!