Vintage Motobecane Touring, Commuter Bike
This was another one of those projects that was tough to complete. Necessity of delicate torching so as not to bubble the paint at the head tube and once the fork was free heating the steer tube and using vice grips to remove the broken stem. Proved to be worthwhile effort as the UNO stem used to replace the original stem provides a much more comfortable riding position for bike commuting or touring. Cheers! | This is a rare '81 Motobecane Prestige 58cm steel lugged frame with original Sachs Huret front and rear derailleurs, shifters and adjustable rear dropouts. Found this bike stored at my cabin in Colorado when I went to visit earlier this spring. Whether someone left it there for me to repair or just donated it is uncertain, though it certainly needed some attention as the cottered cranks were worn to the point that new pins wouldn't correct the crank arm alignment. Also, the stem was seized inside the fork steer tube due to someone having over tightened the stem bolt so much that the wedge nut inside the steer tube had expanded and split the stem tube! I considered blowing off the project until I got to looking at the finer details of the bike's design. Original working generator with frame specific mounting bracket and spoke lock, under frame braze ons for the generator wire routing to front and rear lights is such a unique, practical and thoughtful touch on the part of building a commuter bicycle and combined with the chrome fenders and chrome rear rack complementing this commuter friendly 700c ride, I decided to restore the bike. The bottle generator is not at all like the after market versions we see today. An integrated mounting plate is actually a part of the seat stay next to the keyed spoke lock. Lights work at a very low speed with less resistance than today's cheap after market stuff and is very quiet. Schwalbe Marathon 700x32 tires work very well with the generator as the tires side walls are extremely durable. Replaced the original cottered crankset and bottom bracket with a chrome steel double chainring crankset with integrated chain guard and used a sealed cartridge bottom bracket. Built with convenience of bicycle commuting in mind without necessity of stuffing a pant leg into a sock. Practical note; Modern upgrades provide a more service friendly component group for other shops who may service this bike in the future. Most of the parts and accessories for these projects can be found at Jenson USA, click on banner ad at right to shop their site. |