Originally Posted by
bikemig
The "older" Motobecanes were French threaded (70s and earlier I believe) but the "later" ones (80s?) were Swiss. I'm not sure of the dates when the switch was made but there are some threads here on that topic.
Do you need to get the fixed cup out? You can clean it up and ride it as is. This is a stronglight BB, right? Stronglight spindles are easy to find and the BBs are very good quality. I wouldn't be in a hurry to run an expensive threadless BB. Plus French and Swiss BBs are available new. French is a heck of a lot easier to find than Swiss though.
What kind of gearing do you want? Didn't this bike some with a stronglight 99 crank? That is a very good and very versatile 86 bcd crank. It can go as low as 28 so it makes a very good vintage compact crank. Chainrings are readily available at reasonable prices since so many of these were sold.
Bottom line is I wouldn't spend money on parts for this bike before figuring out whether the existing parts can do the job you want.
great advice. It came with a motobecane branded 130mm bcd crank of asian origin. The bike is a 1978 if i am not mistaken. Seller thought 76 but the contrasting paint and crank say 78. Gearing wise i just want lower. I would use as is except i cant use my triplizer with the current crank and crank axle. Also it is one that uses fixing nuts instead of fixing bolts.