jwats

There are two advertised for sale in Minneapolis at the same price

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/a...134327197.html

and

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/h...134018986.html

Which would you choose, and would the winner be a decent buy at $200? What might be issues and concerns?

Thank you!

John

jlaw

I'm not claiming expert status...but IMO it's the Grand Jubilee hands down! If for no other reason than the better 'flick' on the fork! Pretty sure the GJ was well above the Mirage in the line-up. And a much better paint scheme. And those cool, high flange hubs!

CliffordK

Which bicycle FITS?

The Grand Jubilee appears to be about a 58cm to 60cm frame (around 6' rider).
The Mirage Sport is maybe a 54cm or so frame (around 5'6 rider).

The Grand Jubilee should be a better/lighter frame. But, the Mirage Sport is probably 10 years newer. All else considering, I'd choose the Grand Jubilee.

jwats

I was also worried about the frame being too large, but the owner is 5'8", my height, so it could work. I greatly prefer the Grand Jubilee as well, but it never hurts to ask.

How do people feel about the $200 asking price?

Thanks again

John

bikemig 

$200 is a very reasonable price on the GJ particularly since the pandemic has driven up the price of bikes. It's likely somewhat on the large size for you but do a bit of reading on "French" fit. I'd buy that bike and then post some questions here about how best to fix it up. It's great bike. I have a Motobecane Grand Record the same as at that GJ and it is very good riding bike.

By the way, the rear derailleur and shifters have a value in the used market.

alcjphil

Just because the owner is your height does not mean that the bike fits you. Rather, it would fit you as poorly as it fit the original owner

zukahn1 

The Grand Jubilee is gone hope you got it very nice bike at great price. The Mirage Sports is also a good bike with a just OK price.

jwats

I bought the Motobecane Grand Jubilee for $200 and it was/is comfortable ride, needed nothing

I asked what do you know about the history?

He said ' I know it all, I bought in in 1976 for $1200."how much has it been ridden? He said " In all those years, maybe 1,000 miles"

oldspokes

Back in 1976 I bought a brand new Motobecane Grand Jubile, the hang tag on the bike at the dealer said $477, I walked out the door that day with the bike with a Pletcher stand and rear rack, plus a Huret belt driven cyclometer for $502.99 It was in mid October, I remember only getting a few chances to ride it before the weather turned that year. The following year I put maybe 900 miles on it. I bought a car around that time and the bike sat, eventually getting passed around in my family for about 20 years or so. I got it back a few years ago, went through the whole bike, and listed it on CL for $525 in good riding shape. The paint was mint, the wheels were original, (Weinmann, and the original Suntour Cyclone derailleurs were still on the bike. The Huret cyclometer read 1,400 miles but had lost its belt at some point. I had torn the bike completely down, replaced the tires and tubes, all the cables and housings and gave it some new red bar tape. After a couple of months on CL, it sold for $425 cash to a guy who drove over 400 miles to get it.
They were good bikes, a solid mid range model that competed with the Raleigh Super Course, Schwinn Letour, Nishiki International, and other similarly priced bikes. They were the first jump up in price in most lineups, that year the GJ was #4 from the top of the line, or I believe 3rd from the bottom if you want to look at it that way.
Personally, I never bothered with models any higher up the food chain, the way I looked at it was that the top models usually came with tubular tires, not something I ever cared to deal with, sometimes the two top models had tubs. The next models generally had Campy components, which to me, were more costly, but not necessarily that much better compared to what the mid grade bikes had. A few ounces here and there didn't mean much to me since I didn't race. To be honest, any bike over the smallest size frame never came close to the advertised weight in the brochures anyway, and me, a big guy, with big concerns about breaking fragile lightweight parts preferred to have a bike I could trust. The cool paint scemes on the Motobecane GJ was a good bit of what made up my mind. The bike was very similar to a Raleigh Super Course right next to it. The GJ had better dropouts, nicer lugs, a mine was a classy champagne silver with red trim. The other color was black with red trim but the dealer didn't have any in that color in my size. (All the black bikes they had were '77 models for more money, the rims had been made narrower on the new models I preferred the earlier rim style and the $10 cheaper price). The following spring, I went back and bought the then left over red Raleigh Super Course that was next to it, the dealer was retiring and had a sale going, so I got it at a discount. I still own the Raleigh, and its rolled over its Huret Multito several times, mostly back in the day but I'll likely never sell that one.