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1972 Motobecane Grand Record - part-out, or...

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1972 Motobecane Grand Record - part-out, or...

Old 06-21-18, 07:57 AM
  #1  
jj1091
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1972 Motobecane Grand Record - part-out, or...

Just picked up a 1972-ish Motobecane Grand Record, 52cm. It was in rather rough shape, paint-wise, looks like a clear-coat had turned to powder on the paint, and removing it or even getting down to something I could polish would involve completely re-sanding the frame, which would mostly destroy the graphics. It had a mish-mash of non-OEM parts, the only OEM parts were one Universal Mod-61 front caliper, Universal levers with destroyed hoods, Stronglight 49D crankset w/52-40, Stronglight Competition headset, Stronglight BB, and the cable-hanger quick-release levers.

Being that I almost never part-out anything, just mulling over whether to separate the F & F from the Stronglight headset and BB. They're in excellent condition, and seem to be somewhat scarce. But, would the frame then have any value without a headset and BB, or would it be better to attempt to sell the frame with the headset and BB?
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Old 06-21-18, 08:58 AM
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An enthusiast seeking an original Grand Record would value finding one with original fittings. One path to take might be to remove all of the non-original fittings and offer the balance as a partial cycle. In this manner it could be kept together as far a possible.

Given your finish restoration skills the "clear coat turned to powder" must be a pretty bad problem.

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Old 06-21-18, 09:04 AM
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With French bikes, I like to sell and buy them with HS and BB. If the frame is really trashed and this bike needs a paint job, then the value of the bike may be the HS and BB rather than the frame. It sounds like whoever buys this is going to want to repaint it.
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Old 06-21-18, 10:42 AM
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Originally Posted by juvela
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An enthusiast seeking an original Grand Record would value finding one with original fittings. One path to take might be to remove all of the non-original fittings and offer the balance as a partial cycle. In this manner it could be kept together as far a possible.

Given your finish restoration skills the "clear coat turned to powder" must be a pretty bad problem.

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Thanks. Yeah, the paint is fairly bad. I'd guess I'd spend 30-40 hours of hand-sanding/stripping to end up with a paint job that's merely a polished primer, even with surmising I could clean around the graphics well enough to salvage them. It doesn't seem worth it to buy replacement decals and go through that amount of work to salvage a sellable frame that wouldn't net much. A larger frame size, maybe, but with 52cm ST and 55cm TT, it would be a limited-market sell.
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Old 06-21-18, 10:45 AM
  #5  
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Originally Posted by bikemig
With French bikes, I like to sell and buy them with HS and BB. If the frame is really trashed and this bike needs a paint job, then the value of the bike may be the HS and BB rather than the frame. It sounds like whoever buys this is going to want to repaint it.
Yes, I've never bought a frame without HS and BB, and without those, I wouldn't give $20 for the F & F. It's only 3 tubes 531, so not valuable. I'll probably salvage the HS and BB, and see if I can donate the frame.
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Old 06-21-18, 11:00 AM
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Does it appear to you that the clear coat is factory original?

Do not recall these as coming through with a clear coat but it could just be my poor memory or that never noticed....


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Old 06-21-18, 02:34 PM
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Originally Posted by juvela
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Does it appear to you that the clear coat is factory original?

Do not recall these as coming through with a clear coat but it could just be my poor memory or that never noticed....


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It may not be a clear coat, possibly just severely oxidized paint. I can scrape it off with a fingernail in spots, just goes straight to the primer coat which seems to be fairly durable.
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Old 06-21-18, 03:15 PM
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Originally Posted by jj1091
It may not be a clear coat, possibly just severely oxidized paint. I can scrape it off with a fingernail in spots, just goes straight to the primer coat which seems to be fairly durable.
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Thank you Mike!

Jacksonville = Atlantic Ocean adjacent

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Old 06-22-18, 07:54 AM
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I don't know if this will work but if you could clean the frame without rubbing the paint off you could try spraying it with Rustoleum clear lacquer. This is an acrylic lacquer that is o/k for exterior use . One property of lacquer is that it dissolves into itself. Assuming that the original paint is lacquer( and given the condition you describe i think it is) the new lacquer top coat will dissolve the powdery lacquer underneath and leave a nice shiny surface.

I used to be a cabinet finisher and many times was able to rejuvenate the finish on old cabinets and furniture this way. By a can of rustoleum clear lacquer and spray on a small spot and see if it works. you might be pleasantly surprised. I have done this on a number of bikes with spectacular results.
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Old 06-22-18, 08:01 AM
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If the original paint is enamel would this result in a bad reaction?

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Old 06-22-18, 11:51 AM
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I would start with polishing compound, and if that doesn't work, rubbing compound. You can find both in the automotive section of your favorite store, Walmart, or whatever. Rubbing compound is more aggressive than polishing compound, so don't get carried away.
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Old 06-22-18, 02:20 PM
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Originally Posted by capnjonny
I don't know if this will work but if you could clean the frame without rubbing the paint off you could try spraying it with Rustoleum clear lacquer. This is an acrylic lacquer that is o/k for exterior use . One property of lacquer is that it dissolves into itself. Assuming that the original paint is lacquer( and given the condition you describe i think it is) the new lacquer top coat will dissolve the powdery lacquer underneath and leave a nice shiny surface.

I used to be a cabinet finisher and many times was able to rejuvenate the finish on old cabinets and furniture this way. By a can of rustoleum clear lacquer and spray on a small spot and see if it works. you might be pleasantly surprised. I have done this on a number of bikes with spectacular results.
Old guitars can be oversprayed with new lacquer and achieve a finish almost indistinguishable from new. CF Martin used to routinely respray guitars that came back to the factory for repair and if there had been no damage to the wood, I couldn't tell the finish from new. Apperently, differences could be discerned under black light by experts. So, it seems like it would be worth a try on the bike. Because dried lacquer remains soluble with lacquer thinner, a lacquer finish can be removed with lacquer thinner. There may be differences in the chemical composition of thinners used during different eras and for different lacquer varieties but it seems like just typical generic lacquer thinner does the trick. If the bike was sprayed with lacquer, it's probably recent enough to have been with an acrylic rather than nitorcellulose lacquer, but I have no idea if that would make a difference.
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Old 06-23-18, 04:40 AM
  #13  
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Thanks for the suggestions, all. I ended up donating the frame and fork and moved the Stronglight goodies to my '74 Peugeot PX-8. I replaced the cottered crankset on it with the Stronglight 49D square-tapered crankset and BB from the Moto, and also used the Stonglight Competition headset to replace the OEM Peugeot headset. Nice upgrades for the $60 cost of the Moto. Plus, I now have a nice spare set of wheels, Normandy Luxe Competition hubs laced to Weinmann alloy 27 x 1-1/4 rims. Thank you Moto.
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Old 06-23-18, 05:44 PM
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Sounds good Mike; great to read you got everything squared away.

Please don't forget to update the PX-8 thread!

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