Andy_K 

So last week I picked up a 1972 Motobecane Grand Record frame and fork.



Those who are passionate about patina or even period-correct restorations should stop reading now.

I wasn't even in the market for another bike when I found this, but when I find a frame of this quality in my size for under $50 what am I supposed to do? I still might have been able to pass on it until I had an idea for what it could look like with a new palette but keeping the traditional Motobecane style. From that point on, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Here's a software rendering of the color scheme I have in mind:



As some of you may know, I am more of a retro-roadie kind of guy than a C&V purist, so when I started thinking about what parts to put on it I went straight to modern. Of course, this frame wasn't built for modern parts. I could have mostly made it work with a collection of clamp on parts, but since it needed to be repainted anyway, I thought why not go the whole nine yards.

This weekend, my Grand Record got to make a visit to the legendary Gugie Workshop. We talked about my plans for the bike and @gugie prepared a meticulous design document in steel and Sharpie.



By Sunday afternoon, it was ready, complete with downtube shifter bosses, top tube and chain stay cable stops, and dual water bottle bosses.













And, of course, the rear spacing updated from 120 to 130mm.



Now I need to sell another bike to raise cash for the repainting and to make room in the garage. I'll update this thread more as I make progress with this one.

fender1

Looks good! Too bad couldn't put some vertical drop outs in as well.

Andy_K 

I didn't even think about that. I bet he could have.

Honestly though, I want to let the bike keep some of its original soul.

himespau 

I'll be interested to see how it comes out.

Bikerider007

I am a bit of a purist but still appreciate good work and unique builds. Each his own and taking it to Gugie was a great idea. Looking forward to progress.

gugie 

It's something I've thought about in the past. I'd like to do it on one of my "lesser" frames hanging up in the shop first. On the 650b rando conversions I've been doing, fender lines are real important. I usually have to "cheat" a bit and make a slightly bigger gap at the chainstay bridge connection to get a 42mm wide tire out without deflating. You have to push hard, but it makes it. I've thought about grinding down the tips of the horiziontal dropouts 5mm or so and carefully filing to make it look right, but vertical dropouts are the best answer.

This will be a winter project at some point. Gotta find the right verticals to match the angles of a Campy 1010 dropout, which is what most vintage frames have. I'm not sure, but most of the other common horizontal dropouts around that time (Huret, SunTour) should have pretty close to the same dimensions, so if I make it work with Campy, should work with those as well.

gugie 

Thanks for the pimp!

I'd like to know how you do the software color change!

Andy_K 

There's an app for that, of course. A couple of the free ones want you to give them a five star review before they'll let you use the re-coloring feature. The one I used is called "Recolor - Color effects" and it let me do it just for tolerating ads.

old's'cool

The frame angles look pretty relaxed, and the rear chainstays look decently long... do you happen to have the figures?

gugie 

Didn't have the fork, I'll have Andy bring it back when he's done and measure it all up for my "database" of frames. I've had a couple of Grand Sports come through the shop this summer, both were 74 degree head tube, 73 seat. The stays really weren't that long, but could take a wide tire because of dented stays. Those were both a year or two more recent than Andy's '72, though.

jeirvine 

Great project. Glad that frame found a good home.

Andy_K 

I haven't measured with wheels on it, but if the top tube is dead level and I read the gauge correctly the seat and head tube are both 72.5 degrees. The chainstays are 430 mm (measured to a wheel position near the front of the drop outs). The interesting thing is that the seat tube is longer than the top tube (565 ctc vs. 555).

gugie 

That makes sense. Raleighs from that time period tightened up a bit from 71 to 73. The Motobecanes, however, had shorter top tubes than Raleighs - note to self when recommending vintage frames, long legs get the Motos, long torsos get the Raleighs?

Andy_K 

I'm gathering parts, anticipating getting the frame back from the powder coater soon.

noobinsf 

Eager to see the result!

motogeek 

That will be a nice looking bike when finished, Andy. I've got somewhat of a similar project on the bench for this winter that Gugie had a hand in. My '75 silver and black Grand Record was modified by Gugie to run MAFAC Canti's. It's paint when I got it was just slightly better than yours and I felt no need to preserve it's patina. But instead of going with modern gear, I'm using all French stuff from the mid '70s ... TA crank, Jubilee derailleurs, MAFAC canti's, Lyotard platform pedals, Simplex seatpost, yada yada. Like you, I intend to keep the original paint design, but the bike will either be orange with ivory panels or ivory with copper panels. Will post to the forum when this gets under way. Good luck with your project!

TenGrainBread 

I'm 100% on board with the powder scheme and Centaur stuff...but please don't put that Specialized saddle on there

Andy_K 

Don't worry, when I'm riding the bike it will be completely obscured from view.

RiddleOfSteel

Ooooh, I like your plan! I do much the same on my bikes--upgrade the era or just go plain modern groupsets. That Campy grouppo should work very well. 9s is solid stuff.

Andy_K 

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one. It seems kind of funny that putting on 14 year old shifters and a 19 year old crank and derailleurs "modernizes" the bike, but I guess when the frame is 44 years old that's the way it is.

I got the Racing T stuff from forum member Brewsmith more than a month ago and did notice until I pulled it out to take pictures this morning that the granny ring on this crank is a 26T. That'll be nice with the 12-27 cassette I have put aside for this project.

Wildwood 

Hmmmm... vintage build with 9speed racing triple. Schweeet.

Now if I could find some clamps.....

Andy_K 

Yeah, this sort of project might work with a Dutch bike that's also been through Atelier Gugie, huh?

BTW, the crankset above isn't the one I was talking to you about. I have another Racing T crankset with 52-42-30 rings that is still looking for a home. I just took a look at it and the rings are in much better shape than I remembered. They have a lot scuffs on the inside from shifting, but the teeth look pretty good. Let me know if you'd like to see some pictures.

gugie 

I think Andy's frame missed seeing your frame by a couple of weeks. It's funny how I hadn't done any Moto frame work, then I had 3 in 3 months come through the shop. I had forgotten that Raleigh made a Super Tourer back in the day, then I bought a frame from another forum member. Two weeks after that a buddy from Port Townsend, WA that works in their local co-op had one come in and was headed to Portland for a visit, so I got that one as well. A few weeks after that @bear-a-bug contacted me about doing a rando convert on one he picked up at the big auction site.

Michael Angelo 

What bottom bracket are you going to use?

sdn40

Powdercoat with maroon paint over the top ???