Andy_K 

I have those levers on a bike and rotated them up nearly as much as you have them. I start with them lower on the bar, but it just didn't feel comfortable. I feel like those are kind of a transitional piece between the modern "riding on the hoods" design and the older "ride on the bar and use the brakes to brake" design. You can set them up so the hoods are a comfortable riding position, but they're not quite made for it.

The bike looks fantastic. Nice work.

hokiefyd 

That's a great description. I've never spent real money to get a road bike with modern brifters. I think I'd likely enjoy something with a 50cm short-drop bar with huge brifters. I once had an '84 Schwinn that had 40cm drop bars (just like these) and classic levers and those weren't comfortable at all -- riding drops seemed to be required with those. These 105 levers are more comfortable, but I think I need a short-drop bar to make them more comfortable -- the curve radius of these classic bars is pretty large.

And then I get frustrated with the bar tape and not being able to easily configure and swap things around without re-wrapping stuff all the time. I'm used to flat bars where, if you want to change a brake lever or a shifter, you just loosen the lock nut on the grip and slide it off. I haven't really gotten into the Road Thing yet. This is my second dip-my-toe-in-the-water round, and this bike feels better to me than the Schwinn, but maybe not good enough to keep long term.

I suspect that I'm not spending enough money to find a road setup that'll keep me interested. But that's probably a discussion for a different thread.

Andy_K 

hokiefyd 

Yep -- these are Michelin Selects, in size 27x1, though they measure out to only 21mm or so. This bike has room for a true 28mm tire, but probably not much more. This is another reason why I'm probably leaning on allowing someone else to enjoy it. I typically like wider rubber on my bikes (I'm a 240# clyde).

As far as the ride, it seems nice. I'm not a C&V expert, but I'd say the ride is good, even with the thinner tires. Being an '82, it may be a little past the era of bikes that really "rode French", I don't know. My other project, that Pug Mixte, definitely has a soft ride quality to it.

I briefly had a flat bar on this Motobecane while I was still tinkering with it, and it seemed to be comfortable. If I could put 35s or 40s (tires) on it, then I might have done something a little different with it (city bike with uprights, or C&V "gravel bike" with modern drops). The extant 105 brake calipers will JUST reach a 622mm wheel, so a "700c" conversion would be doable.

Ngrandin

What you did with this bike is amazing. I just find one but not at 10$ and need to be fix....

Ngrandin

What you did with this bike is amazing. I just find one but not at 10$ and need to be fix....

hokiefyd 

Thank you, though I confess that it was remarkably clean under all the dust. It didn't need a lot of mechanical restoration. It has a new owner now who was pleased to own it!

Ngrandin

And how much did you sell it after the repair!?

hokiefyd 

It was significantly more than I paid for it, but I also put some new parts on it, or parts from my stash (new chain, new tubes I think, etc.) and I basically disassembled the entire bike for cleaning and re-lubing. I aim to at least break even with parts and I write my time off in the interest of learning and/or doing something I enjoy. I never truly make money on any of the bikes I buy and sell when factoring in personal time invested. :-)

bikemig 

That bike looks great; new tires would help but that would make this bike cost more than $45. $10 for the bike and $35 in parts is a great deal on this bike. If you plan on flipping, there is no reason to invest in new tires.

davester

Beautiful job! I'll happily give you $11 for it.

dddd

I'm late to this discussion, but would have suggested using a bench vise to clamp down on areas of the rim where the brakes grabbed. I have to do this often on certain of the early Japanese racing-style clincher rims having a tightly-fitted sleeve at the rim joint.

And as for the big chain gap, just last week I investigated improving the shifting on my Pro-Tour with it's Cyclone GT rear mech with 13-28t 6s freewheel.
What I did was to remove metal from the B-tension screw boss, allowing the derailer to swing forward enough to really improve shifting response.
I used a Dremel with a round-point carbide bit to make an indent for the derailer hanger stop to fall into. This of course after removing the B-tension screw completely.
The non-GT cage I believe has an offset pulley cage (guide pulley offset away from the pivot) which would close up the gap (when using 28t and smaller sized freewheels).

Hz1

Wonderful.
I bought a red one yesterday. Was going to upload photos, but I am too new here so not allowed.

SoccerBallXan

Very lovely, and nearly identical to mine. I’ve enjoyed every bit of the ride quality myself!

French steel is quick and real! I hope the new owner is enjoying the ride.

e: A photo for the road