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Motobecane 72 Le Champion and 72 Grand Record

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Motobecane 72 Le Champion and 72 Grand Record

Old 08-27-19, 10:15 PM
  #1  
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Motobecane 72 Le Champion and 72 Grand Record



Le Champion first Grand Record to follow









l bought these off of Craigslist today in Minneapolis. I sent the seller an email late last night shortly after he listed them and received a reply this morning. When I got to his house he told me that I responded first but that he had a half dozen interested parties waiting if I decided to pass. Stop me if you heard this next line. “I don’t really need anymore bikes but”.....he had them priced accordingly.

Le Champion: $50

Grand Record: $100

Grand Record to follow.

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Old 08-27-19, 10:23 PM
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The Grand Record
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Old 08-27-19, 10:38 PM
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The Grand record is likely to become a donor bike as the paint is in really sorry shape and the Campy bits will fill quite a few holes in some of the other projects I’m building from my never ending list. The frame will be a flip. The Le Champion, I’ll be refurbishing and keeping forever and ever.

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Old 08-27-19, 11:04 PM
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Yeah, I'm always one of the other five guys.

Nice le champion score. And that's a helluva donor bike.
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Old 08-27-19, 11:18 PM
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Originally Posted by SurferRosa
Yeah, I'm always one of the other five guys.

Nice le champion score. And that's a helluva donor bike.
Thanks SurferRosa! I’m usually one of the other 5 people too. All of my other bikes I’ve either paid for or overpaid for, there was no other option. I agree it’s a helluva donor, maybe too much. I really hate parting out a bike like this Grand Record but I’ve got some of these same parts sitting in my eBay cart that’ll cost quite a bit more than I spent here.

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Old 08-27-19, 11:23 PM
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I am wondering why the pricing was not the other way around... but either way if you get both I suppose! Lot of Motobecane action on the forum recently - beautiful bikes.
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Old 08-27-19, 11:40 PM
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I swear I see signs of a front-end collision on the Le Champion. I'd look at it closely.

Nice scores, if only for the parts. What kind of wheels are on the Le Champion? It occurred to me they alone may be worth the entire admission price.

DD
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Old 08-27-19, 11:48 PM
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Originally Posted by jetboy
I am wondering why the pricing was not the other way around... but either way if you get both I suppose! Lot of Motobecane action on the forum recently - beautiful bikes.
I asked the seller about that and he explained to me that he had to pay quite a bit to have the Campy Tipo hubs laced to clinchers so he wanted more because he thought nobody rides tubulars anymore. I thought, okay.....I’ll be riding tubulars on the Le Champion and I couldn’t be happier about that. The clincher wheels will come in handy though as I’ll rotate them on a few different Campy equipped bikes that can take 700c wheels where I normally ride tubulars.
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Old 08-28-19, 12:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Drillium Dude
I swear I see signs of a front-end collision on the Le Champion. I'd look at it closely.

Nice scores, if only for the parts. What kind of wheels are on the Le Champion? It occurred to me they alone may be worth the entire admission price.

DD
No bent fork, no ripples in the down tube, no paint flaking Around the lug at all. Some more pics.
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Old 08-28-19, 12:06 AM
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Could be slight damage on the top tube when looking at the pics but it just looks like somewhat shoddy brazing when standing in front of it. Either way $50.
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Old 08-28-19, 12:18 AM
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Here are the wheels. All of these photos are of the wheels on the Le Champion. I moved to the other side of the building for better lighting.
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Old 08-28-19, 01:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Pcampeau
Could be slight damage on the top tube when looking at the pics but it just looks like somewhat shoddy brazing when standing in front of it. Either way $50.
No, you're probably correct. I was concerned that in addition to the curious loss of paint on the forward fork leg at the crown (not a normal place to lose paint), it seemed I could barely make out some cracking paint near the point on the lower head lug. Typically, that indicates a crash in the bike's past, but now I see from your new pics that your paint has that way-cool patina/beausage of spiderweb cracks in the paint. I've seen this on a fellow Forumite's very old Peugeot and it absolutely defines that bike. It looks great here, too.

DD
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Old 08-28-19, 04:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Drillium Dude
.. but now I see from your new pics that your paint has that way-cool patina/beausage of spiderweb cracks in the paint. I've seen this on a fellow Forumite's very old Peugeot and it absolutely defines that bike. It looks great here, too.

DD
There's a name for that, Dude. Craquelure. Or in French, craquele'. The French paint jobs were great at it, it seems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craquelure
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Old 08-28-19, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by rootboy
There's a name for that, Dude. Craquelure. Or in French, craquele'. The French paint jobs were great at it, it seems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craquelure
Yeah, my early 70s Moto GR has lots of that as well. Otherwise the paint is in good shape and doing its job. I paid more for mine than did the OP, though!
@Pcampeau, are there any tubing stickers on your GR? How did you date it as a '72?

Just curious as my early 70s Moto GR had Reynolds stickers for the forks but the frame tubing sticker was trashed before I picked up the bike and I could not read it. My bike, like yours, came with a TA double. I'm not entirely certain of the date on mine,

though.https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ld-thread.html

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Old 08-28-19, 07:29 AM
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What a score!

Gonna keep that patina paint, or have it refinished?

I'm a big Motobecane fan. Great bikes!
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Old 08-28-19, 07:44 AM
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As a Motobecane Grand Touring rider, nice score! I can't wait to see the 'after' pics.

Cheers!
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Old 08-28-19, 08:20 AM
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Nice pair of 1253 Tipo hubs with oval holes. They were made solely for Moto Le Champs.
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Old 08-28-19, 08:22 AM
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Originally Posted by Pcampeau


Here are the wheels. All of these photos are of the wheels on the Le Champion. I moved to the other side of the building for better lighting.
This same sticker is on a wheel set that came with my Raleigh Pro...which was originally from Minneapolis. Very cool to see this on another bike! Wheels are very well-built so you probably have a very nice set of wheels there too.
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Old 08-28-19, 08:25 AM
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Kidney bean tipo, nice find.
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Old 08-28-19, 08:45 AM
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Also a Moto_GT rider and yes OP that was some score give those high end Moto's some love!
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Old 08-28-19, 09:02 AM
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Thanks for all the comments. I’m keeping most of the patina but something has to be done about the missing paint on the fork. It’s down to bare metal. I didn’t know that these hubs were exclusive to the Le Champion so that’s great that they are both still with the bike. It’s kinda cool, the seller took non-drive side photos for his ad at quite a distance so I couldn’t really see what I buying until I got there. His ad just said Motobecane bikes. I knew the Grand Record had Nervex lugs and the hubs looked like they could be Campy, so there was that to go on, but the other bike...? Motobecane has used that paint scheme on many bikes up and down the catalog but in this case I noticed down tube shifters, and those hubs. I wasn’t sure they were Campy until I was standing in front of the bike. Then I looked at the lug details and the top tube script. I couldn’t believe my eyes! There it was, a little scuffed but plenty clear, the words Le Champion. I might have given him $50 for it even if it were a Mirage, or a Super Mirage, but I was buying a Le Champion.

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Old 08-28-19, 09:20 AM
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Originally Posted by jeirvine
Nice pair of 1253 Tipo hubs with oval holes. They were made solely for Moto Le Champs.
I haven't seen those before and I didn't know that. My early 70s Moto GR came with maillard competition luxe hubs (which is more common from what I've seen). It can be tough dating 70s era bikes as manufacturers changed components during the boom with some regularity.
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Old 08-28-19, 10:49 AM
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The dating thing is interesting, to me. Though hardly matters. Great deal on both of these bikes.
I'd be curious to hear how the OP dated these bikes too. Though not disputing his claim, at all.
Told so by the seller? Other clues?
Some of the parts on the bikes are an interesting mix. Weinmann brakes on both bikes. Neither came standard that wayif I remember correctly.
Cinelli 1A stem and Cinelli bars on the Le Champion. Also not standard. Is there a patent number stamped on the underside of that stem, Pcampeau?
Pat. date on the rear derailleur?
Also, the dates on the inside of the hub lock nuts would be interesting to know, if it has any.
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Old 08-28-19, 11:15 AM
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Originally Posted by rootboy
The dating thing is interesting, to me. Though hardly matters. Great deal on both of these bikes.
I'd be curious to hear how the OP dated these bikes too. Though not disputing his claim, at all.
Told so by the seller? Other clues?
Some of the parts on the bikes are an interesting mix. Weinmann brakes on both bikes. Neither came standard that wayif I remember correctly.
Cinelli 1A stem and Cinelli bars on the Le Champion. Also not standard. Is there a patent number stamped on the underside of that stem, Pcampeau?
Pat. date on the rear derailleur?
Also, the dates on the inside of the hub lock nuts would be interesting to know, if it has any.
My 1976 Grand Touring was purchased new by my father, and has a few items that don't match that year's catalog such as Dia-Compe levers and Gran-Compe side-pull brakes rather than Weinmann center pulls. The catalog may have also indicated a different crankset other than the SR Apex crankset on the bike, but I don't know that one for sure. They weren't replaced after purchase, but came that way. I would think they were just trying to keep up with production during those heady years...
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Old 08-28-19, 11:26 AM
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While I can’t be certain about the dates of production, both rear derailleurs are pat.72. The seller believes he bought them around this time and this color scheme on the Le Champion was available in 72/73. I haven’t researched the colors on the Grand Record. I know parts can be swapped and all but I just don’t care about the dates all that much. We’re in the ballpark here, but I’ll post pics of the serial numbers in case anyone else is interested in the production year. I’ve checked the catalog and it looks like the stem and handlebars should be 3ttt and the brakes Universal. These components are nice enough however and I don’t plan on making changes at this time.

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