francophile 

Paging juvela, hoping the prince of lugs (since he refuses the title of 'king' ) can answer that Q.

Nicely Planted!

cycleheimer

I have an '82 Moto GR. How much were these things back in the early '80s? Got a really nice deal on mine, and I am happy with it. Here is the catalog page for the '82 model.

francophile 

Assuming the original owner was truthful on the one I bought, apparently it was around $750. Unless my memory is failing me again, the Grand Record I've got was 3rd in the lineup for '81 in steel bikes, just behind the LC and then the TC. While I think the weight on this and the LC were within an ounce of each other, the previous one I had with a Ti-framed saddle and lighter wheelset was barely 21lbs, which was ballpark for the totl TC bikes in the early 80s.

This bike is a sleeper.

Part of me selfishly wishes this would've been a 59, but I really don't need another bike

francophile 

Oh - @cycleheimer I also have a Prolight, as seen on that catalog. Over here. Which strangely also came fully buttoned up with Arabesque. It was clearly a EU product, sold out of Germany.

unworthy1

juvela will have more, but whilst waiting for his post regarding the lugs the '79 catalog says of this era GR:
Double butted VITUS 172
(3 tubes) brazed-on cable guides
racing rear stays
Huret tips with adjusters
BOCAMA
professional cut out
VITUS blades
forged crown Italian style
ALSO, claimed weight for a full GR was "22-1/2 lbs." which is the same as the '79 Le Champion (with 531 and Campy ends), but the Team Champion (all Columbus with Campy ends) was 20-1/2 lbs.!

pastorbobnlnh 

The Helicomatic freewheel desperately needs some Spa time!

If it is beyond repair, I have cousins waiting and ready to jump at the opportunity to be mounted and ridden!

PhilFo 

Subscribed.
Barn finds are always fascinating threads. I love seeing old bikes like this resurrected.

francophile 

Small update on this one.

So, there was a bike under all the nastiness. But, as much as I want to save this one I'm not sure it's worthwhile. I'll know after throwing some acid gel on what appears to be a downtube crack. Which is weird, with no evidence of a front-ender, and I wouldn't expect a crack in this spot exactly. The vast majority of decals came off with a normal spray of waterhose, including some downtube stripes. If the frame is toast, I have a Grand Sprint the components would translate to nicely.

Pics worth a thousand words. At least the Campy pedals are still in solid shape 8/10 or 7/10, and the Cinelli stem is still in pretty solid shape too, and the sony BB, HS, Laprade seat post, and seat is surprisingly nice. Wheelset is toast, hubs may be salvageable.

Pcampeau

Unfortunate, oh well, now you’ll have to find another one yet again. Too bad, I was rooting for this one. At least it’s a good parts harvest.

cycleheimer

My '82 Grand Record was a fairly clean "barn find". I actually found it via the B.F. "are you looking for one of these" thread. I still have yet to disassemble and overhaul it. Nice riding bike.

francophile 

Well, managed to get the Cinelli stem out without any significant damage... I'm going to take a wild jab and say it's a 22.0 which would be nice. Everything else came off without much fuss.

I'll take some I'm having trouble letting go on this one. I see no major evidence of a front-ender and not aware of an issue these had with cracking on the downtube behind the head lug. I think I'll take some naval jelly to that apparent crank and lip of rust to see what's under it. If I can't see anything definitive, I may carefully take it down to paint along the line to check what's beneath it. Mismatched wheels are tooooooast. And we all love pics so here you go

francophile 

Looks awesome!

I can't speak to the '82 but at this point, I've had an 80 and 81 I believe, both in Vitus 172 and the damn things are just freaking sleepers. So snappy, so light, very nimble. I believe yours is 172 also. Chrome fork, I know it's original but almost wouldn't think it was!

SurferRosa

Any other clues like maybe the rear wheel is more period correct than the front?

francophile 

Rear and front hubs are datecode matched.

Rear and front rims are different but the rear is unknown boxed (Mavic or Wolber/Super Champion most likely) and front is Rigida, which is what it should have according to the catalog - https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalo...4_specs_p2.jpg

I mean, I suppose it's 100% possible the front got taco'd or other, and someone unlaced both wheels to put the original Rigida rim up front, but that's a wild expense with no clear benefit. I'm more inclined to believe a prior owner preferred having something wider out back and swapped out the skinny ass Rigida with something more substantial.

I'm at a loss. But fingers are crossed, maybe there's something here after all.

cycleheimer

It is Vitus 172. When I first saw the seller's photo I thought the chrome fork was a replacement. Then I looked up the catalog and found that's the way they came in '82. Yea, it's a nice rider. It was worth the trip I had to make to pick it up. I still hold 1978 to be my favorite Motobecane model year, but I am starting to become more open-minded. As far as being a sleeper, Motobecanes have to be some of the best sleepers out there. I've had several, and have never had any problems with them.

francophile 

If nothing else, and I find the DT is cracked, one LBS I periodically donate parts to gave me this Grand Sprint frameset with [seat post + seat, headset, BB] because it's metric and they didn't want to mess with it. There's something squirrely with the headset, I may merge the two to make one bike. I love the orange color on the other and it looks great with the rando wheels, stem & bars I had laying around. I'd probably switch it up and toss one of the Shimano 'light action L525 mini-groups on it, I've got one or two laying around.