Mainah

Paging randyjawa from 2012. Great build! What bars are those? Moustache? I recently came into possession of a '78 Grand Jubilee that's a touch too big for me, and I'm thinking some type of swept back bars might be the way to go.

orcas island 

CriticalThought

Thanks all, for the suggestions and photos. I agree wholeheartedly that these Grand Jubilés have a wonderful feel to them and are a joy to ride. I also love that French je ne sais quoi that they have about them in such surprising abundance.

I'm leaning toward keeping the original 27 inch Rigida wheels since from the photos I've seen they seem to work well with VO fenders. I have those nice VO classic looking front and rear racks sitting around unused, so that seems a good combination. In the mean time I'm just enjoying riding up and down the Platte River trail on her here in Denver and gazing at the lugwork and finish while enjoying a beer in the sun.



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randyjawa 

The assembly(bars, stem, shifters and grips) is in great shape and still hangs from my piano wire handlebar storage line. I no longer need them or intend to use them. I restore much older stuff, these days. Interested..?


I have used the bar on a bike or two, over the years, with hopes of improving comfort. They are comfortable but I do prefer drop bars. That old Motobecane was sold two years ago, and the new owner wanted the bike to look like this...

ZTony8

I'm trying to find out what year my GJ is. I bought it new in either 1977 or 1978 to replace a stolen CCM. I had the receipt until a few years ago. What I see on the underside of the bottom bracket looks like D7D4 or B7B4 or some combination of that. The digits are clear, the letters not so much. It has a Stronglight crank, Huret derailleurs, Pivo neck and handlebar. It's silver with black accents. Help?

motogeek 

Sure would be good to have a few pictures. I'm guessing, based on the info you provided, it's a 1975.

agmetal

Is there any easy way to date a GJ without the serial number? My grandfather passed away recently, and the last time I rode with him was two years ago when he was 86 - I rode a Grand Jubilé that my uncle rode when he was young, and my grampa rode his mid-'90s Fuji Team. My uncle took the Fuji, and I'll be getting the Moto when we're able to work out the logistics to bring it up to Boston, and I'm curious as to what year this bike was made.










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orcas island 

agmetal

I actually have what are probably the original derailleurs in a box that I brought home from that visit. I'm not a big fan of the saddle that's on it, though, so I just bought a NOS Ideale 80 Speciale Competition to put on it when we actually get the bike up to Boston

motogeek 

I pretty much concur with Orcas about it being a 74, probably an early one at that considering the head tube badge (possibly even a 73). Would have originally had Huret Jubilee front and rear (probably short cage) derailleur. I've had several of these and they are great bikes. Someone probably put the Sun Tour RD on in order to use a larger freewheel as it was rare to find a Jubilee rear derailleur being used with anything larger than a 26 tooth freewheel. I ran a 28 tooth freewheel with a long cage Jubilee RD for quite a while with good success.

agmetal

Thanks! I still need to figure out how best to get the bike up here and when, and then figure out exactly how I want to set it up for myself. I know I want to keep it as a drop bar bike with downtube shifters, but may have a few changes in store for it

ollo_ollo

Posted elsewhere, but here's mine: Love at 1st sight BID, much later got a red, bare frame, sold as a 78 but been I.D. by experts as 75-77. Vitus tubing, SunTour dropouts, I think 1976 now, but who knows? Came with a Stronglight headset and 3 Huret clamps. Swap meets & trades for French parts & Shimano Arabesque DR's & brake levers, got the wheel set from Bill Stevenson at Bike Stand in Olympia, WA, my first B17 Saddle, I later carved to be Swallowesque, Giles Berthaud SS fenders & leather mudflap installed by Corey Thompson at the Bike Stand. Bag is a Rivendell, no longer avail. that I got for $5 at Recycled Cycles.(It had a Minoura bar /frame mount bottle holder attachment inside!)

It's a great, smooth, ride which I always brought along when we traveled, so ridden all over the Western U.S. Gets lots of positive comments and questions, best was "You're not from around here, are you?" from a roadie, on a Colnago, outside Tucson, AZ.


Also have a 1975 Mixte I got in 2016 & just finished the overhaul. Will take and add a few pics soon. Don

edit: adding the Mixte pics. Paint touched up, Cleaned, Lubed all bearings. Still need to find better tires and swap the brooks for a much better one currently on my Raleigh Superbe. Don

motogeek 

Nice build up on your GJ. Particularly like the Lyotard platform pedals. I use them on both of my Le Champions and 2 of my Grand Records.

agmetal

So, I have this bike with me in Boston now, and I'm beginning the refurb process on it. I got the crank off (turns out that I actually had an original Stronglight crank puller on hand, that I brought up a couple years ago!), but the BB is quite rough and has a lot of play. I have a feeling that the cups are probably in rough shape, so I'm most likely just gonna replace it with a cartridge. The question now is, what's the likelihood of it being a Swiss-threaded BB? There are no markings on the cups.

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Andy_K 

Very unlikely, I think. Rumors of Motobecane using Swiss threaded bottom brackets are wide spread, but from what I've read these rumors are vastly overstated. My GJ (~75) and GR (72) both had French threaded bottom brackets, as have all others from the same period that I've personally seen or talked to anyone about.

agmetal

I just found this chart....if it's accurate, it appears that I have a French-threaded drive side cup.

abshipp 

A Christmas gift from my brother this year was a crusty old Brooks Professional on top of a SR melt forged seatpost. Kind of a strange gift on its own, but it came out of this:




I can't find any other evidence of the year, besides an earlier post by @Dougbloch in this thread. So I suppose it's a 1976, based solely on his post.

The only picture I have of it right now is from my brother, as he will be shipping it up to Illinois once he gets back to Texas.

What I know is that it has Huret rear dropouts, a SR Apex crankset, and what looks like the original Huret shifters.

I'm looking forward to seeing it in person, and I'm quite excited about this being my first French bike.

@Dougbloch, have you measured the angles on your frame, as well as fork offset? I'm pretty curious, there don't seem to be any published numbers on these.

SurferRosa

There's a beautiful red 531 mid-sized model on seattle craigs right now. The seller says, "the paint on the Motobecane bikes was the best in the bike industry during the 1970s," and I can't disagree.

vintagerando

@ollo_ollo What make are the handlebars on the white mixte you posted?
Thanks

ollo_ollo

Couldn't remember, so went down to check, Found I wrapped bars almost to the stem & no ID shows. They are randonneur bars, which I grab from our Co-op whenever I find a good set. Possibly unmarked as I recently one like that.

I like those by Philippe or Pivo for French. Also available from Velo Orange and Nitto. You will find lots in Co-op parts bins as Schwinn used them on some bike boom models. SR made some. I have a NOS, vintage bar on my Bianchi that I really like. It's marked SAKAE RANDNNER (their spelling) on 1 side and ROAD CHAMPION on the other.

Most of these vintage bars are quite narrow, but I'm small & OK with bars from 15 1/4" to 16" CTC at bar ends. Have a set that only measures about 14" that I'm saving for use by 1 of my grand daughters who is quite petite. Don

Rocky Gravol

Reynolds frame with NERVEX lugs, cyclone derailleur and a Stronglight 49D crank mark this as a 1976.
Only year to have that combo.

ollo_ollo

You may find a date on the hubs of your GJ if they are original. I'm no expert but my 2, as well as all other 70's I have seen had the downtube "Motobecane" in block letters with just the "Made in France" part in script. I thought the all script style for both was earlier. Then again, it's French.

I finally got a decal set for my 85 Grand Record and went with a mix of earlier style decals because I like their look, especially that all script down tube. Much more elegant than what they did in 1985. Don

abshipp 

Well, I received my GJ frameset in the mail yesterday.

I tore it all apart last night and started the process of cleaning it up. Thankfully everything came out without a fuss. The frame tubes are clean on the inside, and all the bearings were adequately packed with grease, just over time the grease turned into a color and consistency very similar to peanut butter. What a mess!

I measured the angles and fork geometry, coming out with 73° for HTA and STA, and ~46mm fork offset. I'm honestly a little disappointed that it doesn't have more rake, but I guess I will have to live with it or have someone rework the fork.

French bottom bracket came out without a nicely. Crankset is an SR Apex 5. What on earth were they thinking with a 118BCD? I got excited thinking that it might be a 110, but no luck.

Overall the bike is very, very clean for its age, it now holds the award for "Cleanest Original Paint" in my stable.

It is, however, a bit grimy, and has grease stains around the headset races and BB shell.

What would be the best way to clean this paint up without damaging it? I did a little bit of work with mineral spirits and that seemed to be fairly gentle, but I didn't want to start working on a large area and screw up the decals or anything like that.

Anyone have any suggestions for getting grease discoloration out of the paint, and a good way to polish this old girl up?

Here's some pictures to show the kind of stuff I'm dealing with:

Phil_gretz

Well, now I'm the owner of this particular bike. The rear wheel was stolen from the couple who purchased it from @jeirvine, and they gave it to me. What to do with the frame...

Phil_gretz

I'm glad that the frame is still in good condition, and for their generosity. Now I need to source the right rear wheel, barcons and a cable stop for the downtube. I have saddles.