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Thanks--much appreciated.

Great question. So this is exactly what I was posting about that unfortunately raised some dust (and Guinessisgoodforyou please contact me offline so we can sort this out). I should be acquiring the French brochure for 1984 as soon as it takes to reach me. But the 1984 US edition is already...

Of course not, and I will be happy to post old brochures I have, picked up at shops in the 1980s--if there is any interest. But I'm not a collector of ephemera in the sense that I ever buy such things. I merely wanted to gauge the interest of this group in this. I would be happy to pay for a...

I don't remember requesting that, only the 50p.

Don't worry about it; when he sobers up he won't remember a thing.

I should clarify that I already have the information contained in the brochure but I would be happy to chip in a few bucks to make it easy to retrieve by others. If there is no interest, there's no interest, and that's OK.

May I return the favor and suggest the same of you? Do you normally volunteer others' generosity or speculate on their personal finances in public? If no one is interested enough to pitch in 50P I'd say it's not much of a gift to the community and I won't bother. It's worth a few euro to me, but...

I see that the MBK La Redoute team bike remains unsold. I am not surprised inasmuch as most collectors lack the creativity and imagination to acquire anything unusual. Reviewing the evidence I've concluded that this was almost certainly a real team bike and not a replica sold through a dealer...

You mean France is now a Danish possession? I thought they'd be satisfied with Greenland. Guess not.

"Oh, and of course for those who are interested in French stuff, a look in @Guinessisgoodforyou epic thread here, and since it's the festive time, pop-in and share a virtual beer here is something to do in these winter months ahead ;)" From my experience in that country I'd say that will be...

The same workshop supposedly built the custom "SP" model and the team bikes, which in some cases were identical. I suspect that this petered out some time in 1984. Documentation of this period is sketchy, and some things must be deduced from surviving bikes. It is ironic and sad that bikes...

You can read a similar story of the waning days of Mercier, around the same time, with valiant efforts to save the company, workers following the TDF hoping for a win, pinning their hopes on an aging Zoetemelk. Those last race models were superbly made, too. It seems as if everyone was pulling...

Wow.

"Your" is collective, as in, your country. Feel free to take a crack at our "Fiat-Chryslers."

Do you call your Land Rover a "Tata"? MBK had zero to do with the design and construction of these bicycles--they were investors.

I didn't mention braze-on or clamp-on FDs--another obvious data point.

There are many such documents (but thanks for another): 1983 French Catalog, advertisements, dealer circulars. This program existed formally for many years, and possibly informally before that. I wish I knew what the serial numbers mean. Mine indicates no date or partial date. It's...

I think it's perfectly proper and accurate to call this bike not just a genuine team bike but a real Motobecane, albeit one with an added "MBK" name. It was 100% built in the Motobecane special workshop by the same hands as built the former blue version and ridden by the same riders. It's simply...

Yes, but Motobecane's paint was always above average, which is why so many 40-50-year old Motos are seen in decent condition. Mine looks almost new.

They sponsored teams, ergo there were team bikes!