MBK Special pro…thoughts?

[mikestr]

I've always had right-left confusion--now "fixed" is fixed. The Swiss direction is like BSC, but threads are 35x1mm.

Peugeot's way allowed them to make the same frames for the different markets, with only a minute's work needed on the steering tube and different stems and hubs supplied. Mr. Lawee made things more difficult for Motobecane, for example specifying Campy dropouts on "Le Champion" rather than the Huret used on the otherwise similar French C5 model.

 

[mikestr]

The setup is different on my Motobecane, as on many later French bikes, as it has no fixed cup at all. The BB unit is a one-piece cartridge that threads into the BB shell through to the other side, with a righthand-threaded lock ring on either side.

 

[Woz]

- Stronglight 700 ?

 

[mikestr]

Almost!. Mine is threaded all the way across the body, like the upper unit in the picture below, but with a titanium axle. It's a 701T. Rather rare, I suspect.

 

[marshalllucky]

I've been to my storage unit today as I realised I've never checked the frame number ( the thread subject bike ) . On the underside of the BB shell it reads 10685 which surely refers to build date 10th June 1985. It's interesting the '85 TDF started 28th June 1985 so maybe a hastily built frame ready for that years tour ? . You can also see the grease that still covers parts of the frame , when I got it it had a grease coating all over the frame and components which is why it's probably kept so well.

 

[mikestr]

OK, so this is really interesting! Of course, there are different possibilities: The June date could be a coincidence, and the bike might have been made for a customer. But I still haven't seen any evidence that in 1985 the SP was being offered by MBK, so I find your hypothesis completely plausible. And of course the TDF is hardly the end of the racing season. 52 cm is a small frame; perhaps you could look through the 1985 La Redoute roster and see whom this might have been built for?

One thing is now certain: They were continuing to build that exact frame and not simply repainting previously built ones with the new MBK color scheme. Another piece of the story falls in place...

 

[marshalllucky]

I've also found photos of 1985 La Redoute riders Michel Vermotes frame which altough has the 1985 colour scheme seems to be a 1982 build that was repainted but has identical BB Cinelli Shell as mine.

 

[mikestr]

One reason I thought that these last SPs might have been resprays is the somewhat retro bottom bracket arrangement for that late date. Not just the shell, either. If you look at the French kit Gitane was using on the pro bikes two years earlier, it's the new stuff: cartridge BB and a plain, drilled shell with Delrin snap-on cable guide. IOW, they weren't putting their latest stuff on these bikes.

 

[mikestr]

Our messages crossed: We were thinking similar thoughts. I haven't seen any other SPs as late as yours, so who knows what was going on. It could be that they had the same parts in stock and just continued to build them this way until they ran out--1985 was the last season for that team. But if you look at any Campy-equipped pro bike at that time you'll see the same thing--the Italians were very slow to adopt cartridge BBs and plastic cable guides.

 

[Woz]

Link to the 1984 catalogue @mikestr kindly uploaded if you've not seen it already:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/archive/1984-mbk-motobecane-racing-training-catalogue.1206/