dorset boy
Senior Retro Guru
Been digging through old magazines for you,this is the closest i have found yet . 
MBK Special pro…thoughts?
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Here's a n ex race or team or team training frame from mbk with French threaded forks and bb
Note the number tag
Note the number tag
marshalllucky
Retro Guru
Nice, gotBeen digging through old magazines for you,this is the closest i have found yet .
View attachment 796507
That's not team spec frame , it's in Fagor colours from 88 , team frames were lugged and chrome forks and rear triangle. Here's one of Malcolm Elliots MBK from that time
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but the number tag, the non standard frame build when compared to off the shelf MBK, it is a Pro Race afterall which was rather nice, columbus sl and french threaded madness
marshalllucky
Retro Guru
Yes , I agree , they are nice bikes but people just don't seem to rate them even with race provenance , French manufacturers were always innovators, Peugeot with the early carbon fibre and both Peugeot and Motobecane with lugless internally brazed frames that looked much more expensive, you could buy a relatively lightweight Pug or Motobecan that actually looked like a race bike with proper geometry for the same money as a Raleigh Arena that weighed a ton. Robert Millar however joked MBK stood for Made by Klingons but he did rather have a reputation for upsetting people , even sponsors!.
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Was surfing some French forums earlier today, and thought about this thread and punched in MBK Pro Racer in the search.
From what I gathered, at least in the the mid-80s there were 3 top flight bike models - no compromise stuff - offered by MBK. This is where it get's beautiful, these were models that were built special order at the same place as the pro team bikes, and also in the offering was custom sizing and obviously all the available trimmings as options. Your frame is one of those. It's a bit like the Raleigh SBDU thing going on.
In '88 the MBK Fagor team also had big rider names, plus a bunch of Irish and Briits in the line-up. That may go some way in explaining how a French high end bike made it's way to the UK. I don't think your bike is pro team bike, but could have been for early season stuff. I think it's more likely whoever bought it initially in whatever country was a serious rider and shelled out a lot of hard cash BITD for something with a similar pedigree to what the pros had.
Someone keeps mentioning the number braze-on. For sure that was specified as an option when ordering. I have seen a similar MBK Pro Racer II on the French equivalent of gumtree, but the frame is different (with a pump peg, long Campag horizontal drop-outs) despite the same paint work and similar decals.
As for the BB being French, I'm prepared to wager it is with a virtual Lidl Pilsner on "that" thread
Eitherway, you have a top notch retro race grade frame, and I'm sure it will ride great.
dorset boy
Senior Retro Guru
There is no number tag on Roches TT bike.
Good point, but BITD was that all OK and normal? Just thinking there would not have been a photo finish for a TT?
dorset boy
Senior Retro Guru
Certainly agree with the essence of what you are saying, and yes, sadly I think today we forget these companies did produce marvellous stuff at a very competitive price point. Even the mid end stuff in the bike boom, you will see the cost budget is on frame and wheels for ride quality - OEM Mavic tubuler sprint rims for example and a dreadful Huret Eco rear mech just to go in a decent well built quality rear wheel because you didn't happen to have a micrometer when setting it up and the moon was not where it should have been in the Welsh mountains on that day.
Historically for high end stuff, it's true however that limits and innovation was always pushed. What I've learnt it's a dangerous business to put a lot down to the big well known names. The industry organisation for high end innovation and into market is very complex. I do indeed hand to the French for developing a bike building nation and development approach which can leave you gob smacked:
1910 - 1920 lugless front end:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/french-barn-find-buckets-of-patina.406532/post-3321562
