Motobecane La Redoute Road Bike.

[Ian Raleigh]

Hi Vent!

You may want to keep the bike original but the bike is calling out for several small changes!

1: Rear Mech' - Simplex SLJ6600.
2: Front Mech' - Simplex SLJ.
3: Gear Levers - Simplex retro.

Just for you indulgence......
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIMPLEX-REAR- ... 53f53cb6f6

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIMPLEX-FRONT ... 53f53bf06e

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Simplex-Doubl ... 35c4904739

 

[vent]

Hi Ian,

thank you very much for the links! Your're right, the Simplex group is very nice and would fit greatly. Still, I rather prefer to keep the bike as it is. Changing the derailleurs to Simplex would mean I'd also have to scrub off the Huret sticker on the rear stay. In that case, I could also go for the Weinmann 605 Brakes, and the Belleri stem... Also, as the bike is in a superbe shape, the replacement parts would have to look equally as well as the original ones do.

Moreover, I like that this bike is not the "usual" setup of an SP, but is a bit different. Can't be too many around of these...

As soon as I find the time, it'll neatly serviced and ridden on Occasion.

Best,
Ralf

 

[Doubledee]

Re:

That really takes me back, excellent bike nice to see some other kit than campag, stronglight and simplex were great at that time.
Heres a challenge as a 19year old I once went out riding with Paul Sherwin in the snow,
he was riding a the cyclo cross version of this bike, anyone seen one of those?

Nope! Never seen a Motobecane cross bike

Would be great to add any such pictures to this thread

Welcome to the forum ''Doubledee''


Ian.

Hi Ian
There you go, given to me by Paul at a rainy Isle of Man in 1986, I still wear it under my helmet! I only posted this as someone else posted his rain cape!

 

[Ian Raleigh]

Re: Re:

There you go, given to me by Paul at a rainy Isle of Man in 1986,
I still wear it under my helmet! I only posted this as someone else posted his rain cape!

Thats great stuff If you ever want to sell it i'm all ears

I have the rain coat now by the way, It will never fit me but its good to have it.

Just got to find some suitable shorts and mitts now, then my shrine is complete.

 

[vent]

For god's sake... How rare are these?!?

Since I bought mine a few months ago, I've been constantly searching for other Motobecane Spécial Pro's on the web.

Though I managed to find a few bike's wearing the "Equipe Pro" decor, apart from the two shown in this topic there was only one real SP with Columbus SL-tubing amongst them!!! - Rest of them were (just) models built from Vitus172, 3-tube Reynolds531, 1020 and 2040 tubing.

Are they really so utterly rare?

Btw, I can contribute a scan of the 1981 german catalogue:

 

[Ian Raleigh]

I've only ever seen the Profile 4 once and that was at our local shop ages ago and was a special
order for French guy living in the UK! Though his was a pearl silver with the DA-AX groupset
on it, it looked so futuristic compared to a standard road bike

Most Motobecane's La Redoute bikes got binned after one seasons use by the Pro' teams in France, maybe this is why the actual team version is so rare to find..

 

[vent]

Yes, I can see that with the real team bikes having been scrapped, but still, why are there so few replicas around? I mean, compared e.g. to Peugeots PY10's, Pro10's or Raleigh's TI's, there virtually seem to be no Spécial Pro's. Though Motobecane went bankrupt in the early 80's, it was no small manufacturer at that time.

...Still looking out for a second one with chromed rear stays, but finding one is really hard... :cry:

 

[ojn]

This is really nice build Ian ! I have been looking this thread and photos many times

I have similar Motobecane Equipe Pro from 1982. I started also to build La Redoute replica from it but when I talked with the guy who was competed with similar bike here in Finland he asked me to keep bike with original equipment.
Currently it is equipped with Shimano Dura Ace AX drivetrain components and brakes are Dura Ace EX. Sadly the original fork was badly damaged and I have been riding with cheap and heavy asian made fork. But I have now ordered custom fork from local framebuilder and it will be looking as much original as possible.

Here is few photos of my bike in current state, paint is original: https://picasaweb.google.com/olavi.narhi/Motobecane02?
authuser=0&feat=directlink

- Olavi

 

[Ian Raleigh]

Very nice and quite jealous your frame has a race number fixing, Mine hasn't!

I'm a big fan of DA - AX equipment so it looks very fine to me.

Ian

 

[ojn]

I didn't noticed that your bike hasn't race number fixing. My friend has similar Equipe Pro but -83 model and it has also race number fixing.

I have talked with the guy who had bike shop on early 80's and he has actually sold this my bike to first owner. He told me that these bikes which he sold were equipped with Shimano Dura Ace AX and EX components. He told also that the bikes came fully equipped to him. I have not however found any catalogs, brochures or any specifications of Equipe Pro's. Do you have Ian more information about these bikes ? In some Motobecane catalogs Equipe Pro is junior bike like in this -82 (USA?)catalog: http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/catalogs/Motobecane/82/

- Olavi