Vintage French randonneuer's and porteurs.

that Motobecane porteur: what - in your opinion - would be an appropriate restauration. Leave the patina, try to keep as many from the orginal parts as possible - replace broken parts and enjoy riding - OR - restore it to the level of the 650b Motobecane ?

I must admit; I would not have a problem with both options ;) .

Anyway; love to have a look here - most of the time it made me smile. Thanks for sharing all that lovely bikes. 😍
 
magas said:
that Motobecane porteur: what - in your opinion - would be an appropriate restauration. Leave the patina, try to keep as many from the orginal parts as possible - replace broken parts and enjoy riding - OR - restore it to the level of the 650b Motobecane ?

I must admit; I would not have a problem with both options ;) .

Anyway; love to have a look here - most of the time it made me smile. Thanks for sharing all that lovely bikes. 😍
Click to expand...
Glad you are enjoying the thread.
I would have no problem with a full on restoration. My personal view is, do the bare minimum to make it safe and properly rideable. Oily rag restoration to keep the finish.
 
magas said:
that Motobecane porteur: what - in your opinion - would be an appropriate restauration. Leave the patina, try to keep as many from the orginal parts as possible - replace broken parts and enjoy riding - OR - restore it to the level of the 650b Motobecane ?

I must admit; I would not have a problem with both options ;) .

Anyway; love to have a look here - most of the time it made me smile. Thanks for sharing all that lovely bikes. 😍
Click to expand...

This one I guess you mean?

motobecane-db-3-jpg.712183

Agree with @Guinessisgoodforyou own view - minimum to make it safe and rideable.

This particular example is for sure rare and in good condition already. It doesn't look like it has had many miles put on it, and I would guess nothing is really broken. Obviously would need new rubber / plastics since they have perished with age. I would be inclined to only use a bike like this for "Sunday Best" as it were; I would pick something else (errrr ...... n+1) to have a daily rider. This MB is a bit too special.

The original paint and transfers would be best to keep intact - the French forums generally recommend to keep the patina (but that's France in a nutshell isn't it? Just look at other things .... ). If there would be a need to do a re-paint a top professional job is needed to keep the value. Full careful strip down and rebuild after cleaning up all parts would be enough for me. I've generally found that a lot of the parts can clean up really well. Some times the dirt and grime as actually protected parts.

One point I am struggling with though, many of these older bike were built with rustless spokes. Early stainless steel spokes didn't seem to be that good. The spokes themselves are usually incredibly thin single gauge. For me the wheels would be the only thing to fix which wasn't broken and it would help cleaning hubs and rims properly.
 
Woz said:
This one I guess you mean?

motobecane-db-3-jpg.712183

Agree with @Guinessisgoodforyou own view - minimum to make it safe and rideable.

This particular example is for sure rare and in good condition already. It doesn't look like it has had many miles put on it, and I would guess nothing is really broken. Obviously would need new rubber / plastics since they have perished with age. I would be inclined to only use a bike like this for "Sunday Best" as it were; I would pick something else (errrr ...... n+1) to have a daily rider. This MB is a bit too special.

The original paint and transfers would be best to keep intact - the French forums generally recommend to keep the patina (but that's France in a nutshell isn't it? Just look at other things .... ). If there would be a need to do a re-paint a top professional job is needed to keep the value. Full careful strip down and rebuild after cleaning up all parts would be enough for me. I've generally found that a lot of the parts can clean up really well. Some times the dirt and grime as actually protected parts.

One point I am struggling with though, many of these older bike were built with rustless spokes. Early stainless steel spokes didn't seem to be that good. The spokes themselves are usually incredibly thin single gauge. For me the wheels would be the only thing to fix which wasn't broken and it would help cleaning hubs and rims properly.
Click to expand...
Agree 100% especially wheels, rustless spokes ping ping ping ffs..
 
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