Motobecane

[email hidden] (Ben White) wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Have any of you cycling savvy guys and girls heard of Motobecane
bikes? I would appreciate your opinions be they good or bad. More
specifically I am thinking of buying a Nemesis tri bike.

Motobecane has existed in various forms for decades. Through the 1970s, they
were imported from France and were some of the best bikes you could buy in
the USA. I believe during the 1990s, they were made in Canada for mostly the
middle price ranges. I don't know if the Canadian Motobecane was owned by
the French Motobecane if a Canadian company just bought the name.

The latest incarnation seems to be wholely owned by a Taiwan company that is
selling identical bicycles under various brand names. These bikes are not
much different (in quality or value) from more popular Taiwan brands like
Giant or Specialized. Note that Trek and Bianchi also import their lower
priced bikes from Taiwan.

"Ken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Ben White) wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Have any of you cycling savvy guys and girls heard of Motobecane
bikes? I would appreciate your opinions be they good or bad. More
specifically I am thinking of buying a Nemesis tri bike.

Motobecane has existed in various forms for decades. Through the 1970s,

they

Quoted message said:

were imported from France and were some of the best bikes you could buy in
the USA. I believe during the 1990s, they were made in Canada for mostly

the

Quoted message said:

middle price ranges. I don't know if the Canadian Motobecane was owned by
the French Motobecane if a Canadian company just bought the name.

The latest incarnation seems to be wholely owned by a Taiwan company that

is

Quoted message said:

selling identical bicycles under various brand names. These bikes are not
much different (in quality or value) from more popular Taiwan brands like
Giant or Specialized. Note that Trek and Bianchi also import their lower
priced bikes from Taiwan.

The Motobecanes that are turning up in the USA are from, I believe, a
Canadian firm. I was looking at their top of the line stuff at Sea Otter and
it looked pretty nice. Very vanilla but light, strong and with good
components.

My Motobecane is my favorite ride.Old(1982?),downtube shifters and 27x7/8
tires make the ride seem more fun than the more modern Bianchis.They're nice
but the Moto has more style,personality?
"Ken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Ben White) wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Have any of you cycling savvy guys and girls heard of Motobecane
bikes? I would appreciate your opinions be they good or bad. More
specifically I am thinking of buying a Nemesis tri bike.

Motobecane has existed in various forms for decades. Through the 1970s,

they

Quoted message said:

were imported from France and were some of the best bikes you could buy in
the USA. I believe during the 1990s, they were made in Canada for mostly

the

Quoted message said:

middle price ranges. I don't know if the Canadian Motobecane was owned by
the French Motobecane if a Canadian company just bought the name.

The latest incarnation seems to be wholely owned by a Taiwan company that

is

Quoted message said:

selling identical bicycles under various brand names. These bikes are not
much different (in quality or value) from more popular Taiwan brands like
Giant or Specialized. Note that Trek and Bianchi also import their lower
priced bikes from Taiwan.

I think this thread explains the current Motobecane bicycles you see in the
US.

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t50898-15-2.html

In short Motobecane is
Built in Taiwan, to the specs of the owner/controller of the brand name.
The brand name (as are others) is owned or controlled by the owners of Cycle
Spectrum, Bikesdirect, and also marketed on Ebay by sprtymama. I believe
they are also trying to market them to other bike shops in markets where
Cycle Spectrum does not have stores.

They are a great value, and can be very good if they fit you and are built
up correctly.

I have a 2002 Motobecane Team Le Champion, and have about 14k miles on it
with very few issues. The primary issue was the wheelset was not properly
built, and Cycle Spectrum, as far as I could tell has no one with wheel
building skills to correct the problem. I ended buying a new wheelset, which
resolved that issue. I also have changed the saddle, seat post, stem and
handlebars. The stock saddle was trash, I needed a shorter stem with a bit
of rise, and I went to carbon for the seatpost and bars for comfort. (2002
was an all Al 7005 frame) When I bought mine, they stated that the bike had
a lifetime warranty on the frame, and that should it break, they would
replace the entire bike with a current model, not just the frame. I believe
they have backed off on that now? If you have the skills to build the bike
or a good relationship with a good LBS, that will built it for you, I would
buy the bike direct from sprtymama or bikesdirect and go that route. I would
not buy another bike from the local Cycle Spectrums, but yours may be better
then mine. My experience with Cycle Spectrum is that while they seem to be
nice people, they don't have the skills and experience to build, fit and
tune bikes very well. I think that they try hard, and they want to keep you
happy, but they are primarily interested in pushing bikes out the door. The
"Free Lifetime Service" that Cycle Spectrum offers is worth every cent you
pay for it, so I do most of my work myself, or take it to another shop that
I trust. If you are confident that you can get a good fit on a Motobecane,
and are not worried about what others might think about your choice of
rides, you should be able to save yourself a few bucks and or get a better
component group by going that route. However in my opinion, the best way
would to be a bike from a good LBS, that can fit you, build a bike and will
be there when you need service. - S

"Ben White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Have any of you cycling savvy guys and girls heard of Motobecane
bikes? I would appreciate your opinions be they good or bad. More
specifically I am thinking of buying a Nemesis tri bike.
Thanks,
Ben

"Scott Gates" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have a 2002 Motobecane Team Le Champion, and have about 14k miles on it
with very few issues. The primary issue was the wheelset was not properly
built, and Cycle Spectrum, as far as I could tell has no one with wheel
building skills to correct the problem. I ended buying a new wheelset,
which resolved that issue. I also have changed the saddle, seat post,
stem and handlebars.

Were these free parts swaps, or did you have to fork out more money for all the
new parts? If the latter, it doesn't sound like a good deal to me. A
competent shop should have resolved size/fit issues at the time of purchase.

"Johnny" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Scott Gates" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have a 2002 Motobecane Team Le Champion, and have about 14k miles on

it

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

with very few issues. The primary issue was the wheelset was not

properly

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

built, and Cycle Spectrum, as far as I could tell has no one with wheel
building skills to correct the problem. I ended buying a new wheelset,
which resolved that issue. I also have changed the saddle, seat post,
stem and handlebars.

Were these free parts swaps, or did you have to fork out more money for

all the

Quoted message said:

new parts? If the latter, it doesn't sound like a good deal to me. A
competent shop should have resolved size/fit issues at the time of

purchase.

Do you often have these halucinations?

Some bigger bikeshops have the parts around to do this sort of thing for
free or nearly free. But bicycles are a LOW PROFIT ITEM and if you think
that they're going to put carbon seat posts and something as expensive as a
high teir saddle on a bike for free you're being unreasonable.

Most cheaper wheels are built on a wheel building robot and while good, the
tension is generally too low. However, unless you have a shop guy who is
good building wheels you don't want Mortimer Snerd messing with your wheels.

The Motorbecane looked to me like a good bike for a vrey reasonable cost.
For that you can take it to a reliable bike shop to have to properly
prepared and you should be prepared to replace the parts you need for proper
fit out of your own pocket. You'll STILL come out ahead and you won't be
going away mad because some small shop can't afford your idea of "good
service".

The only item that was fit related was the stem. The shop did swap that out
at no charge.
The carbon seat post I bought after about 5K miles to improve the ride.
My wife bought me the carbon bars as a gift for my birthday, at about the
same time.
I did not care for the stock seat, and I changed that out with in a few days
of buying the bike, at my expense. The shop I bought the bike at said they
would discount a seat for me, but did not have anything I liked.
Cycle Spectrum did make an attempt at resolving the wheel issue. They
rebuilt the rear at no cost after about 1.5-2k miles. At that time I picked
up a open 4 rear wheel used from a friend. I liked the ride on the rear
wheel and located a used front that matched. I since then have also
purchased an additional set of used wheels. I like to have a spare set
around to use for tire and gear changes and as a back up should I need it. I
have never even mounted a tire on the wheel Cycle Spectrum rebuilt, nor have
I used the front wheel. At some point I might have a good wheel builder use
the D/A hubs to build me a new set.
I still have the post and seat (not sure why I kept that seat), I sold the
bars.

I agree a competent shop should resolve fit issues at time of purchase, and
they should be able to build a bike correctly including tensioning the
wheels correctly. That's one of the reasons why I recommended buying from a
good LBS. I think my "good" would be the same as your competent. As I
stated, if your good LBS is willing to build a mail/internet ordered
Motobecane, or if you can do it yourself then I think you can save a few
bucks going that route. I just checked Bikesdirect you can get a D/A bike
for $1900, no tax and free shipping, I paid $1600 for mine in 2002. I don't
know what bike prices are where you are, but even adding $200 for an LBS to
build it, and buying a saddle you like, another $100 ( I personally think
saddles like pedals should not come with bikes, I know few people who ride
the saddle that came on a factory built bike) and even if you buy a stem
(you can always ebay/swap meet/local club) the take off I have not seen any
D/A bikes for $2200-2300 in my LBS's.
"Johnny" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Scott Gates" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have a 2002 Motobecane Team Le Champion, and have about 14k miles on it
with very few issues. The primary issue was the wheelset was not properly
built, and Cycle Spectrum, as far as I could tell has no one with wheel
building skills to correct the problem. I ended buying a new wheelset,
which resolved that issue. I also have changed the saddle, seat post,
stem and handlebars.

Were these free parts swaps, or did you have to fork out more money for
all the
new parts? If the latter, it doesn't sound like a good deal to me. A
competent shop should have resolved size/fit issues at the time of
purchase.

Tom Kunich wrote:

PLONK AND

1. How about a discussion with a 357.

2. you ever hear of evidence you stupid [censored].

3. get eyes in back of your head today.

4. evidence as in
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=&start=100&scoring=d&enc_author=3txmJxMAAAANgBBgUwG_r7LXrconLiLgWMj6vob75xS36mXc24h6ww&num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&lr=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=&as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=25&as_maxm=1&as_maxy=2005&safe=off&

"goodbyusa" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tom Kunich wrote:

PLONK AND

1. How about a discussion with a 357.

2. you ever hear of evidence you stupid [censored].

3. get eyes in back of your head today.

4. evidence as in
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=&start=100&scoring=d&enc_author=3txmJxMAAAANgBBgUwG_r7LXrconLiLgWMj6vob75xS36mXc24h6ww&num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&lr=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=&as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=25&as_maxm=1&as_maxy=2005&safe=off&

Dear stupid herkimer - do you know how the internet works? Obviously not. If
you post from your home machine you're id is recorded. If you post from the
library your id is recorded.

There are ways around it but you're hardly smart enough to know how.