# Tip for Titanium Motobecane Owners



## zippy the pinhead (Jul 29, 2009)

I have a 2010 Le Champ Ti, currently with about 5,800 miles on it. It came with the FSA Energy crank and Mega-Exo BB.

I'm not an expert but so far as I understand, standard operating procedure is to assemble titanium bikes using Ti-Prep on threads (like BB threads).

When I disassembled my BB at around 1,800 miles trying to fix a creak, I found the cup threads had been greased with a small amount of some kind of grease, but no Ti-prep (which is an anti-seize lubricant). Had I waited to remove those, say another thousand miles or so, I'm pretty sure it would have been harder, because the aluminum oxidizes and almost cold-welds to the titanium.

So if you have one of these bikes, and you've never disassembled the BB, you might want to get some Ti-prep and put it on the threads. It will make it a lot easier to work on the BB in the future.

I really like this bike, but part of the savings is derived from the assembly in Taiwan (or wherever) it's done.


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## potholered70 (Feb 14, 2012)

Good Point!

Thanks for the info.


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## zippy the pinhead (Jul 29, 2009)

If you're like me, and have a Moto Le Champ with the FSA crank, maybe you have been wanting to buy Ultegra, but have balked at the price. Right now a few sellers have been offering the Shimano Ultegra Crank for less than $170. Backcountry and Competitive Cyclist, for example.


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## PhotoJoe (Mar 8, 2011)

I just ordered a can of this today:










Amazon.com: Finish Line Shop Anti-Seize Assembly Lubricant: 8oz w/brush applicator: Sports & Outdoors

Bought it for my Lynskey. I'm pretty sure it was put together right, but I realized I didn't use anything on my cage bolts. Going to fix that now while I can!


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## mopartodd (Dec 1, 2010)

You can get antiseize at any auto parts store. It's all I have ever used on any of my bikes, including my Ti MTB.


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