# Thoughts on this Motobecane CL ad



## Anthony_boi (Dec 15, 2008)

Any thoughts on this ad? I need to pick up a cheap road bike for my girlfriend to ride this summer, preferably something I can use after she goes back to school for a commuter in the fall/winter. I know nothing about motobecane, but the size and price is right. Any advice is more than welcome.

http://charleston.craigslist.org/bik/1535865906.html


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## dan32888 (Nov 24, 2009)

Personally I would have a hard time throwing 200 at something 30 years old because I would get tired of it very quickly.

That being said, I just gave my girlfriend a 70s Nishiki and she loves it. The brakes and shifting are horrible but she just threw on some fresh bar tape (well ok, I did) and was good to go. This is a prime example of how much you appreciate something if you don't know of anything better.

I say offer him 150, go up to 175 and sell it once she is done with it.


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## 20sMotoSpirit (May 27, 2007)

Anthony_boi said:


> Any thoughts on this ad? I need to pick up a cheap road bike for my girlfriend to ride this summer, preferably something I can use after she goes back to school for a commuter in the fall/winter. I know nothing about motobecane, but the size and price is right. Any advice is more than welcome.
> 
> http://charleston.craigslist.org/bik/1535865906.html


I know it maybe hard, but the mirage sport is a great little bike. Has everything you are looking for in a sport level bike and can still mount racks. I built one for a friend, and its a great little bike.


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## texasdiver (Jan 30, 2010)

My Dad's got an old Motobecane from the same era and I had various Peugeots and Raleighs from the same time period. Unless you are a classic bike affecionado and want to restore it I'd say go with something newer with Japanese components.

You could easily find yourself needing to dump $200 into that bike to make it rideable. You might need new tires, tubes, brake and gear cables, brake pads, seat, etc. And some of those parts may be hard to find. It will have 27" wheels rather than 700 c so your tire and tube options will be limited. The bottom bracket will be French threads so that will limit any replacement and other parts may be odd-sized and hard to replace. Read Sheldon Brown's page on older French bicycles to see what you are getting yourself into

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/velos.html

Get your girlfriend something newer. Are you looking for a road riding, fitness sort of bike, or just a knock-around commuting bike? What's she going to do with it?


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## Anthony_boi (Dec 15, 2008)

Well I don't have to worry about it now - he had already sold it. It was reposted for $150 so I was thinking I could get it for 125. I was looking for a sub-500 road bike to try to get her interested in riding a little. AKA, I would be murdered if I spent my only day off by myself on the bike for 3 hours - and figured I'd try to get her involved. Was thinking an older bike so I might have something interesting to play with in the fall when she goes back to school! Thanks for the pointers though, I'll keep looking.


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## texasdiver (Jan 30, 2010)

Definitely get her a newer bike with index shifting and a decent women's saddle if you want her to ride with you for longer than around the block. I say this having spent the past 8 years getting my wife to ride with me. 

Keep your eye out. Something will turn up on CL. Make sure you know her appropriate size so you can weed through the ads. If you're just looking for a kick around bike you could also get a mountain bike and put slicks on it.

If you wanted to buy something new it would be hard to find something cheaper than one of the new Motobecanes sold by bikes direct if you were willing to do a little wrenching to get it put together. The old Motobecanes of the era you were looking at were French-made bikes. The company went out of business decades ago and some guys from Texas bought up the trademark and are now selling bikes imported from Taiwan under the Motobecane name. They're made at the same factory as Giant, Treks, Fuji, and others so they are decent quality bikes sold for cheaper. Bikes Direct just imports the boxes in their original shipping boxes from Taiwan and slaps the shipping label on to forward it to you so you need to know how to assemble them. Something like this would be hard to beat in any local bike shop.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/miragesport.htm

They have a lot of models. I just picked one under $400.


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