# Motobecane Sprintour new to me



## salvin36 (Apr 25, 2012)

My father came across this Motobecane Sprintour last year. Neither of us know the first thing about road bikes or bicycles in general. He put new tires and tubes in it as well as some cables. He road it a few times but couldnt really get into it. It sat in the garage all summer and through the winter until about a week ago I pulled it out and threw on my plastic mountain bike pedals and took it for a spin. These things are a blast to ride! I have been rolling the miles every chance I got this week. 

I would like to see if any of you here can tell me a little about the bike. I know its old, I have seen some pictures on google of Motobecanes like it, but I havent yet seen one with the shift levers on the down tube like ours. I will post pics in a minute after I rack up a few more posts.


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## salvin36 (Apr 25, 2012)

Here are some pictures


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Neat! Any idea what it weighs? (I'm not a weight-weenie- just curious).


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## Richard (Feb 17, 2006)

It appears there is a "tubing" decal on the seat tube, possibly Reynolds. That would tell you a lot about where it fell in the Motobecane range. They made everything from slightly above junk to pro quality.

If memory serves me right, that fell in about the middle - cast dropouts as opposed to stamped, braze-on top tube cable guides (surprisingly no bottle cage braze-ons) and what appear to be mid-range components. Not at all bad.


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## RoadBoy1 (Oct 1, 2011)

Look at the amount of rake in that fork. I bet that bike has a magic carpet ride and is really, really stable.


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## salvin36 (Apr 25, 2012)

Thanks for the replies guys. The tag on the seat post reads "Built with 2040 Hi-Resiliency Tubing." The shifting componets both say Shimano 600 on them. 

As for the ride, to me it handles great but being my first bike I have nothing to compare it to. I a buddy's around the parking lot yesterday but it was an older schwinn and was much smaller than mine.


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## salvin36 (Apr 25, 2012)

No one knows much about it?


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## merckxman (Jan 23, 2002)

Found this "A mid to low budget bike from around 1978 with reynolds 20 40 tubing"


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## salvin36 (Apr 25, 2012)

Awesome, where did you find that? Do you have a link?


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## bds1959 (Jul 6, 2012)

*1978 Motobecane Sprintour*

Your bike's from about 1978 or 1979. 

I bought a "burnt orange" Motobecane Sprintour in the summer of 1978, right out of high school. It was about $230-240, which put it at the medium-low end of things at the time. 

Motobecane was a well respected brand, using a better grade of components in its day. Weinmann sidepull brakes, Suntour downtube shifters, 27 lbs. or so -- fast and stable.

I loved that bike -- it jammed!


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## andyfloyd (Jul 8, 2012)

I just picked up a motobecane mirage circa 1975 today. It has the 2040 tubing and its not the lightest, but the one I found is a 52cm so its likely under 30lbs for the whole bike. I paid 75, so I was happy with that.


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## Barchetta (Sep 27, 2012)

The Sprintour was Motobecane's cross bike. Still hand-made in France at that time and a mix of their top-of-line touring, but had the wheel base & weight of their bottom-line racing bike. I looked at numerous bikes "back in the day" and this beat everything on the market at the time. While it was not a full-out racer, it was an excellent bike. The 20/40 tubing gave it enough rigidity for the power strokes, but light and flexible to smooth out the long rides. You have an excellent bike... may not be the Ferrari of the day, but it is at least a Corvette. Bought mine weighing under 21 pounds and shaved it to just under 19, which was pretty darn good for '76/77.

** update ** Went back and checked my records.... I was wrong on the weight. It was knocked down to under 20 pounds... just under.... by 1 oz.!


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## Chombi (Jun 23, 2012)

2040 tubing is high tensile carbon steel tubing. Most likely straight gauge and seamed.It's what most manufacturers used for their base model bikes. Quite heavy, but very reliable/rugged steel that will stand up to the harsh treatment and except for the high weight, they still provide very good riding qualities.
It was noted that the tubing seems to be made by TI Reynolds?? I did not know Reynolds made this grade of tubesets. Could the OP show pics of the tubeset decal on the frame? Does it actually say Renolds on it?

Chombi


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## bicyclerepairman (Mar 12, 2003)

I'm recalling lusting after a Motobecane just like yours around 1978; I'd just bought a cheaper Raleigh Grand Prix (using the slightly inferior 20-30 steel) for about $50 less the year before. Anyway, I don't think Reynolds had anything to do with the tubeset. The label on the seat tube says something like "Vanqueur 20-40." I'm guessing that it was made by a French or a French-Swiss concern. Reynolds 531 did show up on the high end Motobecane Le Champion and Team Champion late 1970's frames (and maybe 1 or 2 more).

If you're riding it with the seat that low, the frame might be to big for your height.


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