This story fits well with the tubing on my Motobecanes. An early/mid 70's silver/black Le Champion frameset is 531 with Campy DOs. My 1977 Grand Record and 1977 LeChampion, dated either per the seller or by the headbadge are both 531 with Campy DOs. The Team Champion, which the seller, Chicago Motobecane maven Charlie Stephens, says is 1978, is Columbus with Huret DOs, the Campy compatible Huret type. Presumably, in 1978 Motobecane moved to Columbus on LeChampion and Team Champion and Vitus on Grand Jubilee and some lesser models. What tubing would Grand Record have had in 1978?
BTW, just to show you never know what Motobecane might have built, my 1977 LeChampion has the red/black/gold paint scheme usually seen on Grand Record. I think this scheme was only used on LeChampion for one or two years. Even more strange, although LeChampion was a racing model sometimes equipped with Campy brakes and usually sold with tubulars, the brake reach on this frame is so long that even Mafac Racers won't reach the rim on 700c wheels. I wound up using CLB-2 centerpulls with 27" clinchers. It's almost like someone decaled a Grand Record as a LeChampion, except I'm 99% sure the graphics are original and the bike has half chromed rear stays which appeared on LeChampion but not on Grand Record. The othe possibility is that someone special ordered a LeChampion for touring with fender clearance, long brake reach, and 27" wheels. Except I never heard of such special orders being available, even if someone was misguided enough to want one when Grand Record, Grand Jubilee, or Grand Touring were more appropriate to the intended use.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
don andersen wrote:
> >Perhaps covered before, but what was the 753 fiasco?
> >
> >Tom Adams in Kansas City
> >
> Tom, what I am about to tell you is unsubstantiated and I do not know if it
> is totaly accurate. It was explained to me by an old Motobecane dealer from
> Upstate New York after showing him my NOS '77 753 Team Champion. It was not
> covered on the list by me so here goes. Motobecane was using Reynolds
> tubing up to, and including 1977. Reynolds new revolutionary 753 was also
> introduced in '77. As we know, Reynolds required all 753 users to be
> Reynolds certified. Motobecane submitted their test kit but before they
> were certified, they began building the "Champion Team". It was a custom
> order only Motobecane that was built with 753. No one that I have talked
> with knows how many of these actually made it to the US. I have heard as
> little as 10 and as many as 50. Either number is small. Supposedly the
> reason for this low number is that Reynolds got wind of Motobecane building
> these frames that they took orders for, without being certified yet, so
> Reynolds yanked their endorsement from Motobecane. That would also explain
> the reason why Motobecanes were built with Columbus and Vitus until the
> early eighties. This new Model was to go toe-to-toe with the Peugeot PY-10.
> Things starting going down hill for Motobecane after that point. I don't
> know if the 753 fiasco had anything to do with that. If anyone on the list
> has any info to back this up or contradict, please expound.
>
> Plug for Mike Kone - Mike sold me the NOS frame N fork with the box. I
> needed money after our second child was born and Mike was gracious enough to
> buy it back for what I had paid him for it. Even after I had hung parts on
> it. It is a beautiful piece of French framework and I believe Mike still
> has it for sale. It would be well worth someones while. If anyone on the
> list buys it, let me know and I will ship you the original box for free.
>
> Don Andersen
> Columbia, MD
>
> PS. It was great to put some faces to the words at the Westminster show. I
> just wish I could have spent more time there. Larry's area was spiritual to
> say the least.