Thanks Chas,
always informative, as usual. Neat bikes. A soft spot in my heart for the Team - Champion - Team. Here's some pics of mine, which may or may not be a '73. But that's my story and I'm sticking to it:> You've seen these before Chas, but other list members may enjoy them too I hope.
http://s1227.photobucket.com/
Scott Gabriel
Cape Cod
usa
> From: verktyg <verktyg@aol.com>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] 1981 rare motobecane team champion
\r?\n> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Friday, January 28, 2011, 2:26 PM
\r?\n> Greetings,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Interesting bike, my guess is that it was made in the red
\r?\n> color and with that equipment for some team in your area. It
\r?\n> probably originally had Motobecane decals on the down tube.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Motobecane like the other large French makers, Gitane and
\r?\n> Peugeot, produced a lot of variations on their models,
\r?\n> depending on the market were they were being sold.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> "Caractéristiques sujet au changement sans communication
\r?\n> préalable."
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The 1974-76 Team Champions or Champion Team bikes were BIC
\r?\n> orange and made out of Reynolds 531. In 1977 they switched
\r?\n> to light blue and Reynolds 753 tubing for one year.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> From 1978 on, Team Champions were made of Columbus SL
\r?\n> tubing. They were painted light metallic blue for 1978 and
\r?\n> 1979 like Freek Faro's bike.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I have 1978, 1980 and 1982 Team Champions. My 1978 is
\r?\n> identical to Freek Faro's except it has dark blue decals
\r?\n> instead on the nice metallic ones on Freek's bike.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The 1982 Team Champion is dark metallic blue. All of the
\r?\n> Team Champions that I've seen from 1981 on are that color.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> My 1980 is a custom respray and I've never seen any
\r?\n> pictures of any 1980 Team Champions so I don't know what the
\r?\n> original color was.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Whoever painted it did an excellent job of stripping the
\r?\n> old paint so there is only a hint of the original color
\r?\n> inside the head tube. It looks like it may have been light
\r?\n> metallic blue.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> My 1980 and 82 Team Champions have Cinelli bottom brackets
\r?\n> as do all of the others that I've seen from the 1980s.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> All of the Team Champions that I've seen have angle cut
\r?\n> fillets where the dropouts are brazed into the chainstays
\r?\n> and fork blades. That's a feature that I've only seen on
\r?\n> Team Champion frames and what I use to determine the model.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I compiled some pictures of Motobecane Team Champions from
\r?\n> 1974 through the early 1980s.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Note: ONLY 3 OF THE BIKES ARE MINE... The rest I copied
\r?\n> from the internet. ;-)
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://www.flickr.com/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> In the early 80s Gallic pride stepped in and the big 3
\r?\n> French bike makers fielded team bikes with all French
\r?\n> components (except for Mavic/Spidel badged Modolo brakes or
\r?\n> Weinmann brakes).
\r?\n>
\r?\n> In 1984 the Motobecane Team Champion was advertised with
\r?\n> all French components while the next model down, the Le
\r?\n> Champion was equipped with all Campy NR/SR.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Chas. Colerich
\r?\n> Oakland, CA USA
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Arno Volkers wrote:
\r?\n> > Today my dad got a Motobecane Team CHampion For free
\r?\n> from my Neighbour,
\r?\n> > it's in excellent condition, i only had to remove the
\r?\n> dust.
\r?\n> > the strange thing is that there are no decals on
\r?\n> the bike, only "motobecane" in an plastic
\r?\n> > relief on the uppertube and a front badge. this was
\r?\n> the original bike setup, not really beautifull
\r?\n> > but special in a way.
\r?\n> > check the pictures here:
\r?\n> > i don't need informaion about the bike, it's just nice
\r?\n> t have a look
\r?\n> > http://www.wooljersey.com/
\r?\n> > regards:
\r?\n> > arno volkers