The first bike I remember much was a French Gitane, sort of a poor man’s Peugeot, in the 1970s. I liked it and rode it to death but I don’t use French frames because of the nonstandard bottom bracket, headset threads, etc.

But then I fell in love with this Motobécane Grand Jubilee with double-butted Vitus 172 chromoly tubes and beautiful lugs, complete with Japanese SR cranks and chain-rings, and SR ‘rat trap’ pedals which, sadly, hurt my feet.

These $10USD Electra bike ‘Barefoot’ flat rubber pad pedals work for my feet. Apply a dab of anti-seize compound after cleaning threads. Left pedal has reverse threads; clockwise to loosen, counterclockwise (UK:anticlockwise) to tighten. Red KMC chain with easy link.

Shimano freehub 17-tooth SS conversion. Inner factory chain-ring is a 40-tooth, I’ll swap out the cog, cheap enough, if it’s geared too spinny, if that is a word.

I removed, cleaned, lubed and reassembled the original cup-and-cone bottom bracket since it still worked smoothly-some light pitting. French thread and French length modern sealed bottom brackets are extant but pricey.

Front wheel is a French Wolber Alpine, the factory Motobécane wheel’s bearings and races being scored like the headset races. Couldn’t use stock Motobécane rear brake either because of difference in wheel size but found this old Dia-Compe side-pull of correct arm length in my parts bin.

I got the new special order headset ($35) but am going to take it back to Bob’s Cycle and let them put it back together for a small fee. They already cut the new fork steering tube to correct length for no charge.

I ordered a Very Long quill stem ($15) due next week so will build it until then with temporary short ‘7’ stem with short-rise ‘ape-hanger’ handlebars.

Costs So Far
Frame-$30USD
Fork-75
Headset-35
Stem-15
Pedals-10
Misc.-15
Total-$180

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