| Motobecane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. `Motobécane` is a compound of moto, slang for motorcycle; bécane is slang for bike. Motobécane was a major manufacturer in the French bicycle industry. The frames on Motobécane`s mid-to-upper bikes were typically double-butted lugged steel made from Vitus or Reynolds 531 molybdenum/manganese steel tubing with Nervex lugs. Motobécane finished their frames in beautiful and high-quality paint, a practice not often followed in the French industry. Considered the second most prestigious French bicycle (after Peugeot, whose more durable design they emulated, but ahead of Gitane), Motobécane`s mid-range bikes were good value; the company kept prices reasonable by matching high-quality frames with lower-priced, but higher-quality components from Japan, at a time when competitors were putting higher-priced, lower quality French components on mid-range bikes. Motobécane bicycles included the Nomade, Mirage, Super Mirage, Super Touring, Grand Touring, Sprint, Jubilee, Grand Record, Le Champion, and Team Champion.
In addition to the standard diamond frame bicycles, Motobécane produced mixte frame versions; the mixte frame Grand Touring had twin lateral stays in place of a top tube, extending from the head tube to the seat tube, while the Super Touring and Grand Jubilé had a single top tube sloping down towards the seat tube, but diverging into twin lateral stays just before the seat tube. Later mixte Grand Touring models also used this design. Motobécane also produced a tandem bicycle.
Vintage French bicycles, including Motobécanes, are often sought today for their value as a fixed gear conversion.
French bicycles before 1980 often used French-threaded bottom brackets (now difficult to find replacement parts for). French bottom brackets, like Italian ones, used right-hand threading on the fixed cups, making them subject to loosening by precession. Motobécane broke ranks with most other French manufacturers in the mid-70s, using Swiss-threaded bottom brackets (also difficult to find replacement parts for now). Swiss bottom brackets were identical to French, save that the fixed cups were reverse-threaded (like English ones), making them immune to loosening by precession. For more information on bottom bracket specifications, see Bottom brackets. French headsets are sized and threaded slightly differently than the more common English headset.
In the 1960`s Motobecane bicycles were imported into the United States and distributed by Lawee Inc. (Ben Lawee). They were attractive and popular at the time. In 1981, Motobécane filed for bankruptcy and was purchased by Yamaha and reformed in 1984 as MBK; the French company continues to make motorscooters. It has no relation to Motobecane USA, which imports bicycles from Taiwan manufactured to their specification by Kinesis Industry Co. Ltd. under the Motobécane trademark. [Motobecane Bicycle]
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