Friday, March 9, 2012

Motobecane progress, cables and wires done.

I needed some down time so I headed off to work with the Motobecane yesterday for a couple hours and finished up cleaning the rear derailleur, the shifters and I got the cables/housings installed. I am still not done by a long shot and there is still a lot to do before the bike is done I did make some good solid progress on the bike last night. I chose Jagwire platinum braided cable housings to blend in with the frame a bit and I really like how they look on the bike! I did make a couple decisions on just how closely I was going to polish things up, I was thinking about the fact that I am planning to ride this bike and polishing everything to a mirror finish didn't make a lot of sense because of that fact, I mean if its going to get grimy anyways why make it shinier than when it was new?


With that said, I did not skimp on the polishing! I think that the bike is starting to look pretty nice even if this shot makes my basement look like a dungeon! who am I kidding.. it IS a dungeon! I still have to completely do the wheels (I just tossed them on to see how the bike looked) as I have not touched them other than a small test spot where I polished the rust off of the chrome and I do believe that the wheels will look pretty good after some elbow grease. You can see that I laid the rack on there just for a look at how it would play out and I think that I like it and will stick to the original plan of doing fenders and rack on this bike.



Above is a closer shot of the braided cables installed on the shifters, I think they compliment the silver frame pretty nicely! I am still on the fence with what color I should do the tape/hoods/saddle in but I am sure that it will come to me... eventually. I originally wanted to do the bars and saddle in brown/honey but that is more expensive than the other options and since I am not 100% on whether I will keep this bike in the long run I keep going back to just do the bars red, black saddle and brown or black hoods, I am very on the fence with the whole thing. I don't really ride road bikes let alone vintage road bikes! and that is why I am unsure about whether this will become a permanent ride in my ever growing fleet of bicycles even though I have put a good amount of thought and time into this bike.


Finally a shot of what I started with compared to where I brought it, I think there is a big difference and when I am done I think it will be even bigger! Next on the list of things to do will be the tape and saddle and I am very anxious to see how it looks with a bit more of a finished feel to it. Now the decision must be made on the tape, once that happens I can choose a saddle and finally hood color, some new tires and we will be off for a ride to snap a couple photos in a nicer setting than my dungeon... er I mean basement!

Until then, keep on pedaling!

1 comment:

  1. You are not alone. I commented once before, I also have a silver Motobecane Nomade. I like what you have done so far with yours. I have changed mine to up right “North Road” style handlebars and like them a lot better than the drop bars. If I were to go back to drop bars I would use something like the ones you are using. Wider and with a flare to the bottom looks like it would be more comfortable than the originals.
    Over the years I have changed almost everything including the stem which is now a GB!
    I have seen several pictures of people using the Pletcher rear rack and they invariably mount it so that the front slopes up. I don’t know why, I have one and have used it for years and it looks and functions much better level. The rack clamps to the seat stays with a metal to metal connection that will scrape the paint, either wrap the seat stays with some rubber cut from an old tube or what I did was fabricate a mount with some plastic coated eyelet thingys from Home Depot and some L brackets.
    Mine came with black handle bar wrap but I would think red would be really nice, all that grey, silver, and black needs something to wake it up.
    I’ll keep following your progress, looks good so far. I have used mine to commute a few times now and some grocery runs. It works good like I have it so functionally I think I have it close. Next I have to make it pretty. :-}

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