Some pictures of the beater motobecane.

Here's some pics of the 1976 Motobecane Mirage mixte, as it's evolved into my around town beater fixte.

First up is the steer tube badge, which was nicely enameled and has held up perfectly all these years. The bike has never been repainted, and the silver is quite mottled with rubbed off places and cracks in the yellowing clear coat.

This is the original bike registration sticker from the 70s.  The cops don't register bikes here anymore, so it's just vintage memorabilia.  That sticker and the badge have much to do with why I've never painted my frame.

The rear end running gear, with a spoke card representing the local bike community blog at bellovelo.com.  Ponyhorse complains that his blog didn't make the picture, but he didn't stick a spoke card in my bike wheels when it was parked down town.

I've picked up some nice vintage parts along the way to customize and improve performance, while maintaining that vintage esthetic and general ruggedness. Here's the triple T stem I picked off an old raliegh racing bike I found at Outdoor Omnibus in Huntsville, AL.

And a really stiff and solid universal branded shift lever, from the same bike. All the steer and bar gear is roughly period correct for the frame.

The whole bike in profile, to show off the unusual mixte lines.  Some heavy duty messenger tires and classically styled 32 spoke wheels have proved a versatile combination for all road and remains of roads I try to traverse.