I've just (nearly) finished a build of an old 1980s Peugeot steel frame and fork into a second bike for riding around town (DC) and fair-weather commuting (about 5 miles). Before building this one I had one bike for longer weekend rides and for daily use, but I got tired of having that one stolen. I hope this one is a less attractive target.
Pics and details on the build below, but there are two spots where I could use some advice:
1) I haven't ridden riser bars in a while, so I'm not sure how to adjust them. These (as you can see) have a very slight rise, which I currently have angled up and back at about a 45 degree angle. Is this "right"? Is there a "right" or can I rotate the bars as a first-cut option for sizing my reach and posture? Stupid question, surely. I think the drop bars have gone to my head.
2) There's very little clearance between the front tire and the front brake. So little that I had to use a 23mm tire (rear is a 30mm cross knobbly since it's what I had around). It works, but if I pick up rocks or the tire swells a lot in the heat, it's going to rub. I already pulled the axle down as far as I'm comfortable in the fork dropout - this helped a little. I don't think I can file down the brake arm in the center as it has an open center - there's not much material there. Do I need some kind of offset bolt? Is this little clearance going to be a problem? Why is this even an issue - the frame was sold with 27" tires, so I should have plenty of room for these 700cs, right?
Frame: 1980s Peugeot Carbolite 103 steel (maybe a 1984 P6 or P8?)
Fork: Original (I think) Peugeot cromoly
Rims: new single wall
Crankset: Metropolis City 45t
Rear hub: SRAM Automatix
Seat: 1980s salvage from parts bin (to minimize attractiveness)
Seatpost: BMX 22.2 shimmed up with a dremeled 1.8mm shim + 1 layer of Sapporo can to get to ~24.0 funky french diameter (buying a post that fit would have cost more than the frame)
Brakes: Tektro R580
Bars/grips/levers: Parts bin or Amazon
Lights:
3-pack of knockoff chinese froggys (these rock and are <$5 for the set)
Bike:
Brake clearance:
Looking at the pics, I see I can get a little more reach if I turn the saddle clamp around...