Bicycle Mechanics - Old-Skool Peugeot road bike questions

Hey, newbie so be nice ;-)

I've just bought a 1987 Peugeot Triathlon road bike, and I have a heap of questions about it now I've had a few days to ride it!

The bike is well specified - Mavic alloy rims, Reynolds 501 alloy tubes and forks. The rest of the setup is Sachs friction derraleurs, Heliomatic rear hub.

Questions:

I'd like to stick a Shimano gearset on it in future, but of course that requires a different hub. Are the Mavic rims worth keeping and stringing onto a Shimano hub or should I get a new wheel? The rims have a Mavic sticker that says "MA 700c".

Is it worth upgrading the gearset? I'd like eventually to put combined gear/ brake levers on but only if it's worth the hassle.

Should Reynolds 501 rust?! I thought the answer was no but It looks like there's a little bit of rust around the frame corners.

Has anyone tried using a bike like this for competition? I'm interested in doing a few triathlon events next year...

Cheers.

my first road bike was a year or two older than yours, had shimano 105 6-speed group. a nice enough ride, but going STI (brifters) doesn't make much sense economically, as you'll pay close to an entry level road bike once you're done upgrading.

also, helicomatic hubs have a bad habit of crapping out, and replacement parts are hard to find. so you might want to check the rear wheel out before doing much of anything else.

Hey, newbie so be nice ;-)

I've just bought a 1987 Peugeot Triathlon road bike, and I have a heap of questions about it now I've had a few days to ride it!

The bike is well specified - Mavic alloy rims, Reynolds 501 alloy tubes and forks. The rest of the setup is Sachs friction derraleurs, Heliomatic rear hub.

Questions:

I'd like to stick a Shimano gearset on it in future, but of course that requires a different hub. Are the Mavic rims worth keeping and stringing onto a Shimano hub or should I get a new wheel? The rims have a Mavic sticker that says "MA 700c".

Is it worth upgrading the gearset? I'd like eventually to put combined gear/ brake levers on but only if it's worth the hassle.

Should Reynolds 501 rust?! I thought the answer was no but It looks like there's a little bit of rust around the frame corners.

Has anyone tried using a bike like this for competition? I'm interested in doing a few triathlon events next year...

Cheers.501 is lower end steel.It rust. if you want to throw money at integrated shifters, anything is possible. Money would be better spent on beer rather than that old Pugsnot.

steel rusts, it doesn't matter if it's hi-ten, 501, or columbus el-os.

Hey, newbie so be nice ;-)

I've just bought a 1987 Peugeot Triathlon road bike, and I have a heap of questions about it now I've had a few days to ride it!

The bike is well specified - Mavic alloy rims, Reynolds 501 alloy tubes and forks. The rest of the setup is Sachs friction derraleurs, Heliomatic rear hub.

Questions:

I'd like to stick a Shimano gearset on it in future, but of course that requires a different hub. Are the Mavic rims worth keeping and stringing onto a Shimano hub or should I get a new wheel? The rims have a Mavic sticker that says "MA 700c".

Is it worth upgrading the gearset? I'd like eventually to put combined gear/ brake levers on but only if it's worth the hassle.

Should Reynolds 501 rust?! I thought the answer was no but It looks like there's a little bit of rust around the frame corners.

Has anyone tried using a bike like this for competition? I'm interested in doing a few triathlon events next year...

Cheers.

Heliomatic is problematic and those rims are nothing special. Keep the wheel as a spare, but put another complete wheel on if seriously competing particucularly if you keep the friction shifting.

If competing seriously, I'd upgrade the shifters, but you could probably get a faster used bike of ebay for not that much more than the cost of the brifters.

I'll probably run one of the local weekly TT runs on a similar Peugot this summer, but nothing serious.

Some steels are very resistant to rust - depends on the alloy & how much carbon they contain.

Cheers - I think I'll leave the Peugeot as is for the moment, and save my money for a complete new bike.