Classic & Vintage - Peugoet 103 carbolite advise please

HI all. I am new to this forum and would like to ask if anyone has any info on the peugeot carbolite frames as i have 2 peugeot bikes and am thinking of getting one of the frames powder coated and turning it in to a tourer. Is it worth it? Are the 103 frames worth the effort? All comments welcome.

Thank you. Marc.

Bottom-of-the-line Peugeot road bikes of the early 1980s had Carbolite 103 frames. The expanding bolt seatposts are nonstandard and hard to find, and the frame material is basic plain gauge carbon steel. For commuting and short distance touring, it is probably OK, but I definitely would not spend much money on it. Having said that, my commuter is a 1970 UO-8, predecessor to the Carbolite series and probably not that much more resilient in ride quality (Carbolite frames have always felt very soft/dead/leaden to me).

None of my carbo bikes have expanding seatposts? My Reynolds 501 PGN-10 does, however. In my humble
experience, 103 frames ride quite nice. They don't have that springy feel of a high end bike of course. They do get the job done, and I haven't heard of anyone breaking one. As a touring bike, not sure. I wouldn't dump big bucks into an update, but as an around town commuter they're hard to beat.,,,,BD

Hi bikedued. I notice you have a 103 in the picture. I'm not really going to spend that much, i have bought a brooks b17 and some new michelin tyres. But i was going to get it powder coated, not in the original colours, but maybe copper or blue ( candy ) i have been quoted £50. Do you think its worth doing. Or am i wasting my money?
I must say that when i say i want to turn it in to a tourer i really mean wider tyres and mudgards. I don't do thousands of miles but it is quite a sweet bike to ride.

That roughly comes out to about $102 American, which is not bad. That's about what it runs here in Houston. Powdercoat, saddle, and some tires I wouldn't call a waste of money, especially if you hate the color, hehe. I think the other guys were talking about a Campagnolo group, high dollar wheels, etc. I vote for copper. Kind of partial to that color.,,,,BD

Yep i think i agree with you. I spoted the copper colour by accident but it does look rather good. It will also look good with my saddle which arrived today. Its a brooks b17 in honey but with copper rails and studs. so they shold look good together.

I have no intention of changing the brakes or gears, because they work well, but ill stick some mud guards a rack on the back and that should do it really. It a very clean bike right now, but its gold and looks a bit old fashioned.

Thanks. Marc.

Well, I have a Peugeot PBN-10, which I discovered today (after following advice from another thread), is from 1979. That also has a Carbolite 103 frame and in the year or so since I've owned and ridden it I've been very impressed. Having said that I've never riden a high-end bike so have nothing impressive to compare it to, but I think it's a great frame to use for commuting and for distance. I did 45km, so about 28mi, a day, 3-5 days a week, on it for about 10 months and it was great. My only problem (and this was me just being a **** cyclist!) was that I couldn't get the hang of using the frame-mounted gear shifters so, in the end, I just set the gears to something generically useful and rode it as a single speed bike.

Neil