bobotech

I'm looking to buy. There is an entry level Peugeot for sale. 103 tubing. Missing parts: seat/seat tube, shifters, front brakes, rear derailleur, chain, has non-original rims, guy wants 45 dollars. Needs tires.

Also it has a 22 inch frame. I asked him to measure the standover height but on average, what size person would be able to ride it? I just like how the bike looks and would like to fix it up for me.

Phil_gretz

I'm not certain I'd want that bike at all - it's full of unknowns and hassles (including french threading. Do you know what frame size suits you best? What's your final target cost for the complete bike? Can you do all of the cleaning, assembly, adjustment yourself, and do you have the necessary tools?

Unless you have a parts bin, you must also count the costs of all replacements (for example, if you're resourceful and can source these at a coop or on C/L): seatpost = 10, tires/tubes = 25, saddle = 10, front caliper = 10, cable set = 10, derailleur = 15, bar wrap = 5, chain = 10.

Are the bearing surfaces okay? Do you have access to a cotter pin press? Are the brake levers bent?

I'd say that this bike, if perfectly tuned and operating, should sell for in the range of $175 to $200. So, unless you can find the parts for cheap, really cheap, you'll be underwater on this one pretty quickly. I'd pass.

Complete working bikes can be found for under $100 if you're patient. Then you can begin to do the repairs/adjustments to get it working properly. It'll save you frustration and tons of scrounging around. My two cents...

bobotech

Well one thing in my favor is that I DO have access to cheap parts. I volunteer at my local bike coop. I have access to all the tools necessary. I would not make this original by any means, I would just fix it to ride if I could handle the standover height. does that bike have cottered cranks? I could not tell.

I'm strongly leaning towards do not buy but still, it is nice and if I could get it for cheaper than he is asking, might be slightly tempting.

I bought a Schwinn Worldsport last week for 20 dollars that was complete. Needed to recable it and adjust it and it was nearly perfect except the paint was scratched up and had big chips. Only problem was the standover height was over 34 inches and I could not ride it so I just traded it back to the bike coop in exchange for a couple of parts for my Redline R540 bike. I wasn't looking to flip per-se on that bike.

jet sanchEz

$10 and that is being generous, it needs a lot of work and will take up a lot of your time.

bobotech

Good point. If anything, if the rims were decent and the tires were usable, I would buy it for 10 dollars just to have some spare parts like the rims and tires and freewheel.

Its a shame that old bikes like that aren't really worth that much. It is nice looking and probably is a decent enough albeit entry level frame.

Chombi

That looks like either an early 80's P6 or P8.
Defintiely the entry level Peugeot offerings at that time.
Bike like that in good condition can pull in maybe 90 to around 125ish bucks for mint/perfect condition one on a good day, as the Carbolite frame on them is very good as far as entry level bikes frames go, so many find them worthy of modding up with different/better components.
What's going for you is that the bike is not presently ridable with all those components missing so you are pretty much doing the seller a favor taking the bike off his hands and you should be able to try and deal down the price a little bit to maybe 25 - 35 bucks max offer, if it is rust free with good finish and the remaining comoponents are stil usable.

Chombi

bobotech

I am curious about the paint on the bike. I did ask the seller last night to send better closeup pictures of the bike.

Does that model have cottered cranks? Seems like it would be quite a bit newer than the last days of cotter cranks.

jet sanchEz

Well, to be honest, that bike has the potential to be valuable, it will just take some time and hard work. Here in Toronto, that bike in good working shape would sell for an easy $175. I have had really good luck with Peugeots in the past, people really like the name brand and that colour is awesome. I sold a similar one a few years ago for $160 and had lots and lots of emails about it---in fact, one person was so in love with the bike that she posted a Craigslist ad looking to buy it from the person I had sold it to and she was offering $200. Go figure.

Chombi

It's unlikely, as squre tapered aluminum cranksets have pretty much been the standard on most bikes by the early 80's....but there's still a possibility that it could have come with cottered cranks as I think these bikes also had steel chromed rims as standard.
When dealing with French bikes, you have toalways be prepared for the "unexpected". I think there are some images of 80's Peugeot brochures you can find with a search on the C&V forum. It will list the standard components that came with P6 and P8's. Look at model years 81 though 83.
Otherwise, you might expect either an entry level Nervar or Solida aluminum tapered square hole crank on them.

Chombi

bobotech

Got a couple more pics from the seller.

I'm not so sure i really want this bike after all. Turns out it DOES have cottered cranks (I thought those went out around 75 or so?). And the front fork does not look original.

I'm not so sure how decent the paint is as well.

wrk101

With your co-op connections, why not aim higher, get a bike that is complete, that fits, and has a better frame.

Lots of bottom end cottered cranks after 1975.

Chombi

Fork paint does not match what is on the rest of the frame but the fork crown does look like what came with Carbolite frames of that time. Could be a Peugeot replacement or just a re-paint. I'd be more worried about checking whether it is bent.

Chombi

bobotech

Mainly because it seems like that cheap fixer uppers are not that common around here. I love fixing the bikes up. I don't really want to buy something in perfect shape ready to ride. i would rather buy something that needs work and some parts and put it together. But I don't want to be throwing money at a Huffy just because I can. If I'm going to buy cheap parts and fix up a bike, then I want the end product to be somewhat decent.

jyl

On the bike's size -

Measure your bike inseam. Stand against a wall in your socks, hold a book with its spine against the wall and between your legs, jam the book upward until it "stops", then measure the distance from that point to the floor.

For example's sake, suppose your bike inseam is 34". Quick rule of thumb is to look for a seat tube about 22" = 0.65 x 34". That is 22" center-to-center, i.e. from center of bottom bracket to center of top tube.

Then, when you go to see the bike, stand over the top tube and make sure you can lift the bike about 2" without hurting yourself.

It is usually not a problem to ride a bike 2" smaller (seat tube length) than the above rule of thumb says, or 1" larger. Some people prefer smaller frames.

If you have unusually long or short torso or arms, compared to your legs, then you may need to worry about the top tube length. Normally it is roughly similar to the seat tube length. Some like a longer reach from seat to handlebar, some like shorter. But different choices of seat, seat post, and stem allow a fair bit of adjustment too (3" or so).

The above isn't how you get a professional fit, but is good enough for just pedaling around.

On the bike - sounds like via the co-op you should have access to all the tools you'd need, even a cotter press, and could get the bike working for around $100 in parts. Less if you were making a single-speed. Here in Portland, which I'm told is a "hot" vintage bike market, that bike with a complete set of components would still only sell for maybe $100-150. So $45 for the bike as-is, in Spokane, is pretty so-so. Personally, I would rather pay $175 for a complete working bike with matching fork.

bobotech

Thanks for the info. yeah, the non-matching fork is a turn-off for me. The bike is on my way home from work, I might consider stopping by just to take a look at it but I think its going to underwhelm me when I see it.

zukahn1 

I would say don't buy if your going to invest the time and money it would take to put this bike in good order yous should find a nicer project bike. If your getting a project bike one that needs a lot of work you should find something with a high end frame in your size.

jyl

OP, I sent you a PM w/ some ideas

Poguemahone

Carbolite 103= 24.0 seatpost size. Problematic replacement. That decal period sometimes indicates Swiss threading. More problematic replacement. Tell the seller for 25$ (30 canadian) you will take it off his hands. Seriously.

And I like Peugeots. I even like these Peugeots. But even your co-op is unlikely to have a 24 post and Swiss thread BB cups.

Chombi

I think this bike is French threaded and not Swiss. The Swiss threaded Peugoet bikes at that time were the fully lugged bikes like the PSV. This one is internally brazed constucted frame that I think uses Peugeot's own BB shells, different from what was used with the PSVs and other higher model bikes. IIRC, my similar Carbolite, internally brazed framed PH10S was French threaded at the BB, so this one should be similarly threaded.

Chombi

auchencrow

+ 1
The 24 seat post is a big drawback. There is a good chance you won't find one easily (or will pay dearly for it) and a bike w/o a seat post is well, you know.

Poguemahone

I dunno. Is it... a bike without a seatpost? . Auchen is right, it is a big drawback. Despite Chombi's claims of French threading, which I find quite believable, BTW, I stand by my earlier estimate of take 25$ from the seller in addition to the bike. French threading is more replaceable than Swiss, but for this level bike, the difference is really marginal. Unless you're reasonably skilled with French stuff, these bikes are a bit of a nightmare to work on. Not recommended for the beginning mechanic. Nor are cotter pins, for that matter.

bobotech

Well I looked at the bike. The seller was quite anxious to sell it and even said "Make me an offer, say 30 dollars or something?"

The frame is quite a bit worse than it looks from the pictures. The paint is chipped and scratched badly especially the top tube. The wheels are not original but are alloy. The owner said that they were off of a Japanese bike around the same time period. The freewheel had 5 cogs. The owner said that the original front fork was toast and he replaced it (had fresh grease, could see that). He replaced it with the orange fork. He said that the orange fork was off of a much nicer frame, it was 531 Reynolds. The lugs on the fork even had the contrasting color paint which was kind of neat but obviously that was only on the fork. The rear brakes were diamonte? and not original. No front breaks. He found a rear derailleur and stuck it on there, a modern Shimano Alivo, he didn't try to hide that fact, he just pointed it out. He had a Suntour front derailleur but said that the original Simplex was long gone. The cottered crank bottom bracket had play in it.

No seat post nor seat.

You guys still with me? Now comes the fun part. The frame was bent pretty noticeably in the rear. The only way to describe it is that it looks like that something hit the rear non-drive dropout hard from the side and swayed the seat stays and chain stays over aboiut 1/2 inch. If you looked down the seat stays, you could see the bend in the chain stays. I assume that the chain stays were equally bent. The seller fully disclosed the bent frame and even pointed it out to me before I even had a chance to look at it myself. I liked the seller, at least he was honest and forthcoming with me.

I did not buy the bike. At the point the bike was in, it was nothing more than a parts bike. The tires and rims seemed decent enough however the rear freewheel was filthy and had surface rust.

So I guess I woudl have been buying a box of parts, a set of rims and tires (dirty Japanese), modern Alivo derailleur (isn't that a MTB?), Suntour front derailleur, rather decent French fork, Diamonte rear centerpull brake, and handlebars/brake handles.

So what say you? Are the tires and rims worthy of me dragging home along with the other parts if I give the guy a tenspot? Rims and tires at the coop are about 10-20 dollars a rim but I just don't know if alloy Japanese rims are worth buying for spare parts? I really don't care much about the rest of the parts however I could probably find a use for the Alivo derailleur one of these days.

jyl

For $10, I'd buy it just for the rims. You'll eventually come across an old Peugeot with steel rims and will wish you had a aluminium set. Donate the rest to the co-op.

Chombi

Per your description of the bike's condition and damage, it sounds like it just scrap steel at this point and certainly something you wouldn't want to buy for any amount of money. REgarding the fork, As the seller noted, it couldhave come from a 531 framed Peugeot, but it could be one of those intermediate models that have 531 tubes only for the main three tubes and stays and forks done in regular high tensile steel. The stamped steel front dropouts hint at that.
Keep searching for that C&V bike project. there's plenty out there to choose from if you search early enough. emember, the prices usually go up when spring hits and everyone gets the bug to go cycling again.

Chombi

wrk101

$20 assuming the fork and wheels are not damaged. Most of the rest would go in the scrap bin (OK, I would pull the french headset and bottom bracket as well to harvest the cups.) Did the wheels have stainless spokes or galvanized? Were they nutted axles or QR levers? If the spokes were stainless, I would have gladly paid the $30 adjusted asking price. But I can always use parts. If you don't have room to store the parts, or don't have a use for them, forget it.

Again, if the wheels are OK, on the list of salvage parts you have wheels, bb cups (french or swiss), french headset (questionable condition on those two items), Suntour FD, fork, and the modern RD.

But as a project bike, pass.