Rotten

...and I have a 1986 Peugeot Canyon Express





As far as I can tell comparing to the 1986 catalog the only none original components are the tires. Instead of 26x2.0 factory tires the previous owner put 26x1.50 slicks on it. The tires have been holding 60 pounds of pressure since I picked it up this morning so not bad for old tires and tubes.

I have a fondness for the Pug's. And luckily this one ,although definitely used, was not overly abused. And it has been stored inside for the last 15-20 years.

I'll do more posts on this one as I get into the restoration more but first I have to finish the fiancees Schwinn Varsity restomod before her birthday.

Henry III

By this time was Peugeot done with French threading? Cool find. What's your plans?

Rotten

Derailleurs, shifters , brakes etc all seem to only need a serious clean and polish. Heck the wheels only need a little attention to bring them back to true.

The major time and expense is going to be having the frame and fork blasted and powder coated. It was a fortunate thing it was stored inside because the paint is beat to heck. This one is going to be mine all mine so I'm contemplating a color change just not sure what color I'll go with. I will re-sticker it with the appropriate decals.

As far as the French threading. This is a 'Made in Japan' bike. I cant locate the source at the moment but I'm almost positive that it is not French threaded.

Henry III

Didn't Peugeot also have a model called the Orient Express also?

Rotten

Orient Express. U.S. Express. Urban Express. And maybe one more.

mountaindave 

Aahhhh, the thins we do for love (or lust )

Fahrenheit531 

My first bike, a couple of years back, was a City Express. Same era, 1984ish, and everything was very Japanese. Can't imagine French threading.

cb400bill

Montreal Express, Alpine Express

thumpism 

While a Peugeot rep I got my wife the watermelon color Orient Express. It's not original; we put a Blackburn rack, a Softride stem and Club Roost tires on it.



I also got myself a full Reynolds 531 Europe Express frameset that I built up with assorted parts but later sold. Both of these would have been '89s.

Peugeot made a bad spec call that year. Shimano had just introduced Hyperglide and Peugeot put it only on the top-of-the-line Europe Express, leaving lower models to have SunTour Accushift. If a mountain bike that year did not have Mountain LX or better dealers did not want them on the floor. If this full Tange bike of my wife's had had Mountain LX I could have sold hundreds, maybe thousands, of 'em.

By the way, that name Watermelon should be capitalized since it was official in the brochure that year.

Rotten

So so true...

Rotten

Very nice, I can feel the Peugeot Express series rabbit hole I've fallen into getting deeper by the minute . Living where I do they are very hard to find though which is probably a good thing for my bank account.

How many years did the Express series run for? I've been looking through the online catalogs but I havent been able to figure it out. Do you know if the 86 Canyon was the only one with the Roller cam brakes?

thumpism 

I think the various Expresses ran from early-ATB ('83) until Cycles Peugeot USA pulled out of the U.S. market and distribution was taken over by Procycle of Canada. I left right at that point (mid-1990) to work for a regional parts distributor so did not follow the company's subsequent activity too closely. My Europe Express had a U-brake on it, but I do not recall if that was on the frame when I got it or if I added it. Never much liked the roller cam brakes.

Bianchigirll 

OK what is so special about this bike and why the 8 hour drive to get it? Especially if you need a complete overhaul and as you say a repaint?

randyjawa 

I was lucky enough to stumble upon a nearly mint original Peugeot Canyon Express.



I did not keep the bicycle, simply because I had too many at the time. Swapped it for a lovely old Holdsworth Record from the early seventies...

SoreFeet

Wow that's a heckuva drive for that bike you are seriously dedicated classic nerd. I once drove forty five minutes to deliver an 86 Stump Jumper for quick sale...whoever got that bike is probably really enjoying it.

Trick fall

Too bad it needs a repair that is a cool color.

loky1179

+1. What is the draw? It seems the frame has very slack frame angles - that's enough to make me interested. Is this true? Is this part of what makes it special? Tell me why I need one!

jetboy 

there is a frame for free in my area:



tell me why I should go get it.. other than that its free...

Rotten

Why the drive? Because I live in a very small town in the Texas panhandle and there just aren't that many Pug's in this area, especially the Express bikes. Whats so special? That's a little harder to explain and a much longer story than I feel like typing up right now. Short answer is since I am what I believe is referred to as a 'clydesdale' at 6'2" and 275 lbs this particular model is the heavy duty version that I believe can handle whatever off pavement riding I do without any issues.

The complete restoration is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. I truly enjoy working on the bikes but the why is part of the longer story.

I hear ya, i really do. It's kinda starting to grow on me. Who knows I may try to match the original color. Plenty of time to decide.

I'm not bike tech speak proficient enough to really answer that. I'm not a hard core off roader. I can say this much it is very comfortable. After a few adjustments and airing up the tires I took it for what I intended to be a very short test ride but what turned into a 4.5 mile ride.

Uhm... to send it to me

Rotten

I'm hoping you can answer a question I have about the frame. The top tube has a threaded hole, just a single, on the underside about 1/3 of the way down the top tube from the seat tube. Whats its intended purpose?

Bianchigirll 

OK I can buy that. I just I was missing something about the bike.

Is there an extra hole on the seat tube in about the same spot as well? I suspect this was for a short lived porting brace that was somewhat popular on ATB/MTBs in the early years. Some came as bags designed to rest up I that HT/ST triangle.

thumpism 

Shoulder strap for carrying. That's how they did it in the good ol' days.


Regarding your bike's geometry and its slack angles, that is also how they did it in those days. Slack angles and long wheelbases is what everybody produced. Specialized, Peugeot, Schwinn, Trek, even builders like Ritchey. Loonnnng and sloowww compared to what came only a few years later.

PugRider

Congratulations. Sweet bike. The bike that got me back into riding in 2012 is my beloved Paris Express. Of all the Express models, I've been able to find the least amount of information on this one. It's from the same general era as your Canyon, but the catalogs online don't even have it existing. I'm thinking mine may have been purchased overseas, or in Canada or something. It's French-made, for one, where yours and other Express models by then were Japanese-sourced, I think. My fear is that the bb is Swiss-threaded, but the SKF bb seems to turn nice, so I'm not messing with it. It has a 21.1 stem from the early descended-from-BMX mountain bike days. Sachs-Huret friction at each end; a Maillard 5-speed and a Stronglight double up front. I did the drop-bar conversion just fooling around. I've since gone on to more traditional road and mountain bikes, but I just took the Pug out for a spin the other day.

There seems to be a hint of "why are you so into an 80s Peugeot mountain bike?" running through this thread. Well I think you could pose the same question to a lot of people about a lot of bikes. You like what you like, I guess. More specifically, now that I have added three more bikes of varying purpose and vintage to my stable, I will say they ride wonderfully smooth. There certainly is something about a steel-framed bicycle that is, well, what all the fuss is about. They are comfortable, quiet, shock-absorbing, and while I can't directly speak to your Canyon, lighter than you think they would be. At least they feel that way. It's a cliche, for sure, but they are built like tanks. I take mine into the woods, on the road, in the rain, wherever, whatever. It takes the abuse. The rear axle cracked in half one day riding down a hill at like 25 mph, and not only did the wheel stay on, I was able to (gingerly) ride it home about a mile! I will never get rid of it.

So hold your head high and be proud of your oddball 80s French MTB. It will serve you well I am sure.

cemetery by Eat More Plants1, on Flickr

thumpism 

Here you go. At least one contributor on C&V has one:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...s-express.html

Clang

As for the appeal, the Canyon Express was Peugeot's top level mtb at the time. You can see the specs here https://cyclespeugeot.com/images/1986...fications2.jpg Some nice stuff there: deer head Deore XT derailleurs and shifters, Nitto bars. The Suntour XC-II beartrap pedals have a great reputation and are valuable by themselves.

I'll throw in another vote for trying to keep the original paint. I like that construction yellow. But it's your bike :] I was glad to hear you planned on replacing the decals. I'm a fan of those Peugeot red-to-white diagonal stripes.

It's always a good sign when a short test ride turns into something longer. Please keep us updated as you start restoring it.