bamb

Hi, there didn't seem to be a sticky for these yet.



I've been riding it for four years and it's a very nice bike. Serial is 2012467. I'm in Europe.
I haven't found any info on a similar bike, it seems there's always something different.

So, it's 28 inch, green with black front lugs that have gold edges. White Peugeot text directly on the down tube, with no background graphic. Inoxydable. Fenders and lamps and a rear rack. UO8 style front chainring/spider with a circular guard, cottered cranks. Chrome lower front fork, a top tube pump mount. A stem which has a square cross section in the horizontal part and the angle is not smoothed. No ava mention but a peugeot logo facing the driver at the end of the horizontal part of the stem. Rigida wheels. Mafac racer brakes, brake handles are all grey aluminium. Soubitez accessories. (The big hefty dynamo still works, after rewiring!) 5 gears in the rear 2 in front, Simplex derailleurs, rear with the red plastic. A West German bell with a big lion logo (heavy! ). Quick locks on the hubs (not wingnuts). Plastic saddle. Most can be seen from the pictures attached above.

My speculations:
1975 UO-8 is somewhat similar:
https://home.wanadoo.nl/peugeotshow/images/1975_3.jpg
+same three pronged disk/crankset/spider/what you call it?
+same front and rear wheel centers
-no black lugs
-different pump location
-different Peugeot text background

Mystery bike from dutch 1972 catalog cover:
https://home.wanadoo.nl/retropeugeot/1972/1972_5.gif
+the accessories look extremely similar, the lamp especially
-The front chainginring guard is fixed in this
-Just one chainwheel in the front

1972 P8E:
https://home.wanadoo.nl/retropeugeot/1972/1972_5.gif
like mystery bike but even less similarities: text background, no fork chrome, has wingnuts.

My uncle's Peugeot from 1975 looks a bit the same as mine but there are differences. At least the main text background is different and the text is smaller in his bike. And it has wingnuts instead of quick locks. Also the dynamo was smaller (does this suggest my bike is older actually?). There might have been other differences too.

I'm sorry about the bad quality of the photos, I don't have the better ones of it now at hand. It's a beautiful bike, something about the proportions makes it look just right and photogenic from any angle. The white side tires look so good on it (they've seen cleaner days!). It's also light to drive, I used to have an MTB and with this the trips go much faster. The pedaling feel is a little "flexible", compared to some newer bikes, I don't know where the slack is, in the chains or the crank stem or where...
It's really dirty now and has some small things to fix, I feel bad about that, not taking enough care. Have to put it in winter storage now, should clean and oil it.

miamijim

Keep in mind this site is still a work in progress.....

https://cyclespeugeot.com/ModelID.html

https://cyclespeugeot.com/SerialNumbers.html

Are there dates codes on the center of the hubs?

It appears to be an early 70's PX8L

Inoxadable decal refers to stainless tubing. Placement is correct for the early 70's.
Stamped rear dropouts and cottered crank indicate P8 series.
Top tube pump pegs indicate early 70's.

bamb

Ha, thanks! The forward hub center has a tiny text I would never have noticed if I hadn't known to look: NORMANDY P 13 75

The serial number would suggest 1972 for the frame, but the front hub 1975. I don't think they kept em in storage for 3 years before putting on a front wheel. When googling for a PX-8 I can see someone else was selling one in 2003 (incidentally, I got mine the same year but it's not the same, this is an abandoned bike), so they at least were sold in this country.

From the decals it seems this is from 1970-76 but the down tube decal doesn't fit any category: there are inclined cut gold strips at both ends but the lines do not extend below the text. Like the french colors lines but gold. Or then the description is inaccurate and it is category III and 1974-76.

I took the wheels out and cleaned the chassis and a bit today. The front chainwheel is Nervar. Tomorrow the wheels (I'll examine the rear hub then, now it's under thick oil-mud), and if I get a chain breaking tool, I'll disconnect it for cleaning too.

EDIT:
This seems to nail it, I found a PX-8 that is on sale in Holland and it looks similar to my bike except for color and a tiny bit different decals. If you compare this
https://www.marktplaats.nl/index.php?...n.html%23photo
to the first picture in the thread you can see that they are identical, except for some decals, which probably means a bit different year.

bamb

Sorry for the double post, I also have a blue found Peugeot that's still unrestored. It has a foam saddle (destroyed though), the brake handles are doubled so you can brake from the top handlebar position as well and a smooth stem. It seems somewhat more modern. I don't keep it here, but at my parents' place, I will check out the identifications next time I visit there, now that I know better what to look for. (Unless they gave it away, my father has a friend who is a bicycling enthusiast and would like to restore it to driving condition.)

redneckwes

Well thats a surprise,
Webpage looks great Jim!

sykerocker 

Jim,

Kudos on the webpage - I can see where I'm going to be spending a few evenings after work.

John E

Thanks for posting. A U.S. export UO-8 from the early 1970s would have the same seat tube and top tube decals, but different downtube decals and no black paint on the head lugs.

John E

The advice regarding fixed cup threading is backward. One removes a (left-threaded) English or Swiss fixed cup by turning it in the [b]same[b/] direction as one pedals the bicycle forward. One removes a right-threaded French or Italian fixed cup by turning it anticlockwise, as in backpedaling.

Data point: my 1980 PKN-10 was definitely Swiss-threaded, and the fixed cup was gold colored. I forced in an aluminum English-threaded fixed cup about 10 years ago when I converted to a triple chainring and Sugino crankset, and it has worked fine. At 34.925mm, the 1-3/8" English cup diameter is actually a tad smaller than the French/Swiss 35mm size.

miamijim

Something you cannot do with a Peugeot is use other markets model ID's to name your bike. Get is close, yes!! Nail it down, no!! Odds are the Holland bike in question is a PX8-L as it has full 'touring' gear or its fully loaded 'luxe' model thus getting the 'L' designation

IIR I'll scan the PX8-L page from PEugeots 1974 master catalog.

miamijim

Guys, thanks for the compliments.

John, you are correct, Swiss and English cups are removed my turning in the same direction the crankarms move while pedaling . There's a few typos I need to fix!!! I remember installing English BB's in Swiss threads and yes, it does work. I'd say 1 out of 10 I did were failures and for those I'd have to try a few different cups until I got one to fit tight.

I have alot more info to add to the site as well as catalog scans from 1901 throught 2003. Obviously I dont have all of them but I've have from 1960-2003 covered with only a few gaps.

If anyone has anything they'd like to contribute feel free.

bamb

Thanks for your info so far on my green mystery Peugeot, it's nailed to an early seventies PX-8, 72-75.

I visited my other bike today (sorry, no pictures):
Serial number is not at the bottom but at rear left dropout:
Y805-13647
That's 8 numbers? But this bike looks like it's from late seventies. Maybe the manufacturing of the model was done for quite long? Does the Y have any significance? Is Y8 1978 and P8 would be 1988?

It has a cotterless crank, that looks prettymuch like this:
https://home.wanadoo.nl/peugeotshow/images/1978_9.jpg
3 pronged. Couldn't fine any markings to indicate manufacturer.

It's blue, lugs too except for the slight gold edges. Crome lower fork (fork crown has a silver top that fades to blue), no inoxydable text, one sided bump in the frame for the shifter metal band.
Peugeot text has rainbow color angled stripe at both ends that does not extend below the text. (Like my green bike above but not in gold but in colors). The seat tube has a tall decal and the front head logo is profound. These would suggest around 77-79.

The stem is of Pivo mark (??). And I think I could see the text Normandy in the hubs, and 77 in the front and 78 in the rear.

It has again fenders, lights and a cargo stand, all those metal extensions for those are in the the frame. Also there's a weird stand/small box welded in the frame below the dynamo attachment at the rear that perhaps was for the lock? (I can't come up anything else, there's nothing attached there.)
The pump stand is in the seat tube. The Simplex rear derailleur had grey plastic, not red. The brakes were Mafac (iirc) but didn't have "Racer" mention. The brake handles are doubled, you can also brake when you hold your hands at the top handlebar instead of forward. That strikes me as odd, this bike must have been designed for really slow speeds then? The brake handles are grey ordinary metal throughout.

Also it has a foam saddle, I don't know if that is original. I couldn't examine the rims very closely as they were quite dirty and it was a cramped and dark place. Also the bike was quite rusted, especially the wheel quick releases and the chain. Much worse than my green Peugeot. It also feels kind of heavy.

So, all in all, cotterless crank I guess is a good thing (rather indicating newer age, not status) but otherwise it really doesn't seem that great. It must be a cheap version.

Are these catalogs
https://home.wanadoo.nl/peugeotshow/
anywhere near perfect? They show photos of only a few models per year. Or are just some models updated so little that no picture is warranted? I of course can use the model tables in them to get some data at least.

miamijim

without pics that will be a tough one to ID.

twsindypa

Yes, quite a surprise. Looks great! I will add a link to my https://www.retropeugeot.com/ website. You might consider a reciprocal link. Thanks.