When a customer lets you run wild
11-25-13, 07:39 PM
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Bikes: The keepers: 1958 Raleigh Lenton Grand Prix, 1968 Ranger, 1969 Magneet Sprint, 1971 Gitane Tour de France, 1973 Raleigh Tourist, 3 - 1986 Rossins, and a '77 PX-10 frame in process.
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When a customer lets you run wild
About a year ago, a gentleman came by my shop with what can only be described as a completely trashed late 60's/early 70's Peugeot PX-10. I didn't do before pictures because the bike was: 1. Upgraded in the late 70's to SunTour by the quick modification of sawing the Simplex derailleur hanger off (by a professional bicycle shop, no less); 2. Then sandblasted and powder coated a really off-shade of red. The powder coating was badly done. 3. Then the bike was tossed in a garage, damp stored for about 30 years or so. 4. And not all the parts were there, so he tossed in his brother's '73 PX-10 to take what I needed. It was in about the same condition, but still had the original paint.
The customer wanted it put back to rights, as he has great memories of the bike, having ridden it from Portland, OR to Boston back in 1972. The things we did when we were young and foolish. He gave me a budget of $1000.00 to work on - and after I warned him that the bike, in mint condition, wouldn't be worth that much, he said he didn't care. He gave me one bad, blurred picture of the bike from the days of the ride to work with and told me to have at it.
As I'm not a frame builder or paint person, I farmed that job out. Fortunately, Richmond is blessed with Bing Bicycle Co., a local custom frame builder and old friend of mine (Rob Gassie). After wasting two months trying to get Hilary Stone to dig thru his small parts and come up with the NOS Simplex rear dropouts he was advertising for sale (never happened, just not on Hilary's radar, never mind that he had a customer with money waiting) Rob and I decided to take a modern Campagnolo threaded dropout and modify it to duplicate the Simplex. And, of course, when you're dealing with a custom frame builder who's already backed up with work (are there any other kind?) that took another 6-7 months.
The Criterium's were built piece by piece, as the market for NOS derailleurs, or even cosmetically excellent ones has gone insane in the past few years. I had to fudge with Prestige and Sun Tour jockey wheels, but they work.
The end results seem to be worth the time, however:
Cleaning the alloy was a fun operation, especially attempting to clean up that spots that had corroded badly enough that, although shiny, they're still marked. Plus a Cyclo freewheel that had the indents for the tool's prongs about 2mm in diameter larger than the Cycle tool that I had . . . . . . or Poguemahone, or two other Richmond bicycle shops. Fortunately, the local recycle shop actually had a tool that fit. And now they know what it goes to.
I dropped the customer the pics and a note tonight, he'll be calling me tomorrow about making arrangements to pick it up. I took it for a short ride this morning (26 degrees F does not lend itself to pleasurable riding) just to make sure everything was working properly.
To keep me busy over the winter, as part of the deal, he also gave me a '79 PX-10 frame and fork in my size, and in equally bad condition (powder coated, hanger cut off by the same bike shop, etc.) which is currently at Bing Bicycle for the same treatment. Looking forward to having it on the road in the spring, entirely late 70's/early 80's French.
The customer wanted it put back to rights, as he has great memories of the bike, having ridden it from Portland, OR to Boston back in 1972. The things we did when we were young and foolish. He gave me a budget of $1000.00 to work on - and after I warned him that the bike, in mint condition, wouldn't be worth that much, he said he didn't care. He gave me one bad, blurred picture of the bike from the days of the ride to work with and told me to have at it.
As I'm not a frame builder or paint person, I farmed that job out. Fortunately, Richmond is blessed with Bing Bicycle Co., a local custom frame builder and old friend of mine (Rob Gassie). After wasting two months trying to get Hilary Stone to dig thru his small parts and come up with the NOS Simplex rear dropouts he was advertising for sale (never happened, just not on Hilary's radar, never mind that he had a customer with money waiting) Rob and I decided to take a modern Campagnolo threaded dropout and modify it to duplicate the Simplex. And, of course, when you're dealing with a custom frame builder who's already backed up with work (are there any other kind?) that took another 6-7 months.
The Criterium's were built piece by piece, as the market for NOS derailleurs, or even cosmetically excellent ones has gone insane in the past few years. I had to fudge with Prestige and Sun Tour jockey wheels, but they work.
The end results seem to be worth the time, however:
Cleaning the alloy was a fun operation, especially attempting to clean up that spots that had corroded badly enough that, although shiny, they're still marked. Plus a Cyclo freewheel that had the indents for the tool's prongs about 2mm in diameter larger than the Cycle tool that I had . . . . . . or Poguemahone, or two other Richmond bicycle shops. Fortunately, the local recycle shop actually had a tool that fit. And now they know what it goes to.
I dropped the customer the pics and a note tonight, he'll be calling me tomorrow about making arrangements to pick it up. I took it for a short ride this morning (26 degrees F does not lend itself to pleasurable riding) just to make sure everything was working properly.
To keep me busy over the winter, as part of the deal, he also gave me a '79 PX-10 frame and fork in my size, and in equally bad condition (powder coated, hanger cut off by the same bike shop, etc.) which is currently at Bing Bicycle for the same treatment. Looking forward to having it on the road in the spring, entirely late 70's/early 80's French.
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Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
11-25-13, 07:55 PM
#2
Thrifty Bill
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Fantastic work there for sure!! Well done!!
11-25-13, 07:55 PM
#3
Senior Member
Nice!
Do you have any details of the modifications to the Campagnolo dropouts? Just out of curiosity, really.
Do you have any details of the modifications to the Campagnolo dropouts? Just out of curiosity, really.
11-25-13, 08:35 PM
#4
What??? Only 2 wheels?
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Wow! Nice work!
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jimmuller
11-25-13, 08:39 PM
#5
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Congratulations on the fantastic restoration job you have done on that Peugeot! 
Just when one thinks they have seen it all, a great restoration job like this one just inspires us to keep on going with our own projects!
Thank you for posting this!
Just when one thinks they have seen it all, a great restoration job like this one just inspires us to keep on going with our own projects!
Thank you for posting this!
11-25-13, 08:57 PM
#6
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bing-...0132?ref=br_tf
He shows the details he did on the frame, plus a few others he's done. That Viner belongs to Poguemahone.
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Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
11-25-13, 11:35 PM
#8
Full Member
Great job! Very slick machine.
Those tires look fantastic on the white frame. I'm guessing they're 27 x 1 1/4 or 1/8, but I'd love to know more.
Those tires look fantastic on the white frame. I'm guessing they're 27 x 1 1/4 or 1/8, but I'd love to know more.
11-26-13, 03:55 AM
#9
Shifting is fun!
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Good to see there are still people willing to restore a nice bike regardless of its commercial value.
11-26-13, 05:05 AM
#10
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High end (forget the model name while here at my desk) Vittoria sewups, 700c x 21.
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Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
11-26-13, 08:25 AM
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For a $1,000 budget it appears amazing. I am sure the client is happy.
11-26-13, 08:31 AM
#12
Senior Member
Wow, amazing job! And it's nice to see the guy didn't mind spending the necessary money to make it happen. I can't tell you how many times I've had friends ask, "I want you to build me a really good bike. Do you think $60 is enough?" 
11-26-13, 09:08 AM
#15
Death fork? Naaaah!!
You have better customers than I do i had a similar job this summer, but it was a '71 Schwinn Varsity and a $200 budget.
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You know it's going to be a good day when the stem and seatpost come right out.
(looking for a picture and not seeing it? Thank the Photobucket fiasco.PM me and I'll link it up.)
11-26-13, 09:28 AM
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11-26-13, 09:52 AM
#17
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Actually, I brought it in under budget. What you're looking at is going to cost him $850.00. It was helped by a combination of getting a nice professional discount from Bing and the realization that I'm not doing this to put food on the table. My profit here will be going towards putting the '79 on the road next spring.
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Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
11-26-13, 09:55 AM
#18
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Pouring rain today and tomorrow, I'm tied up with Maggie's family for Thanksgiving day, colder'n hell going into the weekend. And I figure by Monday he'll have picked it up.
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Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
11-26-13, 10:02 AM
#19
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What this has done for me is to up my standards on what I'm going to be riding in the future. I've got two projects for this winter, that '79 PX-10 which will be getting the exact same treatment, and a Trek 1200 that's got the components cleaned up, new decals are in stock, and it'll go to the powder coater sometime in December. While I enjoy originality and patina (and have not lost my devotion to both) I'm really in the mood for a couple of perfect "the factory should have built them that way" bikes. As I don't plan on selling them, cost will be no object, within reason.
And to make room, I think a few of my bikes are going. Probably the '72 Fuji Finest (brought back from damp garage hell, nice, but by no means pristine), and my '90 Paramount TT bike (you like weird, I got weird - 3x7 drivetrain, 650c wheels).
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Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
Syke
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, (1926)
11-26-13, 10:37 AM
#21
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Very nice. You certainly didn't charge too much!
Brent
Brent
11-26-13, 11:09 AM
#22
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Beautiful work; a tribute to you Syke, and to Bing. She truly looks like new.
11-26-13, 11:17 AM
#23
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Great stuff!You must have had an awesome time bulding this beauty.
Last edited by Zieleman; 11-26-13 at 11:20 AM.
11-26-13, 11:38 AM
#24
Senior Member
That does look like a pretty clever way of adding back the hanger to the dropout. In my head I pictured just replacing the full dropouts with the Campagnolo ones with the threads drilled out. Definitely retained much more of the Simplex character!
11-26-13, 02:59 PM
#25
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Gorgeous restoration OP, bravo!