friday1970

As my favorite bike ages, as does the components. And the rear derailleur is the next component whose life is coming to an end. I believe the rear deraulleur is the "Huret Rival". It's the original derailleur that came with my bike when I bought it new nearly 28 years ago. It's starting to get to the point when I shift to the lower front gear, and to the higher rear gears, the chain starts to meet and rub. I don't see this as a good thing.


So, for the rest of the specs. I replaced the helicomatic hub (good riddens!) with a 9 speed 11-32T freewheel hub. The original crankset has been replaced with a Gossamer FSA compact (50-34T). I still utilize my down bar shifters.

So, what are your recommendations? I'd like to purchase one that would be considered an upgrade the huret rival, something that is lighter and stronger. Whichever I buy, the LBS will perform the install and adjustments.

vonfilm 

Deleted.

John E

I put a SunTour Cyclone II on my 1980 Peugeot PKN-10 and was pleased with the results on a 13-24 freewheel and 48-45-34 ringset.

big chainring 

Long cage Huret Allvit would be my choice.

dddd

Ignoring the length of the cage on the long-cage Allvit for a moment, the clearance for bigger cogs came by way of a different, more-rearward body mounting angle.

My experience is that the longer cage is fine, but that the more-vertical body position makes for a particularly poor-shifting Allvit derailer.

Not to mention that the Allvit derailer is infrequently found with mounting hardware compatible with the OP's PGN Campag-standard derailer hanger.

Further, the Allvit, even with perfect lateral positioning under the cogs and with modifications to the parallelogram, will handle at most a standard-spaced 6-speed freewheel.

I didn't understand the OP's problem of the "chain starts to meet and rub", but would not hesitate to install almost any modern derailer that can handle the 32t cog with 9-speed cassette width.

Having just bought a very similar Peugeot PH501, I can appreciate the OP's desire to keep this bike on the road with it's race-worthy frame angles and light weight.

miamijim

Are considering indexing in the future? If so any of the Shimano's will get the job done regardless.

friday1970

Maybe. For now, the down tube shifters still work for me. I'll just make it easy for me. I'll take the bike down to my LBS and have them take a look at it. I'd like a Shimano 6800 GS on it, but I'm just worried about any incompatibilities due to newer components on an older bike.

And dddd, you are correct. I love this old bike. Sure, I'd love a nice light, speedy carbon fiber bike. But, I'm not in my skinny 20's anymore, and never was the fastest to begin with. I prefer the slower nature of a metric century and beyond tour. And with the 32T, climbing hills (such as Whiteface or Sugarlands to Clingmans's dome) is easily done. It's a slightly heavy bike and I'd surely like it lighter. But, it's not the bike that really needs to lose the weight, if you know what I mean.

miamijim

Your FSA may require a chain that's a tick too narrow for a 6800's jockey wheels but that should be only compatibility issue. Throw a 10s Shimano on there and you'll be good to go.

John E

dddd

Jim, the 6800 rear derailer is 11sp-compatible, I have one in my hands, very nice instrument!

So the OP could probably use 10sp chain with both his 9-10sp Gossamer and surely with the Ultegra-11 mech, however this newest generation of Shimano front and rear derailers have a significantly longer cable pull that any old friction shifter just might not be able to take up!

A 10sp (DynaSys generation) Shimano rear mtb derailer has an even longer cable travel than their road-model 11sp rear derailers, if you can believe it, but the 9-speed mtb derailers from Shimano will handle 9 or 10-speed chain perfectly, whichever of these chain widths that the OP (Friday) chooses to run with the Gossamer crank, and have a more-traditional (though not exactly short) cable travel as well.
I would not choose a regular 10sp Shimano road derailer to work with a 32t cog and with a compact crank, not to say that it couldn't be made to work ok.
If there is a 10sp 105 or Tiagra (mid-cage?) model that is rated to 30t though, It might be a good choice, and will have exactly the same cable travel as any Shimano 9sp derailer.

miamijim

My bad, I read to quick and was thinking he wanted and older pre-index 600 RD. IIRC those older Peugeots may have long-ish derailleur hangers which helps for larger rear cogs.
@dddd You in the bay area? I'm in Milpitas by the mall through Sept. 2nd.

dddd

That's good idea, using one of the pre-index 600 long-cage derailers for now, or maybe a Suntour derailer.

When the OP decides what index shifters to use in the future, that might be the time to get a modern derailer.

Good thing about the old, pre-index 600 derailers (and Suntour derailers) is they don't need all that much cable movement to sweep across a wide stack of cogs, and I think that some of the Simplex derailers were essentially copies of the early Shimano mech's.

I'm up here in Auburn, Jim, about 3hrs away. I was out your way just last Friday to pick up a 1985 PH501 and a 1970 TDF. The guy even threw in a time-capsule Bridgestone 400 for an extra hundred bucks.

friday1970

I took the PGN10 in yesterday, and the tech there was also concerned about my suggestion of a 6800 derailleur. Same issue, worried about cable pull length. I gave him two suggestions to help him out. First, I never use my two smallest gears, my 11t and the next one up. Also, I let him know I am not opposed to dumping the down tube shifters and going with index shifters.

In any case, I'm glad I took it in. Chain worn to more than 100%, meaning new cassette, chain, rings, etc... Expensive.

miamijim

Different DT levers with a larger radius will help. Those old French DT levers were only designed to throw a RD the distance of 6 cogs.

SvenMN 

Friday1970:

Since you are now talking the added expense of new chain-cassette-rings and different shifters in addition to changing out the rear derailleur isn't it time to consider a full "modern" 10 speed conversion? I am not clear on what your replacement rear hub is and if it has a free-hub that can be converted to handle the 10 speed cassette... that may be a pivotal part of your decision.

My current go-to road bike for recreational riding and training is my '85 PSN-10, one model above yours. I've ridden it hard early in the year on the trainer, and now hard outside (including Almanzo) with little maintenance other than cassette/tire swaps, and chain cleaning/lubing. I documented it's build here last year.

I am using Shimano RD-6600 (long cage), FD-6600, and ST-6600 2x10 brake/shifters with my compact front and 11-28, 12-32, or 12-36 cassettes.

friday1970

I've actually been working on that over the last few years. I've replaced the fork with one of those Nashbar carbon forks, with a new stem and handlebars. And on the handlebars, I've (well, not me, another LBS) installed a modern set of SRAM brakes. It's nice being able to rest my hands on them.

For a crankset, my LBS swapped out the original with a FSA Omega set with Shimano 105 SPD pedals.

And most recently, I've finally gotten rid of the helicomatic hubs, and the same LBS installed a nice 8 gear 11-32T freewheel cassette, along with Mavic CXP22 wheels.

I think it might be time to modernize the whole shifting thing with an index shifter up there with the brakes.
I'd love to change out the seat post, but don't know of anything modern to use with it.

But, the frame stays. I just love the look of this particular Peugeot. I was amazed by its looks as a 17 year old wheeling it out of the dealer's showroom, and at 43, still loving it.