At the time I didn't even know anyone who had a derailleur bike. I was 23 years old. What did I know? This bike carried me many miles. When the pump broke I cut off the pump lugs to allow fitting of a Zephal hp (a much better pump anyway). In the late 70's I upgraded to alloy crank, pedals, wheels, SunTour derailleurs. For most of its life it wore lights and a bottle generator. Eventually I moved those alloy parts to a nearly bare Gran Sport frame I had acquired. This past year I re-assembled the UO-8, minus the long-gone Simplex. Now it is getting ridden again.

I have a dilemma though. I'm tempted to upgrade it again. One idea is to build alloy rims onto those Normandy hubs. But I can't bring myself to disassemble those beautiful original steel wheels! Sure, they're heavy but they are straight and true and shiny.

And that 14-26 freewheel... I've got another Atom from a Motobecane that goes 14-28. That would give me a low gear of 35. Sure, climbing would be easier, but I would know that it isn't original.

Now, if I had some original derailleurs..naw, don't go there!