I finally had a chance to test my old Peugeot with its disk brake fork. It’s not quite the right fit yet (the stretch to the brake levers is a cm or two long, and I want to move the stem up about 15 mm) but I had a chance to see what it would do. Unfortunately it was sunny and dry as a bone, given that I built this to see how a disk would do in the rain!

As [MENTION=197614]fietsbob[/MENTION] commented in another thread, the bike with this fork handles differently from my other old Peugeots. I did not have a long enough ride to figure out just what it was doing, though. It seemed sluggish at times yet arguably twitchy at others. I should note that the wheels and tires are very different from my usual Velocity Aeroheats with Compass tires. These wheels are wider and heavier (Velocity Dyad on the read, Weinmann ZAC 19 in front, with 32 mm Gatorskins.) But overall, the bike did not exhibit any bad behavior, and the brakes worked fine.

Pretty bike. Too bad it's too small. The reach is all wrong because the bars are way low.
Or get a bar with less drop and bend.

The seat tube is a bit short but the top tube is a bit long, as it is set up. I will definitely be looking for a shorter stem, and I intend to raise the stem and bars 3/4 inch or so but I prefer my bars lower than the seat.

I don’t see anything obviously wrong with the bar height.
Although I’d flip the stem and put the spacers below instead.
But that’s aesthetics, and me.

I’d be more inclined to wonder about the saddle.
Seems like a post with very little setback.
And a saddle scooted way forward.
Overall, I’m all for frankenbikes and mods. Anything to keep e’m rolling and being useful.

Yes, I want to move the saddle back a bit once I get the reach set properly.

Plus it’s fun to play around with ‘em!

Don't wait too long, as a too far forward position can be hard on the knees. Also, it may be difficult to determine the proper reach/stem until you determine the best position for the saddle (knee over pedal is not necessarily the best measure).

I have about 15 other bikes so I know pretty much what to do. I will move the seat about 3/4 of an inch back and 3/8 inch lower, and I need to find a shorter stem. The brake levers may also be part of the issue; my other old Peugeots use classic levers that have a shorter body so I don’t need to stretch as much to reach them. I am actually thinking about removing the Tektro levers and putting on a set of Mafacs. I will of course make sure the lever arm for the Mafacs is similar enough to work with the disk.

Your brake levers are mounted unusually low. You might try mounting them with the tip of the lever even with a straight edge placed along the bottom of the bars.

They do look low, don’t they? But the top of the brake body is level with the top of the bars, which is how I have always mounted modern brakes.

I have so far moved the seat back and gotten a shorter stem, so I fit the bike well now. But I am still open to moving things around to see if I can improve this some more. The bar tape is old so it is easy to unwrap. I’ll move the levers up and see how it works. thanks, GB.

Interesting setup, front disc brake (which is good, front brake is more powerful and useful than rear anyway) mixed with rear rim brake

But beware since disc and rim modulation is not the same, you might accidentally grab too hard and end up locked front, which is scary

By the way................................................................................................. .....................................................................

I can't really stop looking at that drop bar... its just looks so wrong

Find a proper drop bar ASAP @ OP

What? A classic 3TTT bar isn’t proper?

How would you change it?

Cool, I was thinking of doing this to a Panasonic frame I had with a bent front fork. Did you match the geometry of the old fork with the new CF? I noticed you had a threadless stem - is this just a quill adapter or did you put in a threadless headset and how?

Edit: Found your other post. Still curious to see the geometry differences.

That's a frankenbike! As long as you ride the snot out of it, I like it!


Regarding brake lever position, they're not too low! From the first pic, it looks like his bars could be pointed a tad higher, so the handlebar thru the top bend is level. Then the brake lever should be lowered so the top of the hood is also level. Those bars are a bit funky as the bottom part angles way down, so you'll never get that part close to level, or only slightly drooping. Making the bottom of the brake lever the same as the bottom of the bar would only distort the angle between the bar and the top of the hoods, where you have hand contact.


Is that a 180 mm rotor up front? A 160 or 140 might be a better match for your rear brake.


And you'll get more points if you cut the steer once you finalize fit.

The new disk fork was a bit different from the original fork, less bend as I recall. The fork had a 1-inch threadless steerer tube, and rather to my surprise the Origin-8 headset was a perfect fit in the Peugeot and the fork.

I am still tweaking the setup a bit, but when I last rode it it was a bit more twitchy than you average old Peugeot. I won’t be working on it for a while, though, being in Reims.