ppc

I've spotted a Peugeot 10-speed road bike at the LBS. According to him, the owner brought it in for extended service and decided to leave it there for sale. It's got nice new wheels the LBS put on it, new brakes, new pads, a biopace outer ring that looks in excellent condition, a new chain and a Brooks saddle (but not new, it's adapted to the shape of the previous owner's behind now). The guy wants 110 euros for it and I'm considering buying it and leaving it as-is to commute, but I'm on the portly side, so I need to ask : were these bikes considered solid in their days? It doesn't look flimsy, but I don't want to buy it if there's a chance I'll ruin it. Better let another, lighter guy enjoy with it in that case.

Totoro

Depends on how heavy you are. Any Peugeot 10 speed that is still around is likely to have a very sturdy frame, provided it hasn't been in an accident and doesn't have significant rust. If the bike is in as good a condition as you say, the 110 E is probably a good price. New wheels can be over 100 E all by themselves. Take it for a test ride. If its comfortable, buy it.

Cycliste

Oui. Tres solide.

Serious, yes, you can see these still ridden now. I am thinking also on the number of these bikes that are converted to fixies and beaten the hell out of them. If you are on the heavy side, my guess is that the wheels will go out of true easier but I would not worry about the frame.
If you like it, buy it, price seems ok to me from your description.

barba

Do you know the model of the bike? There is quite a range of Peugeots. Some are excellent and others are midling. It would also be nice to know a little about those wheels before saying if it is a good price or not. For what it is worth, I have an older Peugeot frame that I use as an around town bike and it is a great ride.

ppc

115 kg / 250 lbs


Well it's a steel frame, so I'm not too worried. But still, I don't want to trash it. Bikes have a tendency to meet untimely deaths with me on them.

It really does look clean and nice. The paint isn't even chipped.

Totoro

That's quite reasonable. I wouldn't worry about your weight affecting the frame.
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If you tend to trash bikes easily, then you don't want to spend much more than 110 E. That said, you don't want a PoS either. Again, it sounds like a good bike. Not much to lose at that price.

ppc

I'll ask what model it is, but I don't think the LBS or the owner knows. As for the wheels, they're not the bottom end of the market : strangely enough, the owner paid for part of the work/parts that went on the bike, including the wheels, but couldn't pay in full and so left the bike there for the LBS to sell and recoup his cost, or something like that. The LBS is a friend, so he told me the story a bit, but didn't go into details. The 110 euros is just the amount the owner couldn't pay. They are nice enough wheels from what I could see, but I had no time to check the bike over thoroughly. I'll go to the LBS on monday to check it out again and take some pics.

Sheldon Brown

Frame strength is rarely an issue except for very high-end racing frames. If a heavy rider is going to have trouble due to weight, it will usually be the wheels, not the frame that will fail.

Sheldon "110kg" Brown

ppc

I have 3 cracked alu frames, including a downhill mountain bike in my garage that say otherwise

As for wheels, strangely I find the only adverse effect of my weight is that I have to retension/retrue them sooner when they're new, and perhaps once more after that, then they're good forever, even when they're really crummy cheap wheels and I abuse them like there's no tomorrow. Go figure...

ppc

Okay, I finally found time to go see the bike at the LBS. The thing is a Peugeot Avoriaz, made in 1986 or 1987 from what I could google : anybody know if this particular model is a "good" Peugeot bikes? Bear in mind that I want to make it a beater to commute, not baby it.

The wheels are no-name, at least none that I could read in the dim light of the LBS' shed, but they're most definitely not run-of-the-mill : the spokes are bladed and the rims looks "aero"-ish, so I think I can safely assume they're not typical wal-mart wheels.

Apparently, the LBS also changed the shifters : he installed brand new Shimano indexed downtube shifters. I don't know which model exactly (I took a hard look at them in the dark, and I think I made out "something-700" written on them) but they look and shift real nice.

So, all in all, the more I think about it, the more this bike looks like a good deal. The only thing left is to make sure this particular model isn't known for frame weaknesses, and of course go back with a tape measurer to make sure it's not too small for me.

John E

Personal experience: I cracked the chainstay of a 1974 Peugeot UO-8 after commuting on it for 4 years. I weigh about 65kg / 143 lb, but every workday I was climbing a 12% grade out-of-saddle in a 42/26 = 47 inch gear, with several kilos of weight on the rear rack and/or in my backpack.