older Peugeot upgrade questions
 

I am interested in fixing up an older peugeot 'carbolight 103' and was wondering if anyone had any experience with upgrading components on these. I had three questions specifically:

1- I have heard a lot about weird french stems. This make on this one is Atax- can I switch this out with any old 1" quill stem?

2- This is a 23.4mm seat post- I can not find any nicer posts this size for sale so far. Can I at least change the ugly double hex bolt clamp part that attaches the seat for something a little nicer?

3- By my measurement the break reach is 65mm. This works fine with the standard old Weinenmann brake on there now- but all of the newer 'long reach' calipers I find say they fit 47-57mm. It seems unlikely to me that these common old Weinenmanns are 'extra long'- but I don't want to buy something that will end up being too short. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any helpful input.

I just upgraded this very same what I believe is a P6 frame( look under the BB) last week as my first total practice built with parts I had from other smaller projects. A 1in stem will need to be hand sanded about .250 to fit. The seat post is steel 23.4mm and there is no alloy swapout presently available that i know of, the top clamp can be replaced with a newer two rail clamp for modern road saddles. 700c wheels will drop right in, brakes will adjust easily. BB is english, so you can put a cartridge bb in and get rid of the riveted one piece chain rings. I did my build up with a total Sora 7speed Group. I`ll post pics tomorrow.

Those old Weinemann brakes were indeed "extra long reach" by today's standards and current "long reach" isn't enough.

I believe the amount you need to remove from the stem quill diameter is about .25 mm. Current 1" quills are 22.2 mm diameter and French quills were 22.0 mm.

Sheldon Brown had an entire article on French bikes that should be some help. Look here:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/velos.html#table

I have adapted two stems to French bikes with a little sanding. A 0.1mm reduction in radius is easily achieved.

Haha, that's neat. I have the exact same bike - bought it a few weeks ago for $50. I'm happy to report my paint job is in much better condition than yours! hehe:p

I'm currently upgrading with free parts I've gotten here and there. I'm leaving the calipers, seat/post, BB and crank for now. I'm upgrading the RD, wheelset (old ones were shot), freewheel, shifters, brake levers, cables, casing, tape, tires and tubes. I'd be very interested in your progress, so keep the pictures coming. I'll also post pictures once I'm complete, but here's what I started with...
http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=189209

edit: I should clarify that the wheelset, shifters, brake levers, cables, casing, tape, tires, and tubes are not free. This'll be a $150 free bike. Oh well, having fun.

P.T. Barnum's Second Law of Applied Economics: "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

He would have said it applies even more to bicycles. :)

Here's where I'm at. 700c wheels, 7spd sora group w/ RSX crankset,110 cartridge BB, all aluminum stem,bars, quill adapter. after I play with it I will repaint crappy frame. I'm right at 200 bucks

[img=http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/1470/im0004463oh.th.jpg]
[img=http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/25/im0004474ew.th.jpg]
[img=http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8830/im0004482up.th.jpg]
[img=http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/6371/im0004492ef.th.jpg]
[img=http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/3761/im0004507ne.th.jpg]
[img=http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1481/im0004518gk.th.jpg]

I figure I'm still coming out ahead. Last year I was toying with the idea of doing performance upgrades on my car ('04 WRX). Even if I were to stick to basic upgrades (sway bar, end links, brake pads/lines, wheels, exhaust), I shudder to think about how my bank account would look right now. Fixing old bikes is a relatively cheap way to release my creative energy.

Cheap? Certainly. Free? Not even close.