I went for a nice family ride today with my wife and daughter and came home to find a bike in my driveway leaning against the house. There was no note on it, so as of now it's a mystery. It appears to be a late 80's Peugeot Monaco in rough shape. The front wheel is taco'ed, the fork dropouts are tweeked, the components are low end, and it's greasy as hell. I don't know much about this particular model, but it is about my size and looks to have gobs of tire clearance which are plusses. I have lots of parts at my disposal, I like French bikes, and I'm curious if I can turn it into a nice low trail, gravel type bike with wider tires. Is there any low trail, French magic with this particular bike? Am I an idiot for even considering taking on this challenge? If anyone knows anything about them I'd appreciate any info, or at least some encouragement/discouragement.

The Bike Fairy paid you a visit. As for trail, you can calculate it here:

Bicycle Trail Calculator | yojimg.net

Angle finders can be had for cheap at the local hardware store. If memory serves, mid/high 30s (mm) trail and less is considered 'low'. Tough to eyeball it in the picture due to shadow/fork turned away from the camera, but you might be at the high-end of low trail at least (i.e. into the 40s+). Now that I've said that I'll be proven wrong. I believe low trail is more valuable for front loads than gravel grinding in particular. Low trail may make that bike a bit more nervous/twitchy than ideal for its intended buyer. Either way, enjoy.

Thanks, I'll look into getting the angles figure out. I'd be running a handlebar bag and the widest tires possible(37mm or so) which would slow down the steering a bit from what I understand.

you don't often see a bike with stem shifters and an on-frame hanger.

this would be my first attempt at drewing ... the dt cable guide so i could clamp on some dt shifters. if i had some barcons handy, i might go that route.

The bike fairy brought me this years ago...



For me, it was a blessing. But I curse myself for being dumb enough to sell it! As for the Peugeot...

Looks to be a pretty entry level bicycle, to me. If you can get it road worthy for little or no cash out lay, do so. Then, without spending one cent more than is needed, test ride the bike, ensuring that it is safe to ride.

Once test ridden, you can decide if the ride quality warrants further expenditure of time, effort and, of course, cash. If it does, my guess is the bike will accept a fairly wide tire.

You don't wanna complicate your life messing with a French bike. Just send it to me, you don't need the inconvenience...

Agreed with Randy above. And the comment on bar end shifters. If it fits, could be a fun rough-stuff bike that you don't have to worry about using up. Funny enough, the Bike Fairy delivered a French bike (Motobecane Grand Touring) to me about a year ago.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll start by trying to straighten out the fork issue, lube and adjust the cables, put a spare wheel and saddle on it, and take it for a spin. Hopefully it'll ride nice and I'll take it from there. BTW: when the bike fairy pays you a visit is that when you know you have a bike "problem"?

Well, mystery solved. My neighbor mentioned he had a bike with a bent front wheel like a year ago, so I told him to bring it by and I could throw an old steel wheel on there for him. He never came by, so I threw the rim in the dump. Turned out he still needed it, bit that wasn't all. The fork is tweeked also and the front brake was all bent. He came by today and I asked him if he ran it over with his car and he said he did. I told him to have a shop check out the fork before he bought a new rim and gave him a front brake from my junk box. I have a feeling that bike will end up in the dump as he didn't like the news about the fork. Oh well.

The bike fairy does takebacks? Bummer.

so ... "curse."

Yeah, the bike fairy is fake. I feel like I did when I found out Santa wasn't real . As for the bike being a curse, looking at the fork and all the work it needed maybe it was a blessing he came to get it. I'm such a sucker for basket case bikes.