jamesdak 

I know these don't get a lot of respect but I just picked this old beast up today. Was told it was a U010 but it didnt' seem to match up what I could find about the U010, looks like a U08 to me. What is throwing me off is the downtube shifters as I thought those were on a U010. Bike weighed right at 29 lbs on my scale. Officially my heaviest road bike now. Still I can't wait the chance to take it out and see how it feels on the road. That's all that will matter with this bike.

So, all you Peugeot experts, what did I bring home today?

Even though the pics look bluish it is a purple (Violet) bike.

jamesdak 

Some more pics:

KenNC

In REALLY nice condition! I think you are right about it being a UO8, based on steel rims and crank. When I bought a comparable level Motobecane in the early 70s, the bike shop recommended I move the shifters to the down-tube, and put on a smaller cluster freewheel, before I took it home, so that is what we did, fwiw.

Aubergine 

Yes, it is a U-08. Lovely bike! It's not entirely original (seat and brake levers at least) but it's really well preserved.

I have its cheaper sister the A-08, which is almost exactly the same, other than having no chrome. I put nice aluminum wheels with Compass tires on it, and it rides like a dream. Brakes better too!

John E

Stock 1972 UO-8, except for the saddle and brake handles, as noted above. (Peugeot serial numbers are notoriously unreliable, but a 7-digit field starting with a 2 nominally indicates a 1972 frame build, and the downtube shifters are consistent with that, as well. Around the end of the year Peugeot made the huge -- and fortunately, short-lived -- blunder of moving the Simplex shifters to the handlebar stem, where they worked worse than ever.)

Repeat after me 10 times -- "There is nothing wrong with a UO-8." Mine gets more use than all of my "good" bikes combined, because it is my go-to steed for errands and commuting.

jamesdak 

There's nothing wrong with a UO-8.

I am sure I will be perfectly happy with this bike. Heck, I'm selling my CF bikes and going pretty much all steel because I'm not all about the "modern thing"! I rode a Peugeot all over the place in Germany for a couple of years. It was fast, comfortable, durable, and convenient. Heck I even brought home a whole stereo system piece by piece on the rack. And that week little generator light I had gave my just enough (like just, LOL!) light to see as I took the wooded paths after college back to the Kaserne I was living on. Heck I could get from Neureut to Karlsruhe faster on the Peugeot via the bike path than I could in my BMW 2002 tii. I still regret not bringing that bike back with me.

Narhay

Another indicator of year and model are the Aztec head tube lugs. Yours is in very nice condition.

Road Fan

Absolutely, it's a UO-8 with some small upgrades. Based on the fork bend, I agree it's early '70s.

Suggestions: If the BB needs overhaul because of feeling crunchy or sluggish, look into replacing it with a cheap compact 50-34. It'll be very close to the 52/36 that was common on the Alpine setups, and it will be a lot lighter.

Another: if the rims are toast and you are sick of dealing with poor rain braking, go with 700c aluminum clincher rims and nice modern tires. Get your hubs overhauled and build the wheel iwht modern stainless spokes. Alternative is to just get some new wheels.

another: align the frame and fork, including the dropouts - she'll go in a nice straight line.

another: convert the handlebars and stem to aluminum. with Ebay or other used parts sources, you can save a lot of weight for low $$$.

That is in great condition! I have a really beat up green one that rides nicely, and a less beat up blue frame that is just a frame/fork. I need a set of wheels for the green one.

Road Fan

Were there any UO-8s without Aztec lugs? I've seen pictures on Ebay of '50s Peug frames using the Aztecs, and with the same braze ons and chainstay details as the late '60s/early '70s bikes that all my friends had and that my shop sold. If any did not have them, they must have been the very latest years of production.

jamesdak 

I appreciate all the great info and suggestions. I'm thinking new tires and tubes right now and then just cleaning and basic maintenance. I can make out a very faint Michelin on the front tire but the rear gumwall is really, really bad. Maybe these are original. I guess we're talking 27 x 1 1/4 tires here? I cannot make out any number on the sidewalls at all if they were there.

Oh and sorting out pedals. Just thought of that and I guess the Look Keo's I run wont fit and certainly won't look right. Pedal cages with leather straps would see right and make things more convenient for being able to run errands and such with this.

I'm just starting to go over the bike but there's a world of difference between it and the Billato built Giordana I'm also working on. Of course, the bikes are about 20 years apart too.

Road Fan

If the rims are steel, they're almost certainly 27 x 1 ¼. You can probably use 27 x 1 ⅛, but the main thing is the rims will not have a hooked bead. They might not retain the bead of a modern tire if you inflate above the original 60 or 70 psi. Just a caveat - I'm not sure this will be an issue.

Regarding the Giordano, Nice!

If you had a Peugeot PX-10, you'd have a pretty direct comparator to your Giordano.

But I get it, my UO-8 is parked near my Masi and my Mondonico.

I guess you know, "pedal cages" were traditionally called "toe clips and toe straps." I've used them at least on some of my bikes since the '60s when I started riding road bikes, always with loose straps. I find no problems with them.

Your pedals are probably French thread. Nothing magic, you just need to get pedals with the correct threading.

bikemig 

No respect? This is a fine bike and in beautiful shape. Swap out the steel wheels for alloy and you have a fine riding machine.

jamesdak 

So much to research on this beast as it's older and different from everything else I have. Like sourcing the alloy wheels, or maybe just replacing the rims if the hubs are as good as they seem.

It does have some rough paint spots in places but looks fine from 5 feet away. I'll have to haul it into town this weekend and see if I can find a testor paint that matches the purple pretty well so I can touch it up. Found one bad rust spot at the top of one seat stay where it joins the seat tube. Heavy surface rust but tube integrity seems fine. I need to clean that up though and coat it for protection.

Did some test polishing using a mild polish and I think most of the metal surfaces will shine up just fine.

And I actually think I've got a set of toe clips around somewhere. Took them off a bike years ago but forgot about them. Hmmm, where are they...

Aubergine 

just get 700c rims. I did that for mine, and laced them to the hubs that came with the bike. They work a treat!

bikemig 

It won't be an issue getting 700c wheels to work on that bike and it will improve the bike's performance. Plus you can get humongous tires on there with 700c wheel. This bike is very nicely laid back (42 inch wheelbase) and can be a fine gravel bike, commuter, touring bike, etc.

SkyDog75

It looks like a UO-8 because that's what it is! And even though they were a low end bike, you'll find that they get plenty of love around here for being a comfortable ride. I've got a '72 UO-8 and it gets ridden plenty.

You can probably pin down the age of the bike pretty closely by looking at date codes on components. For example, you might find a month & year stamped on the inboard side of your rear derailleur's cage, right between the two pulleys.

It's like Peugeot couldn't make up their mind when it came to shifters on the UO-8. Over the years, they wavered between downtube and stem shifters.

One other detail worth mentioning: Simplex quick release skewers with straight levers have some value.

jamesdak 

You called it Skydog75, 2 72 on the RD just like you said. Thanks!

I noticed how the skewers were different than any I've saw before. So folks like those, huh?

Grand Bois

Not when they're missing parts. That makes them pretty much worthless. Yours are missing the wing nuts and a coule of springs. I've seen complete sets sell for $100.

jamesdak 

Thanks for the pics, I assumed mine were missing something on the end when I got it. THey do work by holding that knurled piece on each and there are small rusty springs on each end. I had figured on just swapping these out with other QRs I have as long as something fits the 120mm rear end.

dddd

From the looks of that bike, the bb shouldn't be rusted or worn out.

Most of the UO8's that I've worked on had the bb cups and crankarm cotter pins installed with quite-sufficient torque/force at the factory, enough even that an initial rebuild involved extra effort.

Unless the bb is loose or is extremely rough (the factory set them up on the tight side deliberately), the only service I would perform on it would be to lay the bike on it's side and drip in several drops of heavy oil along the spindle (allowing it to flow in on each side for as long as needed at this cold time of year before doing the other side).
I would expect the original bb to last many thousands of miles with such simple service, unless used or stored in extremely wet conditions, based on my experience.

Do check that the steering is positively smooth, you don't want even a hint of tightness in the headset. These bikes handle well if the headset moves freely, and again here you can start by just oiling it up from the bottom until extended use warrants it be rebuilt.

Chainrings are probably 40-52 or 42-52t. Earlier ones were 36-52, and those before that were half-step.

Stem and bars would have to be replaced together, due to the ancient 25mm clamping diameter. Quill is only 22.0mm of course.

Upgrades tend to be complicated since it is French, even a recommended alloy rim upgrade might be complicated by the fork's 96mm dropout spacing.

Tightening of the front derailer clamp may cause it to split immediately, it'll likely split on it's own eventually.

There must be at least some discernable freeplay in both axles with the wheels off the bike(!), so adjust axle cones (typical over-tight factory bearing adjustment ruins the cones in a hurry).
Normandy hubs suffer bearing failure much sooner from over-tight adjustment (gets much tighter when the quick-release is applied) than from poor materials or from scant lubrication!

dddd

I'm still holding out hope that someone will offer a knock-off replacement for those plastic wing nuts. Not that they don't keep turning up on unwanted used bikes, but originals are extremely brittle.
The plastic wing nut just gives a handle to the brass nut that tensions the little spring.
The spring just keeps the main nut from losing adjustment when the wheel is removed, but a drop of Loctite does the same thing if the little nut and spring have gotten lost.
Even the original setup doesn't quite shroud the skewer from snagging/poking things the way modern ones do.

greg3rd48 

That is most certainly a U08 and a nice one at that. Like others have pointed out if you do some minor upgrades to the bike it will improve performance exponentially. My main commuter is my U08 that I rebuilt and upgraded and it is a great all around bike. It came to me without wheels so I picked up a used 27 1/4 alloy wheelset with Araya rims and Sanshin hubs. I like Panaracer Palesas for appearance and functionality. I did like the Mafac breaks and with Koolstop salmon pads the stopping power will be greatly increased. However I did swap those out too for a 105 brake set. Swapping out the steel bars and crank also saves a good amount of weight. I did replace the original BB also with new French cups and a spindle to fit the Sugino crank. Do the upgrades that you see fit and ride the heck out of it. I love mine. Ohh yes definitely replace the Simplex derailleurs.

John E

Another trick -- if you want to replace the handlebar stem, just buy a standard 7/8" = 22.2mm unit and sand it down to a hard metric 22.0mm. Been there ... done that ... works like a champ.

John E

True. Although the photo of mine shows 27" front and rear, I currently run a low flange Shimano hub with a 36-hole Campag. Omega 700C rim in front, with a 700Cx28 tire. I have even gone as large as 27 x 1-3/8" knobbies, which worked very nicely on dirt roads.

SkyDog75

If I remember correctly, mine is 1/72 or 2/72. Pretty darn close! And yet somehow your bike wound up with downtube shifters and mine came with stem shifters. Peugeot's living up to their reputation for consistency. ;-)

One of my UO-8's skewers was missing its wingnut and the other's was really brittle. Only 2 of the 4 springs were in halfway decent shape. And yet I was still able to trade those skewers to another forumite here for parts to replace my UO-8's cracked plastic derailleurs and upgrade my plastic stem shifters. In exchange for those Simplex skewers, I got a set of SunTour bar end shifters, SunTour V-GT rear derailleur, SunTour Compe-V front derailleur, and a set of Atom skewers in decent shape to replace the Simplex ones. So while they might not be $100 skewers, I wouldn't say they're worthless.