16Victor

Be VERY careful about what compound you use... It's easy to rub right through the paint and into the primer. I suggest starting with something very fine, like a clearcoat scratch remover, and going to something slightly more aggressive only where it's necessary.

A brass brush and brass wool are your friends on both aluminum alloy and chromed steel.

Grand Bois

I think I've seen them in all of the Peugeot colors except black.

Steve Whitlatch 

I use maguiars rubbing compound and polish with no issues. I have tried to use just the polish but it really does not get much embedded grime or scratches out. Every bike that comes through my door gets a rubbing compound treatment. It's not like you need to rub it in for an hour. Maybe 10 minutes of work tops. Brings new life to tired paint and really takes out imperfections. After any touch ups, I follow up with polish and wax.

CountMeOut

I'll probably go this route. Thank you.

Kactus

Maguiars Scratch-X works well for me and doesn't need a machine to break it down. Its where I start on a very dirty/scratched surface. It's more aggressive than a fine polish but not as aggressive as rubbing compound.

The general rule to remember is to start with as mild a polish/compound as possible. You can always go more aggressive if you're not successful at first, but you can not reverse the damage if you start to aggressive.

Steve Whitlatch 

A machine to break it down? I use a cotton rag and my finger?

Kactus

Most polishes and compounds are meant for use on cars. Some require the heat generated by a buffer to break them down and work effectively, while some are intended for hand application. I have many different polishes I use on my car with a buffer, but they don't work well on a bike by hand. Scratch-X is intended for hand usage AFAIK.

It would be hard to use a buffer on a bicycle!

CountMeOut

Well, bad news!

Took it to the co-op today to start the process and found that the seat tube has a spot in the middle that is not round and appears to be "crushed". The mechanics recommended that I not ride it as is and dissuaded me from putting much time and money into it. You can actually see this spot on the final picture that I posted.

Welp! Time to sell and get something else. Thank you all for the help anyways!

IVARR

looks like a joy to ride ...

Steve Whitlatch 

I don`t see it in the picture. Can you take more pictures? How crushed is crushed? If it is just a dent, that is not a big deal?

CountMeOut

Well, when you feel the tube it feels as if it has been pushed out and come to a point, as if it was squeezed too tightly in a bike stand or something. Several of the mechanics seemed to think it was serious enough to not ride. I will take some more pictures shortly.

jj1091

Yes, I can see the area you're talking about. I doubt that the metal has been stressed to where it is subject to failure, and frame blocks can be used to take out most of the out-of-roundness. Don't count it out, yet. Sure, it may affect value if you were to try to resell it, but it's a repair that's quite feasible. Me, I'd keep it and fix it.

randyjawa 

Don't give up just yet! Show us the damage as clearly as you can. It sounds, to me, like a problem that might not be that hard to rectify. Anyway, let's see the damage more closely, if you don't mind.

As for the mechanic, is he knowledgeable about vintage bikes? In the area in which I live, there is only one shop that still has an old timer working there. And even he does not know it all, even though, at one time, I thought him to be a vintage bicycle guru.

Salamandrine 

I think you should just roll it out. This assumes you can find a shop that knows how to do this. You'd have to repaint or at least spot repaint, so consider that. The seat tube is in simple compression and not highly stressed. If it had a blip on the down tube, I'd agree with your mech. Down tubes are highly stressed and failure prone. OTOH squeeze damage on a seat tube is IMO mostly cosmetic.

Classtime 

Wow.
Your in LA
Take it to Bill Ron's in Redondo Beach. Call ahead. He has odd hours. If he says abandon ship only then should you.

3alarmer 

...nothing personal against co-op mechanics, but many of them are not particularly expert and some of them are there to learn from the few people who are. Unfortunately, this rarely prevents them from expressing opinion.