I finally finished* rebuilding my fathers vintage Peugeot bike. After a month of taking apart, polishing and slowly rebuilding I took the bike out for a first longer testride today.
Conclusion: I love it! It feels special to ride a bike you have taken apart completely, a bike of which you know every single piece you reassembled.

Thank you to everyone on the Classic & Vintage forum for all the help/tips I received during the rebuild!




(*Still needs some handlebar tape and some bolt tightening, noticed some loose bolts after the testride)

Fantastic!!!

Not just that you did the teardown and rebuilding- but that it’s your father‘s bike!

Next pix- show the drive side!!!

Congratulations!!!

Nice. That's the first time I've seen a carbon-railed Brooks paired with turkey levers

Clean machine!

It's a Brooks C15 saddle with steel rails. And while it might not be carbon, I do like the saddle.

How do you like that ‘weatherproof’ Brooks saddles?

I have several of the older Cambiums with the cloth tops- I like the look of the older ones- I wish the new ones were less black.

Head tube lugs are dyin' for a linin'.

But what color paint pen? Hmm...

The top doesn't feel like hard plastic/nylon. It has a somewhat soft feel. I like the way it looks and if feels comfortable.
I know of the older Cambiums with the cloth top, I like their look more as well :-)

Yeah, that would be nice. I think I'll have the bike repainted in the *distant* future, then I'll look into a liner pen for the lugs. (or not, depends how the paint job turned out)

I would not repaint, Let her tell her story! That paint isn't that bad. Nice bike! Good job on the refit.

I have been lucky enough to own and ride a bike similar, perhaps identical, to the OP's. Nice job of street restoration - well done!

Repainting the bike would prove to be a bad idea. Take a look at Should I Paint My Bike? and, perhaps, you will come to understand why repainting is an expensive and rarely cost effective endeavor.

My guess is that, considering your present successful build, you might want to try it again. If so, might I suggest the Test Ride be implemented before you do all the work. Perhaps a look at Test Riding Vintage Bicycles will shed some welcome advice on the subject.

For what it is worth, Big Green was my first attempt to street restore a vintage road bicycle. I made all of the major mistakes - too big for me, bent frame, bent fork and I stripped the rather nice paint to do my own thing. Foolish, foolish, foolish, in my opinion. Anyway, Big Green my first restoration effort which rode like a damaged tractor...

[MENTION=84826]randyjawa[/MENTION] rode like a damaged tractor made me laugh out loud. I too found a 25" frame bike, an Atala and desperately wanted it to fit and of course it was way too big.

Nice Job OP and cool story hope the old Pug brings miles of smiles.