1957 Peugeot PL-50
 

Just finished restoring this poor man’s cyclo-touring bicycle. I purchased it a couple of years ago off eBay France. The bike was more or less complete, but in a fairly sad state. It had a Simplex prestige rear derailleur in place of the Simplex "Grand Tourisme” bell-crank style rear derailleur. The original Rigida chrome rims were very rusty and missing large areas of chrome. Plus, the entire bike was painted with latex house paint….. It came with what I’m assuming is the original owners identification plate, which I have fixed to the top of the seat tube. I think French law at one time required such a plate fitted to bikes identifying the owner?


I had the frame, fork and rear rack powder coated in a beige shade close to what was on the steerer. I tried my hand at box lining in a style similar to what Peugeot did back in the day. I also hand painted the head tube lugs and repainted the red stripes on the mud guards. My box lining is amateurish, but I’m generally pleased with the way it came out. The cones in the original atom hubs were pitted and with the poor condition of the steel rims, I build new wheels around Normandy Competition hubs and Velo-Orange 650b rims. I replaced the rusty cotter crank with a Stronglight 49d w/ TA 45/32 chainrings, which in addition to the wheels is the only other upgrade to the bike. The freewheel is a four speed (16/24). As shown the bike weighs 29 pounds, which is 3 pounds lighter than my similar 1964 PX-50 I restored 4 years ago. I have only ridden it around the block, but it has a Cadillac ride on those Pari-Moto 42mm wide tires. The Simplex derailleurs work very well, as do the head and tail lights. I think it would make for a cool city bike. I still have to work on a few things like the fender lines and trim the fender stays, but overall it was a fun project.


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You did a phenomenal job. That bike is beautiful.

Nicely done.

That is one gorgeous bike! One question though... any chance the rear reflector is upside-down? :foo:

That looks great, and you made a series of great choices!

That’s a stunner!

Thanks for the kind words. The tail light assembly is right side up.
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An as got photo first would've been nice but man that is a sleeper. It looks like a very stylish tourer.

Absolute stunner!:thumb:
Congratulations on your build.

Cool bike. I'm curious about the front rack, if that is a rack. Is attached only to the fender? Or is there some bits attaching it somewhere else that I can't see?

The top half of the front rack attaches to the stem and the bottom half attaches to the front fender. The bottom half of the rack slides into the top half, which allows the rack to adjust when the stem height is changed. I haven't had a chance to see how well the rack works. Here is a photo of the bike as purchased. It is the seller's photo. As I mentioned in my original description above, all the paint you can see is latex house paint. Even the hardware was painted and was a mess.

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Nice!

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What a treat; thanks so much for sharing this outstanding project! :love:

As was scrolling down the thread had wanted to ask if the 45CA's were original/correct but now see from the "as found" image that there was something else on there originally.

There is enough corrosion that cannot tell if they are Lyotard 36's or Eclairs or something else...

Is original chainset DURAX? Chainwheels are clearly Cyclo (France). Peugeot had a decades long relation with DURAX.

Thanks again for sharing your wonderful job with us. :thumb:

Very minor suggestion: you might consider replacing the Maillard skewers with something earlier. This model did not launch until 1973.

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The original crankset as fitted when purchased says "universal" and "A Duprat." Though it might look ok in the photo, most of the chrome is missing from the crankset.

I also have the original pedals, but again they are in poor condition. I'm not happy with the pedals I show in the photos, but it was the expedient solution....

I have a set of 50's vintage Simplex QR skewers to be fitted. I was anxious to get it outside today while the roads in my neighborhood are dry. Supposed to snow tomorrow!

Thanks for the comments!

Beautiful.

I like how red works in what looks to be mine's twin. My crankset was also a Duprat and had a 4" strip of the chrome peeled up when I first got it.

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I think your frame is older than mine because the shifter lever boss is on the top tube. It appears that maybe you might be able to deep clean and polish the frame? Also, it uses a different style brake. I forget what they are called. Sort of 1940's/50's version of sun tour power cam brakes! What is old is new again! I have a circa 1946 Peugeot PRD mixte that is on my list of projects and it uses the same brakes.

It looks like a cool project! Good luck with it!

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Thank you so much for the speedy and thorough response! :thumb:

Was thinking the bezel behind the head of the crank arm looked Universel* but would have never guessed the marque went back that far. Duprat probably goes back at least to the 1920's.

One pedal which might look appropriate on there is the Lyotard model 25.

All best wishes.

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*
in case anyone wishes to search on the name it is Universel rather than Universal

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Nice! Thanks for sharing this.

Its a real beauty - and tastefully done!

Thank you as well for the detailed photos: one of my "distractions" is trying to figure out how much the Aztec lugged frames changed over the years: the same basic frame and those lugs were used for decades. Besides the braze-ons for different derailleurs and for chain guards, and the canti vs centre pull brakes, the big (small) differences seem to be in the seat stay ends (at the seat), the brake bridge, and the location of the pump pegs. Geometry is the biggest unanswered question so if you feel up to it would love to know the chainstay length....

Also, is there already a thread for your PX50? I did a search and couldn't find it - would love to see pictures of that one as well.

I didn't do a thread on my PX50. I have attached some photos for comparison. I was able to revive the original paint on the PX-50 and I made component upgrades because most of the components were broken or in poor condition, but kept is as French as I could. I also took some quick measurements of both frames and there are some dimensional differences. They are both 57cm center to top. The top tubes are both 57cm center to center. The chain stay length on the PL-50 is 47.5cm (18.75"). Chainstay length on the PX-50 is 45cm (17.75"). Front center on the PL-50 is 62.3cm (24.5") and the PX-50 is 61.5cm (24.25").


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Thanks Andy Antipas : As you will see my late 60s AO-8 frame is very close to your PX50 frame from a dimensions perspective: Chain stay is 45cm (17 3/4"), Top Tube is 57cm (22.25"), down tube is a little longer at 63cm (24 3/4").

Seat stay caps are the same as yours (smooth) but not painted black; pump pegs are on the down tube like on yours; rear brake bridge is tubular like the PX50 but drilled horizontally for Mafac centre pulls, and of course no fork lock on the head lug.....decals are same style as yours (black letters on gold stripes though) except for the seat tube: by the late 60s they'd added the world champion rings plus "Record du Monde". And finally since mine was early bike boom it came with 27" (630) wheels.

I really like the red as well - suits that bike.

Mark

Fantastic job. Would you care to describe how you did the box lining?

I used painters tape and a brush. Not very hi-tech.... I bought one of those roller pinstripe tools, but quickly found that it takes a lot of practice too.

beautiful