Guys,

Some of you know of my longstanding affair with "Mimi" my Frenchwoman (1968 or '69 U08). She has now had a basic skin peel (sand blast) and will receive a nice bright white powdercoating this week. I scored some PX-10 type repro decals on e-bay that seem to be from the same period and will look fine on her.
(U08's had a gold slash deal on the top tube that is not included with this set). Although she will never be museum qualty restoration because I ride her daily, she will look nice (though some might call her a Frankenbike because of the alloy wheels and other modern bangles she has.)

BUT, what I am looking for here at BF is information (or donations) of what crank arms I might be able to go with. Believe it or not, her cottered crank arms are only 168.5 mm center to center. Knowledgeable riders have told me that length was not that uncommon and translates to some relatively popular English equivalent. I don't know, but I am 6' tall and Mimi has a 60cm frame. I have ridden a lot of modern bikes recently (due to Mimi's hospital stay) and like the longer crank arms. I think 172.5's would be perfect and would make up for a bit of a lack of low gearing Mimi now possesses.

Any discussion about crank arms that might work would be appreciated. The bottom bracket is the original and has the original spindle. Would up-scale crank arms from that era work, say off a PX-10 or maybe a Motobecane? Are steel ones the only option? If I have to stay with steel, do people ever drill lightening holes in them, ala racer tricks? Is there a bigger selection if I change the bottom bracket stuff? What will work? I have read (and saved!) previous threads that deal with some of these issues, but I am not particularly gifted as a mechanic (basics I do well enough) so specific information would be of great interest.

Sorry for the long post. Mimi is worth it. I'll post pictures some day.

Tyson
Cushing, Oklahoma

Look for Stronglight or TA aluminum cranksets to stay period and French. 172.5 might be a bit harder to find on a vintage crankset then 170 or 175 though. You might want to consider a Campagolo GS crankset as an alternative, if you can't locate a nice Stronglight or TA.

If it's drillium you want, Stronglight was probably the king of it, second to Zeus.

One thing though: If you go to an aluminum crankset, chances are it'll be cotterless, so you'll have to replace the original spindle for steel cottered cranks with the cotterless type.

Take care,

-Kurt

Cuda,

That's the kind of info I am looking for. Is there a reasonable "swappable" cotterless spindle that will fit this '69 Peugeot U08 so that I can go aluminum?

Any info you give is welcome. Especially from someone who has posted pics of such nice bikes.

Tyson

Any square-taper spindle for a 68mm BB shell should do the job (easy enough to find, as 68mm is also used in English BBs) so long as the right-side extension aligns the crankset reasonably well with the frame. The right-side extension will depend on the crankset and inner chainring size though, so you're pretty much stuck having to buy the crankset first, then hunt for a proper spindle.

Be prepared to fiddle about with various spindles before finding one that works right. If you get a Stronglight crankset, make sure you get a Stronglight crankset puller before attempting this.

-Kurt