1972 Peugeot UO 8 - my first post
 

I have had this bike a long time, and wonder if it is too "old" aand out of date for general riding- should I just buy a new lighter bike in the $500 price range?
Anyone know what the pedal thread sizes are? I had to take the rat trap parts off and need regular pedals but dont want the junk walmart type- any good online parts sources/ I was plugged into that in the 70s and 80 but have lost touch.

You will probrably get some good advice here, but there is a Classic & Vintage sub forum here that will realy draw some expert advice.

Hi Ed, I have a UO-10, a little newer than yours. Mine still works fine and I use it for riding with my kids, but I do prefer my Gunnar Road Sport for serious miles. I really never enjoyed downtube shifters.

You can tell how I feel about old bikes by looking at my signature.

You can get lot of advice on your UO-8 in the C&V Forum.

Moved to C&V... :)

I'm regularly riding a late 60's to early 70's AO-8 (that I bought in 1974) - so I don't think your UO-8 is too old.

Mark

It all depends what your trying to get out of the bike. Have you ever driven a 1972 car? You can use the same analogy in comaring new bikes to old bikes. New $500 bikes will out perform, in every way, an older 1970 bike. technology just does that. That being said, many people enjot driving old cars and enjoy riding old bikes.

Jim...just look what I ride and drive:

1982 Peugeot PH12
200X Klein carbom custon build

1970 Corvette
2006 GTO

I think most Peugeots sold in the States used standard 9/16th threading for the pedals. The local bike shop near where I live has a selection of inexpensive platform pedals. If you go that route, just make sure you can return them. You can try here http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/french.html if it turns out you need french threaded pedals.

About 6 weeks ago we picked up a cheap Peugeot at a garage sale similar to a UO-8 for my wife. She wanted something a bit better to use than her mountain bike for a short triathlon. I've thoroughly enjoyed tinkering with it and updating some of the components. We've probably sunk another $100 in it and I'm happy with the results. The truth is though that it's still a 70's era bike with some nicer 80's components and new tires.

This will probably be the only triathlon it's ever ridden in because if my wife gets serious about doing them, she'll want a better bike. We can sell it at the local Bike Coop's swap meet next year. Since people spend way too much money for used bikes there we'll get back our investment and then some in store credit. Enough for a down payment on a new bike. I've gotten kind of attached to it though, so we'll see.

If your main goal is to start riding again, I would do whatever will get you jazzed up about doing that. If that's tinkering with and riding your old bike, - great. If that means nice new shiny bike, then so be it.

If you have emotional or historic ties to the bike, it could be worth your time and money to get it into ridable shape beyond what anyone in a forum could suggest.

You obviously won't have the lighter weight of modern bikes, nor the modern conveniences of shifters integrated into the brake levers, but you rode without them before, so you won't miss them.

If you aren't concerned about upgrading to modern components, then you can tune your bike up very affordably and not significantly impact your opportunity to buy a new bike, and have your old bike in your stable as well. And if you decide vintage is not for you, you would be able to sell your Peugeot to sweeten the pot for the new bike as well, and it would bring higher dollar in riding condition as well.

Familiarity with the bike, even if it has been years, could be an advantage to easing back into the sport.

Are you sure? I worked at a Peugeot-Nishiki dealership in the early 1970s, and I recall a few people stripping English/ISO cranks on Japanese bikes by installing and using French pedals. (20 TPI = 1.27mm thread pitch, and 9/16" = 14.3mm diameter, so once again the pure-metric French standard was just close enough to English to cause trouble.) Until recently I had the original TA Professional 3-bolt crankset from a 1972 LeJeune, and it was definitely French-threaded.

Your Peugeot UO-8 is not too old for general riding, or even for long-distance touring. My favorite transportation/commuting beater is my 1970 UO-8, updated and upgraded with aluminum rims and cranks and Japanese derailleurs with those great SunTour ratchet barcons. If you are racing professionally, have a sponsor with deep pockets, and need every tenth-percent advantage, then you can make a convincing case for a state-of-the-art bicycle. For most of us, however, older bikes, particularly but not excluslively those of the late 1970s, are more economical, more practical, more versatile, more durable, better-looking, and more reliable, albeit a bit heavier, than anything on the showroom floor, and they will run circles around anything from *-Mart.

According Sheldon Brown's website, most Peugeots sold in the states used 9/16 threading. The key word is most. I don't know if that means almost all since 1974 and none prior to that or what. The way it sounded was that if the bike was intended to be sold in the U.S. market, they were 9/16. If they were intended for the French market, they were... French.

SB is not an overly accurate source of correct information. Most of it is very very vague. Content does not equal fact.

did you know miamijim that a 2006 gto is an aussie holden monaro ? (well it is lol)

Most certainly......The 2004 GTO has NO Pontiac/GM emblems on it.

www.ls1gto.com
http://www.jhp.com.au/monaro-gto/

Can you get replacement or new parts for the bottom bracket?
Like races and bearings or do they make retrofit "all one part" pieces with the bearings like car beraings that is not loose for a bike this old.

Yes, you can get replacement bearings at any bike store. As far as an entirly new bottom bracket, yes you can buy those as well. Youll have difficulty finding individual cups and spindles but entire sets are doable.

while you have a decent point, in that things get frustratingly vague sometimes just when you want them to be most accurate, I must rush in to point out that to someone who knows little about classic bikes and the myriad issues surrounding them, SB is a great source. But it is definitely not the ONLY source, and there are some contradictions and omissions. i built up a peugeot UO-8 from the frame recently, knowing very little about bikes at all, and I definitely could never have done it without bikeforums.net, but sheldon brown's website was very very useful as well.

as far as the OP goes, if you put some love into them (i.e. $$ and effort) UO-8's make beautiful bikes that ride great.