I was doing some work at my parent's house when I found a dirty, dusty bicycle hanging on the wall in the garage. I looked closer, and it was a 1971 Peugeot bicycle. Apparently my mom hasn't ridden it in 20 years, but never threw it away.

Her father was in the Air Force, and at one point her family was stationed in Germany. Her dad bought her the Peugeot bike when she was 18 years old. It's 37 years old. When I asked my mom if I could have it, she said 'if you sell it on ebay I'll split it 50 / 50'. I told her I would like to clean it up, put new tires, cables, and a chain on it, and keep it in the family. This way my sister will have a bike to ride when she visits me, and she can cruise El Segundo and Manhattan Beach in a bike with some history and sentimental value.

It's a nice bike! It has patches of rust here and there, but nothing that looks too bad. I'm going to rinse it with water/detergent, clean the rust off the chrome with steel wool, then polish it up. Then I'll see if I can get some new parts for it and make it ridable again.

I'm not certain, but I think it's a Mixte...except the handlebars are not straight-bars. I'm at work now, but plan to take a much closer look at the bike after dinner. I'll also throw some pics up later tomorrow night.

This'll be my first fixer upper...I hope it works!





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I have a 1974, P8E Peugeot bought over from Germany by a teenage girl who became a friend's wife. I became the second owner. What is nice about these bikes is that the European versions have Rigida steel wheels but they are 700C which allows a much greater selection of tires.

pics or it didn't happen!

I'll get some pics...I've been working and I have a 12 shift today!

Updated with pics (see OP)! I'm disassembling the bike piece by piece and cleaning it day by day.

Nice find! It looks to be in good shape so hopefully you won't need to upgrade or replace much. It's definately a mixte and probably a UE18. It has lots of nice features that most of the Peugeot mixte bikes don't like the rack, generator tab and lights. I'd try to find a generator and hook up the lights once you get it all back together. That is going to be one stylish ride.

If that is an Agda (sp?) saddle that is one thing you might want to replace. They are terrible.

I would not use an abrasive like steel wool on the chrome. Just soak it in Oxalic acid for a day or 2, rust will rub off in your fingers, no scratches from steel wool application. Sandpaper even worse!