PX 10 yes or no?
 

I want to buy a frame so I can start building up a nice bike to ride around. Came across this on craigslist, she says it's a px10 from the 70's. it has the reynolds tubing sticker and the serial number on the bottom bracket reads 1814685. Can anyone identify what the serial number means in terms of the model? Also the lugs are black. http://sacramento.craigslist.org/bik/1049602215.html

yes.

Looks real to me. Go buy it but beware of the French bits.


Kerry P

Yep, looks legit. Hell of a price, too, assuming it's in nice condition.

Oh yes.

Wow! Looks great. Those dropouts are classic, and suggest a 50s or 60s frame.

Yes, with the chrome dropouts, that is probably the real deal. The decals look like early 1970s to me. If you want to build it up as a proper derailleur-geared road bike, as I would, make sure the integral derailleur hanger is in decent shape. Some misguided folks hacked these off either to fall for the fixie fad or because they could not figure out how to hang a Campagnolo or SunTour derailleur on the Simplex dropout.

They used the Simplex dropouts with the axle guide on the non-drive side well into the seventies. My '74 PA10 has them.

As I recently learned from Dirtdrop they certainly did. Primarily a feature of pre-70's PX10's the axle guided dropouts did find their way onto some 70's bikes.

Did you buy it yet? I'm warning you, I'm off today, I'm closer, I love French bikes and it's my birthday.

Lucky for you, I don't love them enough to buy a frame that won't fit me.

Same here. A PX 10 makes a beautiful 650B commuter candidate and no one will know it was a high end road bike before!

blasphemy!

Blasphemy? Here it is:

I might have to go get it!

You, sir, don't deserve a Nervex-lugged half-chromed classic from the '60s or early '70s--not for shamelessly converting a retrograde '80s specimen to a 650B commuter, but because you flouted it on bikeforums and recommended doing it all over again on a classic.

yeah I got it today, bits of rust on it, what can I use to get it off without messing up the old paint?

Oh? I thought the definition of a classic is something timeless. Yes, I think it would be at home in France in the past century. 650B is nearly as ancient as a wheel size gets! ;):innocent::)

650B wheels on a PX-10 is like a Sturmey-Archer hub on a Paramount track bike. Both are classics but . . .

OK, I'll say it:

what the heck did you do to that poor thing?

Hah! I'm in the midst of a 650B conversion on a '72 PX-10. It's one way to deal with a frame that's a bit too tall for me.

Neal

650b conversions are fine when they're tastefully done. I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

I originally was gonna run it fixed gear but when the NuVinci hub came along, I changed my plans. 650B Velocity wheelset, Panaracer Col De La Vie tires, Steco Front Rack, Jandd Expedition Rear Rack, Nitto Albatross handlebar, Shimano Nexus dynamo with headlight and a Brooks B-66 leather saddle. That's what I did to the poor thing. And it rides great! :):thumb:

Picture this: red Hetre 42mm tires, Rigida 650B rims and Campy NR hubs, hammered alloy fenders, Stronglight 99 crankset w/ 45-32 rings, Lyotard Berthet pedals, AVA stem and Belleri bars, Mafac brake levers with full gum hoods, original Simplex seatpost and Brooks Pro saddle. The brakes have to be new DiaCompe 710 centerpulls to get the extra reach (why did I sell those Mafac Raids awhile back?!). What I'm still contemplating are the mechs: I'm likely to go with function over French: first gen. SunTour Cyclone w/ SunTour bar-end shifters (though with Campy rubber hoods on the shifters). Still a few parts to collect to make it all happen.

Neal

Honjo hammered fenders are beautiful and the "demi-balloon" look provided by the Hetres is classic. I wouldn't recommend the AVA stem - Sheldon Brown wrote they're junk and now while an Ideale saddle is appropriate for a French bike, Brooks is a good replacement choice. I think that some of the parts you want may be impossible to find - if its a museum-quality restoration you're after!

Actually, all of those parts are in my basement at the moment (except for the fenders, which aren't Honjos, but some Belgian fenders that were an eBay find and haven't yet arrived). And it wasn't all AVA stems that SB condemned, but I'm willing to live dangerously.

Neal