Hey all,

I recently garbage picked a smelly, somewhat stripped down Peugeot as I needed a road bike, and it looked decent enough, though abandoned and somewhat decrepit; smelled of urine as well, yummmm.

From what I can tell, it's a mid seventies model, possibly '74-77, though this is from a few minutes of searching online.

It's missing the front derailleur and rear quick release and bearings, as well as some other smaller pieces.

The brakes themselves are labeled "Peugeot," while the hardware is Simplex; the cranks say B.S.A. only, as far as I can tell, though the dustcaps say "France." Front hub is high flange with "Normandy" visible on it, while the back is blank and low flange, I assume that it's not original. Front rim has an attractive pattern on it, which the back rim lacks. Brakes are patterned and say "Weinmenn," and have suicide lever (actually only one made it).

My real question involves the efficacy with which I might be able to get this bike up and running, or, more specifically, the economics. I don't need a fancy road bike with tons of speeds, or a super light weight one, where this one will do. It is around the right size (57.5 cm top tube).

What is the cheapest that I will be able to get this bike up and running for? The cassette looks like it's in bad condition; heck, nothing looks like it's in goodcondition, but if I could get her up and running for under $200 without massive headaches, I would definitely love to ride her.





Rest of the pics can be found here

https://s437.photobucket.com/albums/q...equed/Peugeot/

Oh, and I couldn't exactly pin the model itself, as there were a few that kind of fit the bill. If someone knows, please let me know.

Thanks,

Steven

It looks fairly complete except for the missing rear axle. The rear wheel is a cheapie replacement anyway. I could see getting that bike cobbled back together with another used rear wheel, some fresh cables and bar tape.

You didn't provide any complete side views, so make the frame and fork are straight before you start gathering parts.

This may be a stupid question, but how would I go about doing that?

Anyone know what kind of FD I would need, as well as a RD and possibly a hanger for it?

Also, model number?

There aren't any pictures of the whole bike from the drive side so this is problematic. Without having a catalog in front of me I'll go out on a limb and say it's a late 70's UO9 from the steel rims and alloy crankset. IIRC during that period they made the UO8 (steel rims and crankset), UO9 (steel rims, alloy crankset), and UO10 (alloy rims and crankset). Of course a look at the catalog might be in order for a more exact identification.

french bikes can be hard to find parts for at times, headsets and such.

Okay, I'll grab some better pics of the frame and wheels from afar; It seems as if the back wheel isn't original, as some of the Peugeot sites I went to had matching patterned rims, as my front is.

I'm using Sheldon's page to try and locate some resources to find a FD I can toss on as well as a RD; I'd like to keep the crankset, as the bearings seem to rotate pretty smoothly. Anyone know a good resource for finding some of these oddly sized french parts?

Look for another used bike for about $20 and cannabilize the parts. Older Sun Tour deraileurs would be nice on that bike, as would a set of "true", hop-free alloy rims with complete quick release hubs. As for cleaning it up, try Fantastic (some Lysol, too, in that Peugeot's case ) or a similar cleaner and a good rising off with a garden hose. Then try a $1.99 container of Turtle Wax Polishing compound to bring up the shine in the paint, followed by a coat of car wax. To check the frame, look over the seat and chay stays...are they "bowed" inward on one or both sides? When the wheels are set in correctly is their equal distance to the stays and fork blades on either side of the rim? Does the head tube and front forks seek to flow in a straight line, or does the rear of the tire come too close to the down tube? Up by the head tube, are any of the other tubes crumpled in any way? Does it just look normal? For bar tape and other stuff check out Nashbar and Perfomance online. They have pretty good specials every now and then. And, wow, nothing beats "Curb Side Treasures"... the thrill of the hunt...the joy of discovery...and they are F-R-E-E!!!

One thing to try is to see if there's any "play" in the bottom bracket. You can check this by grabbing a pedal and trying to shake the bike. Also, do you hear any bearing noises when you spin the pedals?

Also, you could check see if the headset needs attention. Can you easily steer the front tire without hearing any scraping?

These might be fairly troublesome repairs for an old French bike.

I was looking at an old 70s Peugeot yesterday. It had cottered cranks (yours don't...) and steel rims (not sure about yours...) which told me it was fairly low end. It weighed about 35 pounds too. However, it also struck me as being bomb-proof...

I had a 1975 U08, similar head badge. Yours is newer, maybe a 1976 or 1977, as you have stem shifters (the 1975 had downtube shifters). You have a project on your hands. Most of us recommend replacing the steel rims with alloy rims. Any of the decent (and cheap) Suntour friction RDs will work, you need to check clamp size on the FD.

This bike has a lot of unusually sized french parts. You need to save everything you can. Read the other recent thread on the person trying to find a bottom bracket spindle (several pages of issues), and you will appreciate the stock parts.

Wheels and derailleurs are interchangable, so that will not be a problem.

The cheapest way by far to fix this one up is to find a donor bike (but you have to find the donor of course, which can take some time and looking). I rebuilt my U08 last year, aided by a $5 Peugeot donor (rough shape), which provided a replacement bottom bracket and crankset, some miscellaneous brake parts, a rear derailleur and a vintage seat. I salvaged about $100 worth of parts off that $5 donor bike. And I still have most of the donor left (I will probably build it with parts when I get around to it).

$200 is way too much to invest in this bike. You are better off selling it to someone (that happens to have some parts laying around) and buy a complete bike. I routinely find much nicer complete bikes ready to ride with standard sized parts for well under $200. I have sold bikes like this one, in totally ready to ride, fully rebuilt condition for around $100 (a little more when they have alloy rims). Your area is probably more expensive, but that cuts both ways, as you will also be able to get more for the Peugeot as is than I could around here.

Buying parts piecemeal (via ebay or other sources) can run up the cost significantly. And at the end of the day, a U08 is a nice, but bottom end, gas pipe framed bike (not worth much, but people do like them).

And unless you are a bike mechanic (hobby or pro), or want to become one, and have all of the tools, you are better off leaving the projects to such people. If you take the bike to a shop, you will quickly go through some serious money to fix it up. It is not unusual for a full rebuild to cost $250 to $300 at a shop.

I hope this does not come across as negative, as any way you cut it, this is a great find!!! It will either be the down payment for the bike you need, or you will convert this one into that bike.

Great replies, thanks for the information. Since it seems the bike really isn't worth all that much, I'm going to see if perhaps I could find someone in the NY area with some experience who might be willing to trade an afternoon of bike restoring for a six pack. Definitely not going to throw money at this project, though I'm willing to part with a few bucks to get her up and running just to have a geared bike that can coast.

This bike might also find itself as a fixed gear or singlespeed, as I could use a bike with more relaxed geometry. Guess it all depends on availability of parts.