m750rider

This evening I bought a Peugeot from a local guy who offered it up on Craigslist. It has been stored away for many years and is in serious need of a cleanup plus not sure what else. It was $30, so I figured what the hell.

It has a serial number attached to the BB shell, no. 1746489, comes with Simplex FD and RD (the front plastic tube mount is broken), cottered crank, pretty nice leather saddle, at least it can be brought back to life, Mafac Racer brakes with levers, pretty cool looking fenders front and rear and a rear rack. I assume the wheels are steel, with an interesting pattern on the brake rim surface. Skewer is also labeled Simplex.

Seat post might be stuck, haven't even checked yet, same with the stem, but the wheels are surprisingly true. I think the stem is ATA.

Paint is OK, all white (off white really) nice black pinstriping around the lugs. On the seat tube the tubing is labeled "Tube Special Allege Peugeot" and it also has a sticker that says "Record du Monde".

No pictures yet, it's dark and late.

Anyway, anyone know what I've gotten myself into? Worth cleaning up or just chalk it up to a bad decision?

Thanks

Ivandarken

I just sold one for $200.00 an hour ago. I bet yours looks a bit like this:



Not high end, average components, but the Peugeot name and vintage have a following. It is not a bad bike at all, but if you need to do a lot of work on it, you should do a little research first and match your expectations with your experience and your money.

Your bike will need a complete overhaul of the cables and bearings. Probably new tires/tubes. The steel wheels will never be anything but heavy and round... but mostly heavy.

The Delrin plastic Simplex front derailleur has a reputation for failure, and yours is toast... so add that to the list of upgrades. Some people sneer at cottered cranks... I love them, but then again, I have a cotter press to remove them properly so I don't spend hours hammering them off only to ruin the bike altogether.

The white paint can yellow quite a bit depending upon its hiding place over the last 35 years. It takes weeks of tedious polishing to get it close to white again, I did this with a PX-10 frame and it looks wonderful. Can't say I would do that on a frame that is probably a UO-8.

You may have a $30.00 leather saddle though.

Figure out what you want from the bike, post some photos, and there will be a bunch of Pug fans along soon who will guide you through the magical world of French vintage bikes. Cheers.

PDXaero

For $30 its hardly a bad decision, but certainly not an investment.
Sounds like an early 70s low end model, but that's not to say its junk.
It has steel wheels and needs some new parts but when rideable it is a very formidable cruisng bike, especially with fenders, racks, and 1 1/4" tires.
Don't start buying cool stuff for it, just replace the front DR, the chain, cables, brake pads, clean it up and see how it does.
If the BB is grindy or creaky you will start to see the french bike pitfalls, and while you are at it, pull the atax stem out and check for cracks around the expander.
Show some pics when you can, every bike is a good bike, and none deserve to be neglected.

John E

The UO-8 is a remarkably pleasant bike to ride, particularly if fitted with aluminum cranks and rims, as mine is. (Japanese derailleurs and ultra-6 freewheel don't hurt, either.)

m750rider

Ivandarken - it looks like yours with the addition of stainless fenders and a rear rack. I think it is a model UE-8.

Ivandarken

Well the photos that you are about to post below are appreciated.

noglider 

It was a popular bike for good reason. It was moderately durable and light. For its cheapness, you got a bike that rode better than its counterparts in its price class. As others have said, it's not a great bike worthy of deep investment, but it's definitely worth riding, especially with aluminum rims. Those steel rims brake badly in the rain. By contrast, those are some of the best brakes ever made, in my view. They are hard to set up, but once you get them right, they are excellent, provided you have aluminum rims.

Andrew F

Nice buy for $30! You can pick up an older all steel Simplex front derailleur rather inexpensively and you'd be good to go!

kroozer 

$200 for a UO-8?!

Ivandarken

https://www.televisiontunes.com/Flipper.html

Yeah, and it was gone in 45 minutes, in the snow, both ways up hill!
(I paid $20.00)

noglider 

My rough price guide is:

$150 plain frame tubes, steel rims
$200 plain frame tubes, aluminum rims
$250 chromoly or similar, aluminum rims, no special components

This puts the UO-8 in $150 territory, though I'd accept a bit less if I didn't have to put much into it. $200 isn't shockingly high, depending on location. I'm in the NYC metro area but prices here in the suburbs are not as high as in the city.

wrk101

I'd love to see those kind of prices around here.

$100 for plain tubes, steel rims. Higher than that for EF Schwinns.

$125 for plain tubes, alloy rims.

$175 and up for cromoly frame, alloy rims. Above that mark for higher grades of cromoly, and better components.

$225 and up for cromoly frame, alloy rims, indexed shifting.

$300 and up for brifter bike.

All assumes very clean, ready to ride condition, no defects.

Bikes with small frames enjoy a premium. Large frames sell for less.

Touring bikes sell for more.

These are local market prices. It shows the variation between markets.

And of course, while the market prices are lower than some other areas, you can tend to find project bikes for less as well. So it kind of balances out.

noglider 

I haven't been at this for as long as you or others here. I could be off. Just today, I got an agreement from someone to buy my Shogun which has Tange chromoly tubes and indexed down-tube shifting. She agreed to my $250 price.

I'm asking $300 for my early 90's Schwinn Prelude because I can rightly say it's a big sleeper. It rides like much more expensive bikes. I'll be sorry to see that one go. And I have someone who will probably buy it. I just have to change the stem to a shorter reach so she can try it again. She said the reach is too long for her.

Ivandarken

So... back on track.

OP, we are waiting for photos!!!

m750rider

It's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home. When I get to the weekend I'll snap some pictures.

banjo_mole 

They did invent flash for pictures at night, which are good too. None of us really "see" your bike, even if you can in your mind. We just see text.

BF posters, please post more pictures. It's DARN BORING here without them.

scale

^+1 to that.....i love mine. Goes like the wind....

20grit

Eh, i disagree about ever using flash for photography of any thing that needs to show detail. Flash tends to wash out texture, destroys color, and generally makes for crappy photographs. Give the guy til the weekend or let him find a room in his house that is well lit.

Oh and about the prices in your local markets.... there is no local market here.

treebound 

How about a pic of your cotter press while we wait for the weekend, one of those is going on my short list to get someday.

I'm also starting to think I should load up a trailer with bikes to sell and bring them down to your region some weekend. The price differential between Milwaukee and Chicago is amazing.

I still wish I knew what model Peugeot a friend of mine had back in the 1970's, seemed like a nice bike at the time.

JohnDThompson 

Bikesmith Design makes an affordable one:


Works great, but doesn't quite have the coolness factor of this one:

Ivandarken

Tell you what, load up that trailer and bring it over, I'll pick out what I want for Milwaukee prices (That's where I got my $150 PX-10's), and sell the rest for you at Milwaukee Avenue prices.

treebound 

Thanks for the fresh link to the cotter press John, that's the one I was thinking of.

Ivandarken,
I'm going to be pulling out and sorting some bikes over the next few weeks and taking pics and making a list. Watch for a PM, could be a workable deal here.

Ivandarken

treebound, we're going to make beautiful music together

That's the cotter press I use too... works every time. I even met the guy who sells them... nice guy

noglider 

I used a cotter press back in the day. Do yours work for removing, too, or just inserting?

You two gave me an idea. I should look on craigslist in remote areas that are accessible to me for buying, where values are low, and I should list my sales in Manhattan, where values are high. I'm a 40 minute drive or train trip into Manhattan. I did deliver one bike by bringing it on the train to Manhattan.

Ivandarken

Yes, that's the primary purpose of the press... it allows you to remove frozen pins without bending or compressing the threads. I have always been able to remove cotters with this without ever having to buy new ones and file them to fit. And we are talking about bikes with cotters that haven't been removed in 60 years. You can toss your sledge hammer in the recycle bin.