After you told her she smelled good and the waitress called me "the quiet one," I was out of ideas. You told me there was no competition on these rides! Ha! So you haven't bought the Masi yet?

You'll then post photos of it restored and I'll have to buy it back from you for triple the price.

Rich, I thought you loved the French bikes? Guess not

I guess if I had room, I'd keep them both. Maybe the answer is to buy a bigger place.

-Collin-

And the assimilation is really complete...

No chance of that. I won't let anyone buy it

-Kurt

Both of them being French, you may be able to trade both for a bike that won't drive you bananas.

Is it a ride quality thing, or a fit thing? It sounded like you wanted your vintage roadie to provide an alternative from this saddle to bar drop.

Ride, fit, AND fun thing...thrill of the hunt, grease on the hands, cleaning aluminum, making a little money, meeting (virtually) you folks (gomango still owes me a ride )

It's a package deal I think.

Speaking of ride quality, no one here has addressed the rides of the two bikes.

Aaron, you sold your Velosolex? Well, remember how you said it had a magical ride? So does the Peugeot, very much. In my experience, the Motobecane doesn't. I had a PX10, which got stolen. I replaced it with a Le Champion. I didn't like the way it rode, and I sold it to buy another PX10. Seriously. I wanted to like the Motobecane better. It looked better and had better equipment on it. But I just didn't fall in love with the ride.

I think you should not sell either until you've had some good, long test rides on both of them.

I know the PX10 is more common, and the Moto looks better. But what are you after?

Tom speaks wisely, as always. The plastic bits would be what scared me off the Peugot. I did sell the Velosolex, as much as I liked it. The Raleigh International took its niche and we were having space issues. Ultimately the Velosolex was purchased as a 28mm fast commuter bike with fenders, and it didn't have space for the fenders. It was also on the small side. The Raleigh took its spot. It ended up going to a very cool art school girl with a vintage bike fetish...so its in good hands.

Eventually I'll find a French love. I have time to wait for the right deal.

Yes, you certainly do have time. You have A LOT of high end bikes. Far more than I do, and I think I have too many (two). Actually, my Cross Check isn't exactly high end.

Anyway, you have to try a Peugeot to get it. The workmanship isn't amazing, and the derailleurs may not be, but in the end, it's all about the ride. That's why UO8's have such a good following.

These are excellent points. Since the PX-10 is here with me and the Le Champion is sitting in my parents' garage, I think I'll at least make the PX-10 usable. It's not like I'm going to sell it in its current state anyhow. Hopefully it won't cost too much to have the threads fixed. Then I'll put some tubulars on and a new chain and take it for a ride. It ain't all that pretty, but I've seen kids around here cruising around on much uglier bikes.

Speaking of ugly bikes, that reminds me. I'm going to start a thread for my new commuter I just built up. It redefines ugly and focuses on the whole "functional" thing

Tom, you just had to go and say it, didn't you? I was 99% ready to give u the Peugeot when you told me about the magical ride...

-Collin-

Heh.

Steve Willis, owner of The Bike Stand in Scotch Plains, NJ, says he doesn't like the ride of the PX-10, so it certainly is a matter of taste. He says the "problem" may be limited to the larger sizes, but we can't test that, because I can't properly test a large bike, and he can't properly test a small bike.

But the PX-10 has a big following, and it's not because of mechanical superiority, so I figure a lot of us enjoy the way it rides.

One of these days, I have to try one again. It's been a long time.

And by the way, I took a PX-10 on a three month tour through Europe, when I was 20 years old. It's not an ideal touring bike, but it worked, and I had a great time. In fact, it was a hybrid bike. I disassembled my Motobecane Le Champion, sold the bare frame, bought a bare PX-10 frame, and hung all the parts on the new frame. That's what I toured on, so it was an all Campy PX-10, an odd bird. Except it had Weinmann sidepull brakes, because they were what I had on hand. It had tubular tires, which suck for loaded touring!

Tom, how badly do you want to "try one again" and what size are you? Hehe.

Touring on tubulars? Man, you're insane

Good point about the PX-10. No one bought them because of their awesome component group, so there's got to be some magic with the frame. Or, they were the lightest/cheapest racer at the time, right?

-Collin-

Insane? You don't know the half of it. I had a one-month period of getting one flat per day. That meant sewing and gluing every night by the fireside, with a pot of tea and fellow travelers. It was a conversation piece, for sure. People were puzzled at my odd craft.

The PX-10 probably was a good value, since it cost less than the campy-equipped bikes, so yeah, it was on the bottom of the price spectrum for that type of bike. But it was worth what you paid for it, i.e. not a cheapo compromise.

Keep the one that fits the best-and put all the choice stuff on it. Both french

Okay, final decision = the PX-10 goes. I went back and forth for a week on this and decided it's just not worth it to me. I'm sure it's a fine bike, but I've got two other "top of the line" French bikes that don't need nearly as much work. So, now I just have to decide whether to part it out on the Bay (is this a crime?) or see what I can get locally for the complete bike.

For what it's worth, I went down the path of trying to get it sandblasted, then powder-coated and then planned on purchasing a new decal kit...but then I figured it would be so much effort just to make it as nice as a few other bikes I already have. I know, it's a terrible situation to have, right? But seriously, I think this is the best choice for me given my budget, space constraints and allowable time spent on rebuilding a bike at the moment. *sigh* 'tis a sad day.

-Collin-

What size is it? Perhaps I'd like to buy it.

Email me at noglider@pobox.com

That means I'll be going up to Tom's again soon! I've wanted to try a PX-10 that fit for ages.

I'll probably fix it up and sell it to you. I only want to relive the memories and then pass it on. I really don't need a PX-10, much less any other high end bike.

Tom, I didn't agree to any two-tiering sales of the PX-10! Just kidding, let's pass this thing around and let all the forum members ride it

Honestly, the only thing stopping me from keeping this thing is the condition. I'm probably exaggerating what it needs, but I've been a bit spoiled and don't like to ride a frame that doesn't have perfect paint.

-Collin-

The only reason I didn't outright buy it was it's a little large. It would fit well enough to ride around for a day, but I'm pretty fanatical about the sizes of the stuff I keep long term.

Aaron, what's your inseam? I wear 30 inseam in Levi's jeans. I think my PBH is 33"

I usually wear 30, but 29 fits better.

Have your cranks tapped out to 9/16 British tread. You won't be able to put French pedals on it, but at least you'll have some selection. I raced a PX10 (still have it) back in the 70's and that was one of the first things we did. Next was to upgrade to Simplex Super LJ derailleurs.