and was underwhelmed. It was no where near as nice ans the PRN-10 but not even as nice as the Marathon, which is quite a low-end Raleigh. I deffinately like the bar end shifters and the ride was nice. I couldn't stand the steel wheels (which bother me NOT on the 3-speed). The brakes sucked and the one of the wheels was so out of true that it "snick, snick, snicked" the whole ride. Worst of all though, on my bike with cottered cranks and French BB, there is a "click" that comes from the left hand crank or pedal just as it swings back up to the 12 O'Clock position. None of this rubbing and clanking is reproducable with me OFF the bike so I wounder what exactlv is flexing and how much to make all these problems. I'm bummed out. I wanted this bike to be my Winter Beater but now I either have to sink time and/or money into her and after that I'm not going to want "any thing to happen" to her. Boo.

Dude, this is like saying you bought a scratchy record and are pissed it sounds bad. These are the zombies are the bike world, you must recognize.

U08's have a certain magic, you like it or you don't. I think size has to do with it. I used to have one that was like 4 sizes smaller than I should be riding, and it was just perfect. Felt better than many bikes I've ridden. Traded for one in "my size" and I hated the way it rode. The bikes were almost identical.

Its more like you look for something to love in these bikes than there's some great power hiding you must find.

Edit: also post/username

It always takes me a while to get the bugs out of a new/old bike.

Look for a used pair of wheels with alloy rims. That will make the biggest difference.

The clicking could be all sorts of things. The crank, the pedal, even the saddle.

Dont give up on it, but dont sink a lot of money in it either.

I find I can't tell if I like a bike until I address those sorts of little niggling problems. I don't think I have the formula for buying a trouble-free bike.

I have a UO-8, which I like. It's size is actually a cm or three larger than I usually ride.

UO-8 is a secret French formula for artificial dog turds. Now you know.

Mr Grumpy - I have a Bianchi that had many of the problems you describe and I could have called it a POC, but I worked at it and addressed each niggling issue one by one. Now it is super smooth and silent.

BTW - I've had FEWER issues with noise on cottered vs cotterless cranks. The cotterless are sensitive to torque and the cottered either behave of fall off.
You might want to examine what is happening back at the FW - particularly if you cannot reproduce it on the stand.

Insofar as the U08 wheels go, I'm not fond of them either. If you can find a pair of alloy high flange wheels it would make a big difference I'm sure.

Hey Big, that's about exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to take the GP out today and see if I can "deal" with her and iff not, off come the wheels, the stem, the bars and even the cranks and onto the O-8 they go. Yes, I AM disappointed in this bike. The PRN was found in the trash. The Marathon was nearly perfect first turn of the crank. This bike was sold as "ready to ride". In as far as it didn't fall apart on me it was. The wheel think is a matter of personal preference I understand that, even if I don't like it. The peddle/crank noise thing is a safety issue and I either need to figure out how to find/fix that problem or pay some one else to do it. That's not "ready to ride".

How can you judge a bike when the wheels are so out of true that they scrape the brake pads? Yes, you can feel the weight in the steel wheels when you are accelerating but they can be quite functional. Speaking of brakes, the Mafacs on my UO-8 can stop a charging rhinoceros. Perhaps yours aren't adjusted properly. The ticking in the crank may be a poorly seated cotter pin. You can't tighten them by tightening the nut; the nut is there just to keep them from coming undone. Maybe the PO didn't seat one or both well. Unfortunately once one becomes loose it really needs to be replaced. It develops a ridge which prevents it from seating. You can try to file it down but getting the angle right is very hard, and it is easy to overdo the filing too.

Of course, "ready-to-ride" usually means more to a seller than it does to a buyer. None of the things you described sound like fatal flaws, merely small items which need correcting.

^^^^^^
What he said.

Did you buy this thing without testing it out? Sounds like it just needs a few tweaks to make it right.

The BB clicking could also be dried grease - it's happened to me before on "new" bikes. Pull the BB apart, clean it out and regrease.

Your cotter pin or pins are pooched. Look at the crank arms - they are not parallel. You will have to replace the cotter pins. This is not just a stick-em-in-an-thight-em-up job. You must ensure the pins are matched and fit properly into the crank arms. Then you must check to ensure that the arms are parallel. Then you must press the cotter pins into place and secure with the nut on each pin.

Nothing to it really, provided you know how to do it. Don't be like so many people and think the nut on the pin is to tighten the pin into place. It only holds the pin, once properly seated.

The click you hear is the left side crank arm moving from one loose position to the other, and this will always happen at the 10 o'clock position.

The flexible feel is probably a product of the loose crank arm or even a set of loose head set bearings.

It should not cost a great deal to correct these problems but you should be prepared to spend a few hours cleaning and lubricating the bicycle. Not to mention, truing the wheels and tuning the bike up.

Good luck with your quest and here is what my Peugeot looked like when I still owned it.

The bike 'flaws' you describe are 'owner/mechanic flaws'. Negatively judging a particular model of bicycle because it's been poorly maintained is just ... eh, never mind.

UO-8s are French dog turds, best to leave them for the rest of us .

Haha! Yes. It needed tires and tubes. I bought it one some one else's work. It's not bad but I didn't buy this particular one to love it: I bought it to ride in the winter. I don't mind putting in the time or even money to get the bike up to speed it just wasn't what I hoped for. The wheels aren't that bad! It's not a total turd!

Yup. I had this horrid intermittent creak that I could NOT figure out with the bike on the stand. Turned out to be the saddle.

i had a similar clicking on my french bike, and this was after servicing the pedals (ATOM) and BB (TA). turns out i hadn't tightened the pedal bearings enough to make them "happy", even though there was no free play. another 1/16th of a turn of the cone and all was well.

i've also gotten rhythmic creaks and clicks from BBs and saddles. for saddles, i first make sure the seat rail clamp is tight, then i apply light oil to the saddle frame, especially around the tensioner. for BBs, they usually just need servicing and adjusting, unless you have actual pitting in the bearing races.

I've similarly found that 90% of the time, those BB clicks and clunks are a pedal problem. Swapping in a different set of pedals is a good diagnostic before trying to knock out cotters.

Neal

Mr. Grumpy, if you want to bring it over to my place we can go over it, see what can do to make it better!