Just picked up a 74 (I think) Peugeot UO8 with all original parts and am trying to figure out what to do with it. This is my first French bike (I'm a vintage Schwinn guy) and I'm trying to get a handle on all the quirks of the Peugeot. As I understand from my research on this forum, several of the parts (stem, bars, RD) are actually dangerous and need to be replaced. Say what you will about the Schwinns, but they are nothing if not safe and durable!

Stem-wise, I know the stems that fit this are a bit smaller than those currently manufactured. Is my best course of action to get a new stem and sand it down, or are there (safe) vintage models available that will work? As this model seems to be the Peugeot equivilent to the Varsity, I don't want to spend a ton on it, but I'd like it safe and rideable. Thanks for any advice!

Got a photo of the current stem that's on it?

I will try to take one - I just got the bike this afternoon. It's an AVA, which I understand is sometime referred to as the "death stem."

Photo of bike from CL ad:

Looks a little high to start. Some AVA had issues - I've got a Pivo on my older Peugeot and it works really well. They seem to be readily available.

Does anyone know where the stems and bars typically failed? They both seem sound but ?

It's dangerously high! I wouldn't replace it if I found no cracks after pulling it out. I would keep it original, but that's just me. You do what you want. You can probably find a Pivo on eBay, but some say that no old French stems are safe.

Your seat post clamp is backwards, unless you have a need to have the seat way forward.

If you are keeping the handlebars, I would find an old Pivo, Atax, or Philippe. I wanted to change out my handlebars, so I sanded down a Kalloy stem which had a 25.4 clamp area.

This has been discussed about once per month, and there are equally many participants who feel it is a bit of a SHeldon Brown urban legend. If the stem is 30 years old and still working, it is a survivor.

I have cleaned, sold, many a low end French bike, without stem issues.

As for where stems fail they typicaly fail on the top front half of the bar clamp or at the front of the neck if set too high. As Oddjob says stem failures on French bikes are overstated I have seen one out of 100 plus French bikes i have worke on. While I have seen a lot of Japanese stems fail.

The AVA stem on my 74 U08 turned out to be a lot lighter than it appeared to be on the bike. The steel handlebars had to go, but the stem seems alright to me. I would use it if it doesn't appear cracked or abused by overtightening in any way.

That stem doesn't look like the ones typically described as death stems. In any case, if it ain't broke yet it probably won't. Just my opinion, which ain't worth much.

+ 1 on that. The only stem I've seen fail was years(early 70's) ago on a Raleigh Super Course and it failed because it was too far out of the steertube and believe it was a 'GB'. Your frame looks to be a 25 1/2" and you don't need so much height, an inch should be safe,and grease it(to prevent corrosion)where it enters the steering tube, and as said above turn the saddle clamp around. Looks like you have a nice cycle, had a smaller version in 1972, loved it, and rode it alot.
Regards

The AVA stems were noticeably flexible, which doesn't bode well for long-term service, being that it's an aluminum part.

The thin-walled hollow extension was perhaps where much of the flex originated, but I haven't actually seen one that failed there.

More often, the clamp fractured, perhaps from heavy tightening, or the quill started cracking around the slots, perhaps from fitting into a 22.2mm steerer or from setting the height too high (there were no limit lines on them).

I've seen a couple of Cinelli stems that cracked in front, not from high mileage either.

In the '60's, Schwinn fitted 22.0mm AVA stems into many of their bike's 22.2mm steerers.