'74 ... ish.

this bike is among those requiring the most grunt work of any i've rebuilt. it really looked like junk. but the results were certainly worth the hours. the biggest issue wasn't replacing the rotten plastic derailleurs, removing rust, or finding a seatpost that fit, but doing all the paint work: painting an unoriginal chrome fork in a matching white, spot filling awful looking stays, and sanding the original yellowed paint from the main triangle.

cane creek hoods will fit plastic mafac levers ... sort of. i removed the bulky barrel adjusters and painted the tiny part of the levers that actually show with black enamel. and, man oh man, were these center-pulls difficult to setup. talk about screaming like a banshee...



the previous owner gave me a bunch of parts to pick from to build this bike: several derailleurs, different cranks, seatposts, and a couple different wheelsets. i chose a simplex rd, a sachs fd, the original crank and pedals, and a nos mavic ma2 wheelset with suntour cyclone cartride bearing hubs he had found at a second hand store for $15 each.





my first fork painting job looks brilliant from a couple feet away. if you get any closer, i'm gonna have to politely ask you to step away.



death stem! (pshaw.)



my first lyotard pedals are just wonderful looking and comfy. and fortunately they're rebuildable. they were so rusty, which left substantial pitting on the quills after the rust removal. i sealed this pitting later with clear enamel.



here are a couple last pics. i love the covers on the shifters -- such a nice, little touch.





it's a wonderful bicycle, rather bare bones, with a smooth ride (thanks to 1" paselas) and a timeless appearance.

Real nice looking.

^ you've made me finish all my bar tape jobs with embroidery thread.

do i thank you? hmmm...

yeah, it's become a guilty pleasure.

great looking Peugeot the wheels are fabulous! Now just what is a PR10? Is it like the model below the infamous PX10?

i think so, bg -- the working man's px10.



the '74 catalog shows two px10 models (px10e and px10le) and then the pr10 with 531 limited to the main triangle.

That is a very nice job you did, on a pretty bike.

Can you talk more about the paint touchup? What sort of paint did you use, how did you match color, was there any buffing or clear coating after?

That is one sharp-looking finish.

The USA Peugeot lineup of that era was:

AO-8: basic $100 Varsity alternative 10-speed, low-flange hubs with wingnuts, sprint tape (brake levers down to bar ends), cottered steel cranks
UO-8: same frame, adds quick release high flange hubs, half chrome forks, full bar tape
PA-10: adds nicer lugwork, integral derailleur hanger, tubular tires, 52-45/14-21 gearing
PR-10: double butted Reynolds 531 main triangle, cotterless Stronglight crankset
PX-10: Reynolds 531 fork and stays, otherwise same as PR-10

Having owned a PKN-10 (successor to the PR-10) for several years, I can vouch for the way they ride. I doubt most of us could tell the difference between a PR-10 and a PX-10, other than the chrome stays and maybe 100 or so grams of weight difference.

beautiful job eschlwc!

am a little puzzled by the chainset. by 1974 verot had changed the 49d over to allen chainwheel bolts yet the set on your example shows the hex head bolts.

thanks for sharing this fine project with the forum.

I love you man.......
death stem and all.

High tensile stays, head tube and fork make only 100 grams difference?

eschlwc-

Very nicely done. The black fork crown is just so right and integrates perfectly with the head lugs. You wonder why Peugeot didn't think of it.

i started a thread to find a matching touch-up,which i found in a small can of testors model master insignia white.

the replacement fork was rusted chrome. the worst of it was near the lugged crown. it would have been nice to keep that part chrome, but it was too far gone. i was able to salvage the fork tips, though they're badly pitted.

after sanding the fork, i masked off the tips and primered the fork with several coats. it will sound unprofessional, but i then used the small can of testors and a brush to paint it. it was time consuming, but the little can matched so well (and was cheap) that it was my best choice. i used a small can of black enamel and a little brush on all the lugs as well.

the main triangle just got a major sanding for the most part. this removed all the yellowing, which was worst on the top tube where the brake housing lay.

had I had it to do over again, i would have treated the stays exactly like the fork. i now fear the rust will come back there, and i should have done a more thorough job sanding them and then used primer (which was only applied to the fork).

it's kind of a half-assed job, but it does look good from a couple feet.

cool! '74 was just a guess. so does this original crank point more to '73? do tell.

oh god, i hope that cool vintage photo is not in honor of an old friend that met his fate at the compromised quill of a death stem. lie to me if you must.


thank you, and thank you all. i like it too. i'm glad no one yet pointed out the black seat lug. there was a lot of ugly welding material atop the drive side seat stay. i removed it with a metal file to clean up that area to the eye. i tried to use white paint over the bare metal, but only black would cover it effectively. i thought i would go back with white later, but i just left it. hope it looks ok. i'm calling the black seat lug my signature touch. heh.

now i just need a bottle cage clamp so i can ride it in this heat!

cheers, all.

wrt dating -

afaik 1973 was the changeover year from hex head to allen c/w bolts. if correct, this would imply bike not later than that date...

the fine catalogue page for 1974 you posted shows a machine with allen c/w bolts.

have never seen an orange pr-10. did not know they offered that colour. the pa-10 and pr-10 models were rare birds in my area. everyone seemed to purchase either a uo-8/uo-18 or a px-10e back in the boom era. a uo-8 and a px-10e were my first two tenspeeds (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!).

perhaps one of the forum's numerous verot experts can comment on the matter of 49d dating.

^ nice catch on the catalogue detail of the crank.

can i call it a '73? my falcon is a '73. '73 sounds better than '72 for some reason. i'm callin' it a '73!

hey! sounds perfectly fine to me. after all, she IS YOUR mount.

btw -

did you happen to make any "before" images? if so, your project would make an excellent addition to the forum's "before & after" thread.

safety thought -

since the fork had been replaced, i imagine you carefully checked the top and down for any sign of deformation.

-----------------

thank you again for sharing the project. most enjoyable to see and read about.

^ thanks. 'before' images are the one thing i most often forget to capture. i really couldn't believe the state of the bike when my buddy dragged it out of his car -- i was just thinking, 'scrap heap.' the plastic derailleurs looked like they had been sitting at the bottom of the ocean. i was really fortunate everything worked out -- especially with the chain rings in good order and salvaging the pedals. replacement french sized stuff can be so expensive.

Thanks for the paint info . I have a similar vintage white Peugeot that needs touching up .

That's actually me in 1974 with PX10e.
And I think yours was the model below, but still really good.
I had the death stem but never had any problem with it. We didn't know it was bad!
I loved that bike even though a bit on the flexible side…. good road bike.
Yours probably 74, maybe 73 as it has plain lugs just as mine did.
Bike stolen in 1984… I am still looking for it.

Nice job and nice bike! What did you do about replacing the Mafac brake pads? Inserts?

The brake cables are done just right. Not too long and not too short and routed correctly. The front top tube cable clamp is well back so that the curve where the cable meets it is not too sharp. Nicely done.

I know that they moved the Reynolds decal to the down tube for 1974 on the PX10. I don't know if that holds true for the PR10.

shp4man, thanks. they're kool-stops for mafac as bought on ebay for $23ish. i use a clamp to get them in there.

good segue to a question i have about tools ...

what should i use to tighten the two bolts that hold the calipers together on each brake? it's the one with the red bushings seen here:



those on my racers have such a low profile, it's near impossible to get a socket on them. i tried vise-grips, and that worked until i rounded one of the bolts. i bought a 12mm wrench, and that worked a bit, but it's still difficult. i'm almost 'there' too. i just need to tighten the rear a bit more. it's loose enough that the frame makes that vibrating noise on hard braking.

thoughts? i need something like vise-grips (adjustable) that works on four of the bolt's flats at once.

thanks. it's been a while since i've added top tube cable clips to a bike -- i haven't overhauled such an old bike in a long time. i just assumed the front and rear clips would be equidistant from the two lugs, but upon looking at my falcon and g.record, this isn't the case. the rear one is closer to the center of the seat tube than the front is to the center of the head tube. after sanding the top tube paint to remove the yellowing, it was difficult to determine where they were located to begin, so i just followed the model of the other bikes and then split the difference with the middle clip.

Socket or closed end wrench should do it.

Very nice. It is threads like this that I find c&v has been lacking as of late.