chrislg555

Hello! I am a new member here and looking for some help on a do it yourself repair. I have this old Peugeot Tube Special Carbolite 103 road bike and my chain just broke off of it. I took it to a mechanic and he told me that the inner bearing system inside the well that the pedals connect to needs to be replaced. Also, whenever I pedal really hard I feel a pop in the gear system and eventually the pop was so bad that it snapped my chain. Does anyone know which chain this bike needs? Also, does anyone know what I need to do to repair this inner bearing system that the bike mechanic is mentioning? The pedals have a lateral wobble, which I now understand is something that shouldn't happen.

Thank you for your time and or information. It is greatly appreciated. Also, I am quite handy and work on cars frequently, so I think I should be able to do this repair, I just need better instructions on how to install a new chain and apparently the bearing mechanism.

Cute Boy Horse

RJ, as always, shows how it's done.

Your chain will be a normal 5/6/7 speed bike chain. But you'll also need a new freewheel because the old one will be so worn out it'll skip. Videos out there for that too.

Aubergine 

Jon T

The original chain would've been a SIDI. Good luck on the rear cluster if it's a Helicomatic (It actually was an early attempt at a casette). It's claim to fame was the easy un and install using the bottle opener tool. Yes, I still have mine. My '84 Pug (I bought it new) has a SIDI chain and I'm still riding the original Helicomatic rear end. The Simplex derailleurs were replaced a L-O-N-G time ago, however. The bottom bracket (that's where the pedal spindle goes thru the frame) is separate races and loose bearings. You'll probably need to r&r all the components including a new spindle. French sizes are weird and sometimes unobtainium at any cost. Good luck in your endeavors.
Jon

cny-bikeman

As you obviously have very little repair experience I would strongly suggest you avail yourself of local, in-person resources. As noted you can easily get into complications just with what you've mentioned so far. See if there's a bike co-op or a shop that offers repair clinics near you. There's usually no way to tell if a bottom bracket needs replacement or overhaul without disassembly. Side play may even just mean adjustment is needed. Finally, the chain did not break because of the popping. The popping was either a symptom of the chain failing or unrelated to it.

chrislg555

Hey thanks for your message! I am pretty sure I have a square taper crank. I will need to get a crank puller for that type of crank as well. I have a co op bike repair shop near me that I will probably go to to try and repair this. Also, what kind of freewheel do I need to purchase and from where? Do you have any recommendations?

chrislg555

Thanks so much. Very helpful!!

chrislg555

Hey thanks for your message! I am pretty sure I have a square taper crank. I will need to get a crank puller for that type of crank as well. I have a co op bike repair shop near me that I will probably go to to try and repair this. Also, what kind of freewheel do I need to purchase and from where? Do you have any recommendations?

JohnDThompson 

The Peugeot "Carbolite" bikes date from the early to mid 80s, so the good news is that it most likely uses a standard 22mm crank extractor to remove the arms. The bad news is that the early to mid 80s was also the time when Peugeot was transitioning from French bottom bracket threads to Swiss, and from there to English, so it's hard to predict what you will find as far as thread spec. This was also the period (as @Jon T noted above) when Helicomatic hubs could be found on many French bikes. These have been out of production for decades now and were problematic even back then, so you may well be looking at replacing the rear hub or wheel. Often, an entire pre-built wheel is more cost-effective than lacing your old rim to a new hub. If you do get a new wheel, a modern cassette type hub would be a superior choice to another freewheel type hub. Depending on the hub, you may need to cold-set the frame to accept a wider hub spacing.

Looks like you have a project ahead of you and several options to consider before proceeding. Good luck!

Aubergine 

friday1970

Do you know what year this Peugeot is? If the bike is in good shape, chances are there is a white sticker underneath the bike, near the bottom bracket, that should list the year size and model of the bike. If this is like mine, a 1985 P8, then you could easily use an english threaded bottom bracket and crankset.
Because the bike is heavy at 26lbs, I did upgrade to an FSA Omega compact crank (50-34T). Helps with some of the steeper hills in my area.
I used a Park Tools HCW-5 to pull off one side of the original BB, but had to take the bike to my LBS to pull the other side off. I just didn't have the tools for it at the time.

chrislg555

Hey everyone thanks for your help and information. I took it to a co-op shop that provided me with some tools that I needed and was able to perform an overhaul of the bottom bracket. I took everything apart and stripped the bike. I tried to clean up everything with hot water and dish soap because it has some degreasing capability. I also purchased some new ball bearings for the crank. I also removed the freewheel, but how do I know if it needs to be replaced and if it does what kind should I purchase. I read in this thread that someone said to get a cassette instead, is this true? Thanks a lot.

dedhed

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Aubergine