threecircles

I have an early 70s Peugeot UO8 I'm converting to a single speed. Or at least trying to. I've encountered my first hurtle and would like some advice. The selection for reasonably priced 27" wheelsets seems pretty poor. There are some on ebay that go for around $200, but don't look great, and the availability of 700c is rediculous. Are there any drawbacks to running a 700c wheel on a frame set up for 27", and are there brakes that will bridge the gap in size.

Thanks for the help.

ianjk

pull off the gears/freehub and toss on a bmx freewheel.

or track cog/bb lockring.


convert to 700 if you want, look where the brakes are now, now imagine the rim 4mm lower, will they reach? if yes then you are golden.

slopvehicle

go 700c. so many more tire options, wheel options, etc. search for "long reach brakes"-- you'll probably find many topics on this.

curiousincident

700c all the way. You can get some Mavic CXP-22s/Formula wheels for 140 at bicyclewheels.com, which I think is the best budget wheelset out there.

teiaperigosa

hurdle

french bb

bo!

kyselad

French bb is not a problem if you still have the cups -- you can swap the axle if you need to adjust. But yeah, no cartridge bb for you. Then again, depending on your wheel, you might be able to convert the existing goodies with spacers and a freewheel based on your current chainring location: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html.

reckon

yours is probably NOT a french threaded BB,....might be swiss (which is cool because sealed BB's float right on, no mod needed) or just spend the $40-$50 and have it re-tapped for a standard BB.

kemmer

Early 70s Pug probably is french.

OP:
Your current brakes should reach, the mafac centerpulls are pretty long reach.

nayr497

Rather than start a new thread....

I'm helping a friend out with a Peugeot conversion and had a question (or two). I am trying to use as many of the existing parts on the frame. I've converted an old road bike before so have some experience with this.

Rear spacing is 125 mm.

1) I'm thinking some of the decently priced hubs will fit the frame...something like a Formula hub?

2) Chainline. I was hoping to use the existing BB and crankset. The inner chainring is too small but the outer should do. Something like 52/39. I was hoping to put the outer ring on the inside of the crank spider. Anyone done this? Did you have to monkey with the chainline and washers on the rear hub or the BB spindle length? I'd rather not start playing with the BB for reasons noted above in this thread.

idiosyncratic

1) The dropouts are a bit narrower than most modern hubs, but steel frames are have a lot of give so you should be able to make it fit without trouble.

2) I've used the inner chainring with a track hub/cog and the chainline's been acceptably straight (<1 mm). Using the outer ring wouldn't work unless you moved it.

Sixty Fiver

I converted my 1962 Peugeot last spring... when I found the bike it was destined for the crusher but I saw a frame that would be most suitable for a fixed gear conversion due to the high bb clearance.

I replaced the cottered axle and cranks with a Sugino #5 tapered axle which allowed me to use an SR crank (Peugeot branded) and Sugino chain ring which is very true. This dropped a full pound of weight off the bike and even with 170's I have never come close to striking a pedal... there's 11.5 inches of clearance at the bb with the 700/25's I am running.

I started with some NOS 27's I had but swapped those for some nice 700c Weinmann wheels with Normandy high flange hubs and did a ghetto conversion on the rear hub / cog.

The only component that I have not been able to replace (yet) has been the steel seatpost... the stem, bars, and brake have all been replaced with lighter components and I replaced the Mafac brakes with a single vintage Dia-Compe centre pull as this is a much stiffer and more powerful brake.

The end result is that I have a very solid 22 pound fixed gear that carried me more than 5000 trouble free km last year and I expect that the next 5000 km will be just as enjoyable.

NelsonFH

I converted a U09 or something to a fixed w/ 700 cm wheels. No problems at all, and I run a front break. I more or less re-did most of the drive train (cranks, chain ring, fixed cog, new chain) and kept the french BB. all I had to do was change out the spindle. No problems really, and I have an almost perfectly straight and taunt chain line.

So don't hesitate! Go for it!

idiosyncratic

i converted my peugeot to threadless using this $10 profile design adapter and I couldn't be happier. It's basically a 1 1/8 steerer top mounted on a 1" quill bottom. You have to use some emery cloth sandpaper to make it fit (from 22.2 mm to 22), but that takes about 15 minutes and isn't noticeable as an endproduct.

then I got a used stem for $4 making for a $14 like-new setup that I could swap for a different length at any time.

operator

Can you also convert green text to black?

kyselad

Where do you get this information? Like Kemmer mentioned, it's likely French. Furthermore, "floating" an ISO sealed bracket, which has a narrower threading that French/Swiss, yields an unengaged bracket; plus, the thread pitch doesn't match. Re-tapping wider threading down to ISO would be an interesting feat.

Sixty Fiver

I'm in a colourful mood today.

If it's a problem let me know... seriously.

frankstoneline

Glue.
If it's french, you'll need to find a new axle, not as big of a deal as most of these dudes make it out to seem, guys in the C&V forum tend to have em laying around or know where to find em.

lymbzero

French BB.. for sure..

reckon

where did I get this information, mr. hostility?,..uh lets see,.why the very bike I'm riding now with the shimano sealed BB in it (70's motobecane=swiss BB: sez "TANGE japan 35XP1" on it) the shimano sealed BB from my other MTB fit right in, nice and tight. (perfect size for a straight chainline too! go figure!)

and as far as re-tapping a BB ANYTHING is possible, or maybe you haven't visited a machine shop lately (btw I work in one and we could do it on our lunch hour), the question is: can you afford to do the work? (or is the bike really worth all the trouble and money?)

but thank you for your warm response, I hope you get fleas.

DeafLamb

I would also be interested in how you re-tap a bottom bracket to a smaller diameter????

I can only see it being possible if you fill the shell with metal and then do the tapping. But a normal bike shop wouldn't be able to do this, therefore most likely not an option.

Changing the spindle in a French bottom bracket is not hard, and it is even possible to find new old stock French cups on ebay (i have some in my peugeot). Or if you got big bucks, get a phil woods bottom bracket with the French cups.

If you do decide to keep original French bottom bracket, make sure to check it often. They have a tendency to loosen up because the fixed cup is right threaded. You might even want to put some locktite on it, and crank it down hard.

Of course you could just read all this yourself....

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbsize.html

-ray

reckon

"But a normal bike shop wouldn't be able to do this, therefore most likely not an option"

so if your LBS can't do it, it must be impossible? is that what your saying?
wow, you kids really should visit your local machine shop once in your lifetime and at least make an ATTEMPT at grasping different concepts

"nothing is impossible, except trying to convince the average person of this"

or just go to a real bike shop like this one:
https://www.shawscycles.com/mission.html

it's called COUNTERBORING, then you sink in a sleeve (either fusor epoxy'd, or brazed in, then ream, face, and tap. (I learned this in high school, 35 years ago) and you only need to counterbore as far as the threads will go (68MM?)

expensive, due to the multiple operations, but certainly not impossible, nor even exotic by any stretch.

but don't even take my word for it, go and ask a machinist or call shaw's (tell them your mommy is rich first though!)

anyone want my original tange swiss BB?

colintdesign

Hi Reckon,
Thanks for the info. I have an 82 motobecane mirage and have been trying to figure out if it is swiss or french. And now I know its Swiss. Can you tell me more about how you fit a cartridge in there? What model BB did you use?

I have slowly been updating some parts on this bike and the crank is the only thing I haven't touched yet. Thanks.

reckon

it was a shimano 113mm sealed BB that I cannabilized from my GT LTS-3, forgive me I can't remember the model number. (maybe BB-UN52?)

I really did NOT expect it to fit, I was just "this wont work", but the threads looked right, and it fit right in like it was made for it, nice and snug and it allowed a nearly perfect chainline with the sugino cranks as long as the ring was on the inside of the spider.

I saw on sheldon browns bottom bracket page, he also sez that you can fit a standard sealed BB in a swiss threaded bike.

from the number on the frame my super mirage is probably a 78-81 vintage

wroomwroomoops

Careful kyselad, he's gonna put you on his iggy list.

threecircles: which direction are the threads on the drive side? Swiss are reverse (like BSA), french aren't.

dobber

You might find helpful information here

https://cyclespeugeot.com/index.html