The bike as I came by it had everything in the picture accept the seat post, saddle and pump. As far as I'm concerned it was lucky that I stumbled upon this bike in my size while I was visiting my local bike shop. Most of the bikes on craigslist these days are low end or overpriced.
Here's a picture of the bike after I began to rebuild it. I should of taken photos of it before I did anything but I get so excited when I get a new project that I forget to document the original bike before I start to clean it up and rebuild.
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| Stronglight 105 Bis Crankset with 52 x 42 chainrings. Love the drillium! |
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| Mafac non aero brake levers with more drillium |
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| New rear wheel on the left next to the original on the right |
The original wheels were Mavic 700c tubulars with Normandy hubs and a Malliard 5 speed freewheel. I thought a long time about the way in which I would rebuild this lovely old bike. I toyed with the idea of riding tubulars, and tried to figure out a way to keep the cool Stronglight cranks. Ultimately I knew the 42 - 52 chainrings were just too large for me to ride up hill. Even if I used a 12-36 cassette my lowest gear would be about 31 gear inches which for me just isn't low enough when climbing longish steep grades. So I had a new set of wheels built with Mavic Open Sport rims, Ultegra hubs, Ultegra 10 speed 12-30 cassette, Wheelsmith butted spokes and alloy nipples. Practical wheels which suited the bike but allowed me to use clinchers. The tires I selected were 28 mm Grand Bois, Cerf, Extra Leger.
I replaced the Stronglight cranks with Velo Orange's Grand Cru 50.4 BCD 46 x 30 cranks. I think the they look appropriate for a bike of this era. The 46-30 chainrings combined with the 12-30 cassette gives me a gear inch range of 26.7 - 102.2
Because of the french threading it was fortunate that I was able to use the existing loose ball bottom bracket and spindle with the new crankset. Since I spread the rear dropouts 4 mm to accommodate a modern cassette hub it would have been ideal if I had a slightly longer spindle to compensate for the change in the chainline. That was not to be the case so the shifting is slightly compromised. Meaning the chain will rub on the next chainring when shifted to the furthest sprocket. Of course one is always advised to avoid that sort of shifting anyway.
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The only original parts that were used were; the bottom bracket, headset, and brakes. The original pedals were Atom with french threading so they can only be used with the original crankset. The Peugeot stem was too short for me and the Phillipe handlebars just weren't as comfortable as the Nitto 115 that I replaced them with. I kept the Weinmann 605 sidepull brakes because I didn't want to alter the frame in any permanent way by drilling out the brake mounting holes. Modern brakes have recessed bolts not the nutted bolts common on most older single pivot brakes. Also the reach is longer than most modern dual pivot brakes. I would have used the original front derailleur but it was a cheap plastic Simplex common on Peugeots in the 70's and broke in my hands when I picked it up!
Down tube shifters just aren't my thing and I had a perfectly good set of ShimanoTiagra 4600's lying around so that was kind of a no brainer. The front and rear mechs were used Shimano 105 and Ultegra respectively that I picked up at the bike shop. The 26.6 seatpost was an oddball size that limited my choices so long setback wasn't going to be an option. Without a long setback seatpost a Brooks saddle was out of the question for me. I made a lucky guess and ordered a Selle SMP TRK which I found to be comfortable.
Even with the modern drivetrain I feel the essence of the bike was maintained. Velox bar ends and a tool roll attached to the saddle with a Christophe toe strap give a slight nod to the era.
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Chapeau! Always good to see old French steel being used and appreciated. They are a bit fickle but reward with a smooth and comfortable ride and a certain panache, Your tale of woe with the FD is all to familiar, think the useful life of a derlin plastic derailluer was about 18 months so its no surprise it literally broke in your hands, I had one break when I was tightening it onto the tube once...sigh. I hope you held onto ] those lovely factory driiled cranks they may be worth more (on ebay) than you paid for the bike!
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