Classic Meets Modern

Almost 2 years ago I acquired what I believe is a 1979 Peugeot PV10 .  Searching through various online catalogs I found this Picture of a PV10.  It is from a 1979 French catolog and was the closest match to the components that were on the bike. Using Peugeot's serial numbers to date a bike is said to be a bit dubious but, going by the serial number, decals and components It would appear to be circa 1979

 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.

Stronglight 105 Bis Crankset with 52 x 42 chainrings. Love the drillium!

            

Mafac non aero brake levers with more drillium

                      

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. 

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.

1984 Trek 500 Series

I picked up a 1984 Trek 500 at bike show/swap in Dudley. At that time the bike was built as a fixie which didn't interest me at all. So I purchased the bike without its wheels and chain. It had bull handlebars, an inverse brake lever and track pedals.
Mostly what I wanted was the frame. 

The bikes original configuration was a drop barred sport bike. It came in two colors, mariner blue and pewter as pictured below. Mine is blue. Now that the bike is in at least its third configuration very little from its original build remains. I think the headset is the only original component left.

I built up the Trek 500 to be my winter ride. It's worked out fairly well. The tires could use a little more width but you can only use as wide of a tire as the bike will allow.  The only studded tire I found that would fit was Schwalbe's 30 mm snow tire. It doesn't have as many studs as their 35 mm Marathon Winter tires, but sometimes I think that's a good thing since the 30 mm snow tires are slow enough. The sidewalls have a nice reflective coating.  When I don't have the studded tires mounted I use Soma's New Express 32 mm terracotta tires. 

In addition to studded tires, I'm using a Nexus 8 speed internal gear hub with a kick brake. This set up has worked very nicely allowing me to mostly just ride and not worry about cleaning off the bike after every sloppy ride. I have a center pull brake on the front but it's pretty useless when conditions are wet and icey. 

The cockpit consists of a 90 mm Nitto Technomic stem which is quite pretty to look at when you're riding. I only mention that because Grant Peterson has pointed out the importance of a good looking stem since its in your field of vision most of the time. Anyway the rest of the cockpit is Velo Orange's ever so difficult to pronounce handlebars VO Montmartre, which are 42 cm wide. If I had to do it again I would select their Left Bank handlebar which is 49 cm wide with a little bit of flare in the grip area. 

An inverse brake lever controls the front brake and a JTek bar-end shifter allows easy logical shifting of the Nexus hub.
Logical because you shift up to move to a higher gear and down to move to lower gear.

To keep the road crud off of me, I mounted a pair of SKS Longboards. I've found the bear claw pedals to be quite comfortable and grippy, plus I think they look cool. To finish the build I added a Brooks b68 in honey with matching honey bar tape, and a Wald 137 basket. 

A couple of notes: Before I mounted the basket I had a funky old rack that I hacked to make a light sort of porteur rack. I wasn't crazy about the look of it but I think it worked better than the basket in regards to the amount of weight and volume it held. Ultimately I would like to put a real porteur rack on, if I can find one that isn't too heavy or expensive, this is my dilemma. Of all the bikes I own, this one handles front loads the best. Probably due to its mid-trail geometry, somewhere in the mid forties.

Truth be told I'm not that wild about the Brooks handlebar tape. It is difficult to work with and it offers no cushion. The last bit of problem I've been having is a common one with Brooks saddles.  I need more set back even though I am using the VO long set back seat post, it's still not enough. I am constantly pushing back. Raising the saddle height has helped a little. 

There maybe some changes made regarding the saddle set back, front rack and maybe the handlebars as I continue to tweek the fit.

The Phillips Project

1964 Phillips 3 speed

Last spring a coworker gave me a Phillips roadster that had been hanging in her grandfathers basement for as long as she could remember.

The Sturmey Archer hub says "64" which is a pretty accurate way to ID the year of manufacture on an old roadster. 

The front hub looks to be an old dyno hub. I will definitely see if I can improve on that fender line ;)

I love the Phillips chainring but I'm not so wild about those old cotter cranks

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The headbadge is definitely one of the cooler ones I've come across. I've done a bit of searching online and I haven't found any Phillips bikes with the sword on the seat tube that you can just barely see in the photo above.

I doubt I will be able to find another one of these pedals in new old stock condition. I might just have to go with plain block pedals.

That pedal doesn't quite look right, does it? In case you didn't notice in the first picture the seat-post and saddle are missing as well.

There's a lot of surface rust and oxidation on this old bike, I see a lot of steel wool in my future.

I haven't found any of these old hand grips on ebay or even any pictures of bikes with grips like that. I think I've got my work cut out for me with this one. My plan is to restore the bike to as close to original working order as I can over the course of this winter.

Der Pendler (The Commuter)

This year I want to try to ride all winter, something I've never tried to do before. I know once the roads get covered in sand and ice I won't be riding on 23 mm tires. I love my Cannondale with drop bars but like most carbon fiber road bikes built today it's limited to skinny tires. Enter the Schwinn Mesa my nephews old mountain bike that has been languishing in his parents garage for several years. 

2000 Schwinn Mesa after a bit of work

My nephew and I picked this bike up at a bike shop when he was around 15. This was just before Schwinn was bought by another company and consequently began offering bikes in department stores. He bought it with his own money and some birthday money I was kicking in towards the purchase. We went to the bike shop because the bike he had from Walmart hadn't even survived a year. The Mesa was an entry level Mountain bike but it was what he could afford and a step up from the Walmart bike. 

I thought it would make a perfect winter bike, with its wide tires and ample clearance for fenders. Also I wouldn't feel like I should wipe it down after riding through puddles of slush since it's aluminum and previously ridden in the woods by a teenage boy. Aka it won't rust and it's not mint or expensive.  

Some of the bits I replaced

I should have taken pictures before I stripped the bike down but at least I can show you some of the parts I replaced. I changed the tires to the more road friendly 1.95 Kenda Kross. The handle bar was all steel and too straight for my tastes, so I replaced it with the lighter aluminum Civia Loring handle bar to give me a more upright position. The original stem was also all steel and too long. Instead I used a shorter aluminum stem by Dimension. There wasn't really anything wrong with the grips but I went with a more ergo grip from Serfas. 

The original Suntour triple crankset's middle chainring was showing a bit of wear but the whole crankset had to be replaced because the chainrings were riveted together. I installed a Shimano Acera triple which was pretty similar to the original accept the chainrings were bolted not riveted. For some unknown reason Schwinn had used an E type front derailleur which is really unnecessary in a hard tail mountain bike. I opted for the bolt on Shimano Alivio FD. The worn out bottom bracket is not pictured but it was also replaced, and of course I replaced all the cables and housing. 
(Note for those that are unfamiliar with "E type" front derailleurs, they attach to the bottom bracket and general only need to used on bikes with rear suspension.)

New front derailleur, crankset, and Shimano a530 pedals

I'm trying out the Shimano a530 in order to have the option of clipping in or not.  The plastic chainring gaurd allows me to ride in regular street clothes without a pant leg strap. My goal is to be able to ride in cycling specific gear or civvies which is why ended up with a rather plush seat.

I found the Schwinn seat really uncomfortable so I thought I really lucked out when I found a Specialized Reva which had come off of a brand new bike, marked down to $25. The Reva is very similar to the Specialized Lyndia I have on my Cannondale but, unfortunately I didn't take into account how upright my position on the bike was going to be and ultimately I needed more padding under my seat bones. I'm using a Serfas dual density saddle, DDL-CT Women's with a deep groove or cut out, so far it's quite comfy.

Although the bike only has a 7 speed shifter it also has an 8 speed Shimano Acera rear derailleur which I was able to use. I happen to have an 11-30 cassette laying around so I used it with the 13 tooth sprocket removed, other wise it would not fit the hub. Ideally it would be nice to have the 13, jumping from 15 to 11 isn't ideal but with 3 chainrings the perfect gear can be found.

Finally I installed the rack and fenders. I purchased Sunlite chromoplastic fenders because they were cheap, and now I know why. Its not that the fenders themselves are any different from other chromoplastic fenders but the fender stays and limited hardware are another story. The stays are one piece of stainless steel that wraps from one side to the other with the ends looped so they can be bolted to the eyelets in the drop outs. The problem with this system is the lack of easy adjustment to fit to each bike. In the front I was able to rebend the stainless steal to the right length but in the rear they were so long that I had to cut and bend them. Getting stainless steel to bend exactly the way you want without special tools is quite difficult because it is so hard. I ended making them just a bit too short. Fortunately I was able to find several fender stays in a box of spare fender bits at Niantic Bay Bicycle. 

A little creativity was called for with this fender install

Axiom Streamliner Road DLX

I knew going into this build that I would have to come up with a way to mount the fender stays to a suspension fork without eyelets. I decided to use the quick release skewer and an "adapter" like the one that came with the rack on my Cannondale.  I had to make the adapter and ended up using a toilet flange repair kit. All I had to do was cut off the ends of the metal flange and shape them with a grinder. Using the quick release skewer to hold the rack in place is kind of a pain when you need to remove the wheel but its doable. The rack pictured on the right is similar to the one I have on my Cannodale Synapse.

I used to think this bike was too big for me and I rode it with the seat practically sitting on the top tube. The seat tube is 21 inches long and the standover height is about 31 inches. As far as standover clearance goes I'm right at the limit. Even so I have raised the saddle height several times. I think I have the fit dialed in now and I find it to be comfortable, fun and stable. In the future I may want to make some more upgrades to further winterize:

*New suspension fork with disc tabs.

*New disc capable front hub

*Disc brake for the front

*Internal gear hub

All this requires money that I shouldn't spend at the moment, but in the mean time I can research and dream.

Wald's Front Basket

A while back I discussed the availability of silver front racks for under $80. I believe I only found five of them and the two that I was interested in were on back order. I wanted to mount a Wald basket to a front rack rather than the handle bars for better handling and stability. 

I ordered a silver Wald 137 like the one pictured above from my local bike shop. One look at my Peugeot with its mustache handle bars and brakes sticking out in the front and I knew that I wouldn't be able to mount the basket as intended anyway. Having the basket in my hands I really wanted to put it to use, front racks be damned. So I began by taking the legs and handle bar hardware off. I knew I could easily shorten the legs, I just needed to devise a way to secure the basket to the fork crown. At first I tried using the handle bar hardware. After messing around with it for a while it became obvious that it wasn't sturdy enough, luckily I had an extra mounting bracket from the rear rack. 

                                                 

               It wasn't too difficult to shorten and shape the legs to fit.

         I used the handle bar hardware as a sort of metal strap that I could attach the bracket to. 

I had to shape the bracket and get a longer bolt to hold it and the brake to the fork. I left the bolt a little longer for future use when I install fenders. As you can see the headset and the bracket are just a 3-4 millimeters apart which is just enough to allow the fork to turn without rubbing against the bracket. A wood bottom was in order to hide the unsightly handle bar hardware and ensure that small items wouldn't fall through the bottom.

The bottom is one piece of pine with grooves cut into it so it would appear to be several pieces of wood. I stained it and applied several coats of shellac before bolting it to the strapping.

The Finished Product

The Switch

I've been thinking about making some changes to my Peugeot Mixtie for a while. The push finally came from some broken retainer clips in the bottom bracket.  I've had a lot of trouble keeping the Sugino bottom bracket snug, even with lock tight.  I can't really say why since the threading is right handed which is the same direction as the pedal stroke so it should tighten with every stroke. None the less the last time I rode the Mixtie the BB was making some noise and the chaingaurd seemed to be weebling a little. 

                                                  Stronglight cranks with Stein crank puller 


Once again I put the bike up on my make shift bike stand, saying to myself that this would be the last time I was going to fool around with this bottom bracket.  I've sure gotten a lot of use out the special Stein Crank puller I purchased from Harris Cyclery. A standard crank puller and I use the term standard loosely, has a 22mm thread but the older Stronglight cranks use a special crank puller that has a 23.35mm thread. 


Once I removed the cranks and loosen the bb I decided to take the bb cup off and get a better look at things. This revealed a broken retainer clip. For those of you who have never seen the inside of a cup and cone bb like this....

There is a ring of ball bearings that are held in a metal ring (retainer clip) in both ends of the bb. Perhaps this was part of my problem with keeping the bb snug. Both clips were in pieces. I could just purchase more ball bearings and use them without the clip but I'm afraid that it might be a pain to get all the loose balls in place. Besides I want to just reinstall the bb and not have to think about it for a long time, its time to up grade to a cartridge style bb. I purchased a Velo Orange bottom bracket with french threads.

                                               My busted retainer clip and a new Velo Orange bottom bracket 
              
I've also been thinking about switching from the 11-32 cassette I currently have on the Mixtie to a 12-36 cassette. I know the 4 sprockets I'm gaining on the 36 tooth sprocket doesn't seem like much of a difference but it will be 4 less gear inches I have to push up steep hills. Lets just say it will put me closer to my lowest gear on the triple crankset of my Cannondale. Since the bike is on the stand I might as well go ahead and make the switch.

                           11-32 cassette, 12-36 cassette and Stronglight 42/52 cranks with chaingaurd


There's just one problem I forgot to get the bb tool I'll need. Darn bottom brackets and all there various different tools. I ordered one from my local bike shop and it should be in today. Its a beautiful day for a ride, so I'm off to Niantic to pick up the proper tool. I'll keep you posted...


Update:
The best laid plans of mice and men, as they say. The Velo Orange bottom bracket won't work because my spindle is off set and the VO bb isn't this all equals a chain line that causes the inner chainring to rub on the frame.  The loose ball bearings were a pain to install  on the non drive side but its done.  I decided that some of the problem with the bb loosening had to be from the non drive side since that tightens in the opposite direction of the pedal stroke.   I used locktite on the threads of both cups and it seems to be holding.  The 12 - 36 cassette is working out fine. One note though, the cassette that I had installed before was actually a 11 - 30 even thought the packaging was marked as 11 - 32!  I have also discovered that the weeble of the chainring is due to it being slightly bent.  It works ok but makes a little bit of a rubbing noise which makes me crazy. I guess I'll have to replace it or find a way to sraighten it. Any ideas on how to do this?

Peugeot Rebuild Part 2

 For those that haven't read my Peugeot Rebuild Part1  I rebuilt a 1970's Peugeot Mixtie UO18 that I purchased at a flea market bike swap in Dudley, Massachusetts.

Prior to having the frame powder coated I widened the rear triangle using the cold set process described on Sheldon Brown's website. I also removed the pump pegs and the paint because initially I thought I might paint the frame myself. I purchased new 700c alloy wheels. The rear wheel has a new Shimano Hyperglide hub allowing me to use a 9 speed cassette.

 The Mixte's straight diagonal line is accentuated in its bare state.

I chose a 11-32 cassette and a Shimano Deore long cage rear derailleur.

I really love the look of the Stronglight crankset from the UO8 so I installed them on the Mixtie as well as the Sugino bottom bracket. The chainrings on the crankset are 52/42 which is why I chose a cassette with a 32 tooth sprocket. If that doesn't make any sense to you check out my post about  gear inches

I purchased an old Huret front derailleur off of E-bay because I wanted to fit the uncommon 28mm diameter(old French sizing)  of the seat tube exactly.  I could have shimmed the clamp but I was afraid it would slip at some inopportune moment. I also could have used the original Simplex front derailleur but I didn't like the plastic clamp. 

The pedals are the original Lyotard pedals that came from the Mixtie after I cleaned them up and re-greased them.

These are the original Mafac brakes with Kool Stop brake pads, 35 mm Panaracer tires, and the original tubes.

 Velo Orange Metallic braided brake cables/housing and Alligator braided cables/housing look nice with the sky blue paint color. Outlining the lugs is easy with a paint pen.

The original head badge peeled off easily before the frame was powder coated allowing me to reuse it.

The Soma mustache handlebars are covered with foam pads and cork tape.  At first I shellacked the cork tape which was finished with twine but the cork felt too slick.  I replaced the cork tape and finished it with some rawhide pieces I had lying around. The Mafac brake levers are from the UO8 with Cane Creek hoods that I cut to fit. Because Peugeot didn't install any braze ons for water bottle cages I used a cage mount designed for the frame or stem. The basket is a modified Wald 137, its nice to use a product that is still made in the USA.

Once I decided to change the handle bars the stem also had to be changed due to the 25mm handle bar clamp found on older French bikes.  I chose the Periscopa by Nitto for its tall stem angle and the ability to raise the handlebars quite high

Nitto FU 82 or Periscopa

In addition to the Wald basket I added a Wald rear rack, mostly to support the saddle bag, which is probably 20 or more years old. It was nice to put the old thing to use.

Note the Greenfield kickstand another lovely American made product, its light weight aluminum replacing the old heavy original steel kickstand. The barend shifters provide indexed shifting in the rear and friction shifting in the front. The saddle is a Model 8 from Velo Orange which is leather sprung and 205mm wide in the seat bone region.

I will probably add some Velo Orange Hammered aluminum fenders at some point.