Ride Lugged

found a super cheap peugeot at centre peace, a local thrift store kind of place where convicts at the local lock up can do some service and earn 1 dollar a month or something. anyway, i just got through restoring my friend emily’s peugeot, which was a mixte as well, but black, with fenders and generators. this seems to be the same frame and basic drivetrain but without the city bike kit. it came with some sketchy drop bars and an AVA stem, which looks nice, but is the ultra dumb 25 mm size. actually everyone else is stupid for not adopting the 25 mm size, but thats a topic for another rainy day. which this is not. rainy. so i wish it had fenders, but VO sells em now cheap, so maybe maybe. here are some spy shots:

the brakes need some kool stop salmon pads, they honk a bit, but the calipers themselves are in great shape. in fact the whole bike has minimal wear, like someone rode 3 times around the block in 1977 and garaged it after that.

you can see the simplex plunger ft mech down there, just a bit, and the mixte plate that ties the twin lats to the seat tube. usually bikes this old need new tires, but the 27 x something michelins are in great shape and roll fast.

mustache bars and nitto stem. viva bar tape, the best there is. 3 layers of shellac and a wingspan of twine. i removed the lever bodys and wrapped over the clamps. had to sand the stem down a bit to fit in the steerer tube. those lever tops are westminster swap finds, the original white ones were a bit icky from age.

did simplex start that stupid black parts trend? it shifts fine, considering how much hate is ladled on the delrin. i could see how time would wear it quickly though. the newish sram chain probly helps shifting matters a bit. should i ditch the pie plate, or is it too legit to quit?

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the big picture. the pin stripping looks good in person, its nice to see hand work done on a such a cheap bike. i think the whole thing looks alot better than any current women’s bike made by the big guys. everything looks proportionate and classic. no finishes to wear off, ect. low q factor too. i took it for a 45 minute ride today into some hills, and it faired well. wouldnt want to do that with 25lbs in a rack on it, cause it lacks a granny. wasnt made for that anyway. major weaknesses: saddle sucks. it has two plate ‘rails’ that dig up into the butt. the delrin shift levers flex a bit, so you have to over shift. its really stable at speed, but at slow speeds the front end feels unweighted, probally cause of the raked out fork. i think with a basket it will be fine.

interestingly, its not too heavy.  a new hybrid with flat resistant tires and tubes, 9 speeds, clunky v brakes, suspension, gel saddle and cheap forged crank probally weighs a bit more.  it’s easily sub 30lbs.