Wow, this Made in Canada Peugeot is *Really* Good!
 

Is it just me? I found this 45cm Peugeot hybrid (sorry, "flat bar gravel bike" in modern marketing) that I would normally pass over, but a short friend needs a bike and they're in short supply right now, and this is as small as you can get and still use 700c wheels.

As I started the teardown, once I got past the cheap twist-shift grips and managed to liquefy the stuck seatpost, I really started to fall in love with the frame. Nice forged drop outs, and it's pretty light, apparently double butted tubing?

The joining is SO GOOD and clean for the era. Better than most trek 8xx series that I've seen. The unicrown fork is a little bit sloppy, but otherwise it's great.

Instead of a cheap rattle can, I'm actually ordering good paint and the iconic Peugeot rainbow decals to build this one up right. Definitely a money loser, but it will be a sweet ride when done! Anybody know anything more about Made in Canada Peugeot? The only link on Mytenspeeds seems to be gone.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1d059b14cf.jpg
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Canadian Peugeot were manufactured by a Quebec based company called Procycle. Founded by the Dutil family in 1971, they originally assembled and distributed Japanese manufactured bicycles for department stores. They became the exclusive Canadian distributors of Peugeot in 1974, the same year they acquired and began assembling the Velo Sport brand. In 1977 a factory expansion introduced frame assembly and in 1978 they began manufacturing entry level Peugeot for the Canadian market. In 1988 they started manufacturing lugless frames using the Direct Brazing System (DBS) technology. In late 1990 when Peugeot USA decided to close its business, Procycle purchased them, becoming Peugeot manufacturer and distributor for the Canadian and USA markets until the end of 2001, when the license agreement with Peugeot France expired.

Canadian manufactured Peugeot typically exhibited better workmanship than comparable French manufactured models. The brazing was cleaner, less file marks, smoother and more lustrous paint, better decal application, etc. The same was true with the Raleigh models that came out of Raleigh's Quebec factory, when compared to Nottingham product.

That fork is likely a standard off-the-shelf item from Tange, Spinner or somebody else. By this time, few bicycle companies were building forks at this price point.

Here's a link to a video showing bicycle manufacture inside the Procyle factory, including the process used to manufacture your frame, though the bicycles shown are CCM, a Canadian brand which Procycle bought in 1983.

The mytenspeeds domain has been sold. The previous owner randyjawa is on this site, and may have the content you're looking for archived.

Sadly, I did sell MY "TEN SPEEDS" last winter and, even sadder, it got hacked. I can't really access the site properly anymore.

If you could still get into the site, you would find an article suggesting test riding a bike, for a while, before doing the Full Monty in the cosmetics field. If the bike rides good, fits good and meets with your ride quality approval, then clean and paint (actually, it looks pretty good to me "as found"). I learned about this with the first bike that I restored (bike proved to be too big for me and bent, to boot).

Had I jumped into paint and art and everything before test riding the bike, I would have been making a mistake. Turned out I had to straighten the frame out, a wee bit, something that I would not want to do after some $ or $$$ had been spent for paint and art. Anyway, the Torpado is true now and works like a charm. Paint and art in a year or two...
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4835e1e407.jpg

guy1138-

They are really nice and very unappreciated bikes. The mitering is amazingly good for machine done work and the lugless brazing is wonderfully clean. Typically, they were made with thinner, seamed plain gauge Carbolite tubing or plain gauge Chromolite cro-mo tubing. Forks were generic Tange although they may have switched to Taiwanese stuff later. Had a Peugeot Chrono with Chromolite frame and cro-mo unicrown fork equipped with Shimano RSX and it was a fantastic handling bike. Check the head tube, there may be a sequence of three letters, those would be the last name initial of the each of three build team members. Yours looks like a 2000 Prestige with the Cromolite frame and cro-mo fork.

Canadian Made Peugeots
 

I found these photos on the Internet of a late 80's - early 90's Canadian built Peugeot Aravis frame. It's made with triple butted Ishiwata 4130 chrome moly tubing.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1b4ed20c27.jpg
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Peugeot played foot loose and fancy free with their model names depending on the market. The Aravis was a lugged steel model second or third from the top in the US and UK market.

Here's the process that Peugeot (Motobecane and Gitane too) used to produce their lugless frames. "Preforms" of brazing alloy was placed inside the tubes at the mitered joints then hearth brazed.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d7ef2c9b86.jpg
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The marketoids at all 3 of the French companies made the process sound like it was some kind of new magic. It's been used for decades to assemble products made of tubing such as furniture.

Reality is that in the early 80's Peugeot, Motobecane and Gitane adopted this method to make lugless frames for their lower priced bikes to compete against the influx cheap of Asian made bikes coming into the European market. It was a lot faster and less work than making lugged frames.

I'm a Luddite and like lugged frames but I don't recall seeing any failures with these frames. Now, cheap US made department store bikes with frames made this way were a different story.

CAVEAT! As randyjawa sugested, you should assemble the bike first and make sure that you or the person getting the bike is comfortable with the ride. Go on eBay and every week you'll find bikes that have been "just overhaulled and painted".

Why sell? The answer is obvious: the owner spent a lot of money and for some reason doesn't like the bike!

A fool and his money are soon parted!

verktyg :50:

Yeah, I have seen a couple of these Canadian Pugs in the Boston area! Super good quality, I agree!

Léo, my holy terror of a friend, commutes on one. He breaks _everything_ except that frame. Breaks keys off in his bike lock. I think he's on his third or fourth set of wheels. Dynamo wires continually chewed through and shorting out. Shifters shedding pawls and springs bi-annually. Stuck fixed cups and chainrings worn out after only a few months worth of use. One time I could actually hear water sloshing inside the frame tubes. I am continually amazed that the frame continues to stand up to the punishment he dishes out.

Get us some photos of this thing.

True enough but the follow up to this blew my kilt up, many years ago. In the movie, "Wall Street", Mike Douglas responded to the comment by saying: "How did the fool and the money get together in the first place?"

I didn't forget about you. Here it is. Non drive side, sorry. I just got the bikes out that were on top of it, which I had been storing for an old friend stuck in NYC during the covid mess. Amazingly that generator wire still doesn't short. I think because it's so corroded. I offered to run the wires inside the frame, but he wouldn't let me. Wanted to do it himself. So here we are. What a mess! Léo is still in France so his bike is still here.

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I got one too!
 

I have this same frame. I need to sell it. Did you find other information about it? I want to add details to my listing description.

Also how much do you think the frame is worth? Mine is in good condition. (I'd post a photo but since I'm a newbie the forum won't let me until I make 10 posts)

Thanks!

What's It Worth Forum
 

FYI, these kinds of questions are not permitted in the main Classic & Vintage Forum.

Your message may get moved over to the What's It Worth Forum...

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...th-appraisals/

verktyg :50:

I got one too!
 

I have this same frame. I need to sell it. Did you find other information about it? I want to add details to my listing description. Specs or reviews of it. Any details help.

Thanks!

Which "same frame"? There have been several mentioned in this thread. If you know the year and model name, I can probably supply the identity of the tubeset.

MopedMami, please start your own inquiry thread in our Classic & Vintage Appraisals forum. https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...th-appraisals/

Thread closed