Rollfast

I didn't give away my Ironman, but at 8 cents a copy my brother got all my comic books for a steal.

tgenec86

Hmmm... Newbie. Haven't been called that in ages. Started riding a "real" road bike in 1983, got my license in 1989 when we all started as Cat.4 (Crash 4). Made it up to USPro on Team Richbrau in the mid-90's. Been racing Masters with a couple of State titles for many years. Figured I ought to join a bike forum. Now I need 10 posts so.... SPAM THE NEWBIE THREAD!

tgenec86

Came here because I just hit a small gold mine. Was in a crappy antique mall in Herkimer NY and ran across an old, gunked up bike. Turns out it was a 1972 Peugeot PX10! They were only asking $150, but just to be annoying I asked if the seller (the mall does booths) would take $100. The woman at the counter called and they said "sure - it's been there a while." Cha-Ching$$!

tgenec86

Got it home and gave it a massive Simple Green bath to wash off close to 45 years of film and crud. That's when things got interesting. The more gunk that came off, the more pristine white paint started to show. And decals. And unblemished chrome. And shiny, unrusted bands, components in nearly new condition... Everything looks to be in excellent condition. There are two chips of paint missing on the top tube, maybe 1/4" or slightly less each, and a few spots on the seat tube & seat stays that are rubbed, but mostly all shiny. The damage is small enough that I'll probably just get a small bottle of color matched enamel (Testors?) and do touch-up and a very thin clear coat over it. The WC stripes on the lower band on the seat tube are also a little rubbed, but again - some carefully applied painters tape and a tiny touch up bit of paint and that will be mostly invisible as well.

tgenec86

Beyond the chips of paint, the only other issue was the Reynolds 531 tube stickers were nearly gone on the seat tube and forks, so a quick trip to the VeloCals website and those are now on order - original French stickers too - exact matches to the original. Oddly enough, the Stronglight crank is original and still mirror polished, but the left crank arm was replaced at some point by some el-cheapo brand. Found an eBay seller that had a Stonglight crank arm for sale in great condition (93 model - exact match) and that will be coming in soon. The only thing not original on the bike are the wheels - they're from the 70's, Malliard hubs and Mavic rims, but clincher instead of the original tubies. I'm not going to fuss over that - I've been sitting on a set of white/black Vittoria tires for about 8 years now that will look great on the bike!

tgenec86

Once the frame was cleaned up and the paint assessed, stickers ordered, and chrome polished, I turned my attention to what appeared to be a very crunchy headset, bottom bracket, and hubs... Complete disassembly and inspection showed that all four had simply been overtightened and the grease was ancient (looked like cosmoline!). Cleaned them all up, new high quality bearing grease splooged all over the races, and carefully tightened with the cone wrenches I have not used in two decades, and everything spins as smooth as silk. Very happy about that! At this point, all I'm waiting on is for my parts to all show up. New cables and housings, frame decals, the crank arm, some really nice Peugeot badged handlebar end caps, and new cloth handlebar tape from Newbaums. I'll stop by a shop today to pick up the touch up paint and clear-coat and do the paint work this weekend, and then build the bike up starting next week.

The only thing that won't be original will be the pedals. This is going to be a rider and I'm just too attached to my clipless pedals. So I'll tap the French threads out to standard and be all non-traditional and awful. It looks like Giro has some really cool plain brown shoes - the Giro Republic LX, that look very old-school. I don't really need to spend that much money on new shoes just to match the bike, but hey - how many guy's have wives that would spend a small fortune on a new designer purse to match that evening gown they've been wanting forever???

sykerocker 

Boy, I hope you have lots of before and after pictures of that one. Seems like you've hit on one of the Holy Grails: A bike hidden under enough dirt to just need a refurbishing rather than a restoration.

SurferRosa

To me, both those terms require a full overhaul (rebuild) and differ only in componentry. For my use, "refurbishing" usually results in a far better bicycle than the original spec (restoration).

gugie 

@tgenec86

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you'll be posting knowledge soon, glad to have you. Now get up to 10 posts so we can see before and after pix on that PX10.

seypat

Newbie @tgenec86 showing the forums the way to get to 10 posts. Great job. Not hard at all.

sykerocker 

Difference in semantics. In my vocabulary "refurbishing" is taking the bike apart, cleaning and lubricating, and reassembling. "Restoring" means disassembly, then working on fixing every individual part, replacing major parts if necessary, possibly repainting or at least a major rubbing out of the original finish, then reassembling. I refurbish fix and flip bikes. Anything I restore, had better have some antique value to me, and is going to be kept in the collection at least until I need a space for something more valuable/interesting.

dweenk

I was a newbie once. I didn't find the rules of the forum to be onerous; I thought the rules made sense. We have all seen a few trolls come in and ruin discussions. Maybe the rules could be amended to make it easier for new posts, but then you open it up for abuse.

SurferRosa

That's an overhaul. You can have this done at some bike shops. They charge at least $300 for the labor.

For that price, they will not shop for period correct replacements, retape your bars, or polish the rash from your last crash. That's part of "refurbishing" a bike. And they likely won't overhaul your rear derailleur nor your pedals.

Restoring is just that, bringing the bike to its its original show room condition (including paint), whether the replacement components be improvements or not.

KonAaron Snake 

What bike shop are you going to? That's $100-$150 near me.

That's your definition of those terms...not a commonly accepted definition within this forum. Restoration can mean different things, and context by the poster is everything. Different people take different approaches to "restoration", and very few of us use original consumables like tires. To some, restoration means repaint, to others, repaint is anathema to restoration.

SurferRosa

Really? You know a brick and mortar shop that will do a full overhaul (bb, hubs, headset) and then tune the bike with wheel truing for $150?

Shops around here will barely tune the bike for that. There's one here that charges $25 just to change a flat.

redfishnc

be careful. One of my post was deleted for nonsense. BS. I’ve read enough post on here that were several degrees beyond mine in bs. I got a message from an admin but you can’t pm without 10 either. I get the point, it’s that old hippy rebelliousness 👀

clubman 

To whom and how much do we have to pay to get a lock on this? It's become ___________ (insert pejorative words here)

Rollfast

Hit the Red button and ask...

Siu Blue Wind

This thread has outlived it's purpose. Too many complaints about it.

Thank you for participating.