DRietz

Hey guys. I am soon to acquire a Peugeot steel frame from a recent co worker. He says that it's a 1970's-80's vintage.

It's just the frame, really. So what I'm looking to do is build it up into a nice fixed gear bike and sell it to some hipster, but I'm looking for the cheap side.

What do I need to make this into a fixed gear? There are the obvious wheels, and drivetrain. I'm unsure if it has an accompanying fork, but there's that along with everything else. Essentially, I want to build it up and make at least a little bit of profit or recuperate my investment costs.

Advice?

shubonker

You would probably need to replace everything but the frame and fork if you're going to sell it to a hipster.

Scrotze

define hipster?

mondaycurse

Well you might need a french bottom bracket which will be hard to get at a decent price. If you need the BB, you probably won't get your money's worth unless you live in some market full of hipsters that don't know anything about bikes.

ADSR

Someone who thinks about and points out hipsters, hangs out with hipsters, complains about hipsters and does various hipster things, but will claim to not be one.

DRietz

It is just the frame and fork. That's all. So I'm wondering what parts would be good on the cheap?

One of the local fad type kids. Fixed gear "tricks" are taking over the bay area. So, I'd look into selling it to a kid who wanted to get in on the hype.

DRietz

This was my main concern. Are French BBs really that expensive? Maybe my employer has some valentino BB in the parts boxes...

Noobert

Screw trying to rip off hipsters with ghetto rigged fixies.

Be an honest man.

Your first post is a bit playyed out

Scrotze

Poor kid. In spite of that I appreciate that you care to build a bike that works as opposed to building a death trap with a mish-mash of random parts.

shubonker

I think phil wood makes a french bb. As for the other parts, i would check ebay for lightly used. And checkout wheel and sprocket https://stores.shop.ebay.com/wheelandsprocket , they have some decent priced origin8 stuff.

DRietz

Pardon me? I am an honest man. I'll tell them exactly what's on it. Will they care? No. Will the bike be "ghetto rigged?" Most definitely not. Will I be doing anything more detrimental than a shop getting commission on a bike they sell? Absolutely not. Thanks for the awesome post. Care to elaborate a little more?

What does this mean? And thank you. I just don't know what else to do with a free vintage frame. Definitely not sell it by itself.

Scrotze

oops ignore that. I just re-read it and there are two opposing ideas there. I started with the idea that you were going to put it together as a "death trap", then realized you weren't (the whole french BB thing) so ignore that. and sorry for having no useful input whatsoever.

well I will +1 the phil wood bbs, i do think they make french cups. Buuut you are trying to make a profit so I don't know what good purchasing PW would do.

EDIT: Yes they do have french cups.

DRietz

Purchasing PW used would make for a solid rider, no?

Also, how do I know what size BB Peugeots have? Do they share a size, or vary by model? That would be flippin' annoying.

Scrotze

Don't know. Can't say. Won't assume. Now apologize.

You mean solider ride? Or solid rider?

DRietz

Solider ride, I suppose. Forgive my incoherence. I'm up late studying for a physics mid term while at the same time keeping my eyes on this thread, give me a break.

Scrotze

Still don't know. Didn't realize. Apologizing now.
You should really study though.

Sixty Fiver

Converting a Peugeot is not a simple affair...

Velo Orange offers a french threaded cartridge bb for about 45.00.

You will need wheels, a crank, a french stem, bars, tape, and hopefully, brakes.

You will probably lose money on the flip.

DRietz

Does the stem need to be French threaded or just to French specs? Because I found some on eBay.

Sixty Fiver

If it is an old French bike the stem is smaller... standard stems will not fit unless they are sanded down ever so slightly.

clasher

If the frame has the BB cups and they aren't pitted, just use those and switch out to a cotterless crank of the right length to get the chainline perfect. I did with my motobecane conversion 'cos it's swiss threaded and replacements are expensive. I'm not sure that sealed cartridge BBs are that much better, especially in this case.

My mobi was also 120mm spaced at the back, so that made it even easier to pop a track wheelset on this bike.

You could probably source some decent parts from a bike co-op, I know ours has piles of bike boom puegot parts.

You could save a couple bucks by not putting a front brake on it either.

DRietz

I'll have to see about some local co-ops. The frame is just the frame. It has absolutely nothing component wise, but that BB on veloorange is only $48, so I'll look into it

Right, then. I found a bunch on eBay that say they're French 22. I assume that means that they're 22mm OD?

Noobert

Im sorry man, I didn't mean it like to be an *******.

Its just that I live in detroit, and theres this dude on craigslist who makes 'death traps' and sells them on craigslist. Suicide hubs, flipped chopped bars etc. So I was just thinking about that guy, and how uncool he is.

From the photos of his bikes, I can tell hes good at dishing/and spacing but I don't get why he puts a track cog on them and charges 300 bucks for a 80's schwinn.


But with that aside. Im sure its completely possible for it to be a legit bike at a fair price.


Keep on rockin'

DRietz

Hey, it's all good. I understand. People like that are around here too, but my point is that the hipsters don't care. If it's fixed gear, they'll pay whatever for it, which is why I'm looking for budget components.

I do have an employee discount on all SOMA and Mary Sails (Sales?) products. I'll have to ask my boss about this...

Scrotze

I saw on another thread you're still trying to solve your French BB dilemma. Using the info from that thread (IRO bb if you don't remember) you can use PWs french cups on the IRO BB, thing is the cups cost more than the BB ($47 to IRO's $30) so I guess this is no option. nvm, I tried. Here's my reference:
from THIS thread back in 2005.

minneapolis.sam

...just a friendly tip I realized on my own.

I, too, am building an old Peugeot into a single-speed, and all I have is the frame.

Luckily, mine comes with a BB (which apparently works).... however, it is NOT French; it has a British thread. my bike is an '82, so I'm sure that makes a huge difference. I was told that pre-80s predominately had French threads...

Advice: take it to your LBS and verify the threads... from my understanding, it could be French, Swiss, or British... all different!

Best luck!