Sjtaylor

I posted about this bike a year or so ago. I think I called it Frankenbike. A year later and here is the situation. I have a gravel bike with Apex 1 with a 42-40 lowest gear, a couple of road bikes with triples but 28cm max tire clearance and a mountain bike but I don’t do much single track and my hands and wrists don’t like the flat bar. I live in hill country, ride different road surfaces and my challenge is to make it up climbs with the gravel bike and staying off gravel with my road bike. So, my retrofitted 1978 Peugeot PX 10 is getting all the riding miles.



The 25”, XL Peugeot frame came to me with a drilled out RD hanger hole and no B screw stop. I welded on a replacement hanger. Sliding the rear wheel all the way back in the dropouts gave me a 47+cm chainstay length and room for 38cm wide tires, turns out that seems perfect. Big tires hit the fork crown so a scrounged a replacement fork. I found a bottom bracket spindle that let me install a triple crankset. I still haven’t been able to remove the non drive side bearing cup. The photos show the story of the hacks and mismatched components.



I know it seems crazy but this bike is a joy to ride and it’s getting me back in shape after being away from cycling for almost 40 years.



Here are the issues that I’m considering addressing. There are no cable stop lugs on the down tube. I’d like barrel adjusters. There are no water bottle cage mounting lugs. The seat tube clamp needs help from a hose clamp. The brakes are mismatched and don’t stop very well. The quill stem adapter was sanded down to fit the French steer tube.



The question is does this frame warrant modifying? I could probably re gear my gravel bike but I’m really enjoying the lugged steel frame and long chainstay length.



I’d welcome your thoughts and ideas of how to improve the braking performance.



Thanks.

AlanO

Nope, I had one of those, you won’t find any parts that fit. Every tube is an obsolete size, every thread is some obscure size you can’t find. When the bottom bracket goes you’ll junk the bike.

I love steel bikes, I have a 2002 Lemond pro steel frame and it’s the most comfortable bike I’ve ever ridden. You can get one on eBay pretty cheap and even if something needs fixing you can buy the parts.

Kovkov

It‘s just french sizes/threads. There is tons of it on ebay. Whith proper maintenance the bb won’t go and then there’s also threadless cartridge bottom brackets.

bitpuddle

If you enjoy riding the bike, upgrading the things that annoy you is definitely worth it. If you are trying to increase resale value, definitely not worth it.

• You could clamp on bottle cages
• You could easily install inline barrel adjusters for the derailleurs
• There are nicer center pull calipers, but they aren’t cheap. These from Rene Hearse, for example, would look nice on your frame: https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...backing-plate/
• I’m not sure what you want to do with that stem, but it looks strangely short for the frame.

bitpuddle

...also, looking at that seatpost, are you sure it is the correct diameter? It looks like a 26.2 post in a 26.4 frame (or something like that).

JohnDThompson 

And new French thread bottom brackets and headsets are available from e.g. Velo-Orange, not to mention threadless cartridge bottom brackets that will also work.

70sSanO

What is your gravel bike?

John

Sjtaylor

The seat post is the right diameter and very long. The original seat post was chromed steel. This post is smooth aluminum greased to not weld itself to the steel seat tube. Not sure what the fix is here.

Sjtaylor

My gravel bike is a recent model Trek Checkpoint with a Sram Apex1 1x11 groupset. I bought the frame and groupset separately and mistakenly thought the 1x11 would work out. I’m still learning. I’ll either get fitter to use the higher geared groupset or invest in something different. I know Garbaruk makes a big cassette and a derailleur hack to take up more chain. I need to get to 20 gear inches.

Sjtaylor

I’m using friction bar end shifters now so the lack of barrel adjusters is not and issue. I still fumble with shifting the nine speed cassette from time to time.

Iride01 

Just maintain it.

Buy a new bike so you can adequately compare experiences. I sort of regret not buying a new bike for over 41 years. My new bike is so much more fun to ride despite the fact that I still think the skinny tubed bikes from the late 60's and 70's look so great.

Sjtaylor

I’ve kinda enjoyed learning about the French sizes on the frame. I rode a Lemond Buenos Aires. It takes only skinny tires and reach seems really long.

I put a short reach stem on the Peugeot to get some weight off my hands. My hand numbness is probably technique, fitness and overweight related but I think carpal tunnel is going too. I found that winged drop bars with the hoods angled in improves my hand numbness issue considerably. I double wrap where I frequently keep my hands. I know that cozy stem looks funny but I think it helps the hand numbness issue.