zukahn1 

Pump up the tires ad just needed stuff likely nothing put a none suspension regular post on and basic seat the bike and you have a decent bike..

SeanBikes

Hm... The head tube just looks massive imo.

SeanBikes

Finally got around to fixing this up!

(Sorry for low-quality night-time pics.)



Took it out for a test ride tonight and it rides like a dream. Now just to trim trim the cables and send it off to its new home. Can't wait for the next one!

Murray Missile 

Possibly, but I've never suffered from head tube envy.

hazetguy 

gotta love it when i'm checking out at the bike thrift store, and the guy says 'hold on, i got something you might be interested in, they just came in, they're fresh', goes to the workbench, then hands me these, and tells me a price which makes me grin from ear to ear (behind my mask, of course).

Moisture

Saved from the dump. Has since been fully restored (save for the brake calipers and frame)

'02 nrs

after a full bearing r&r this Sears free spirit6 rides better than any Schwinn cruiser I have ridden.straight & smooooth.how about that string paint to boot

HMJ

I picked up these two for free recently - most likely destined for the dump.

First is a late 70's French Liberia. The wheels and crankset are pretty roached but the frame is decent shape and kind of cool. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) it is in my size neighborhood so it will go into the long term queue for rehabilitation.



The other is this late 70's (?) Kent Diplomat - the Mrs. to the above Mr. apparently. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Given the lower end brand, small size and general lack of interest in ladies' road bikes of this era it probably is not worth rebuilding. I'll likely end up trying to salvage some parts from it.

rustystrings61 

Liberia Grand Deluxe variant comparable to mine - if you trawl through this thread you'll find a wealth of links and sites about these. Not many Liberias made it to the U.S., and the bulk of the ones that did, like yours and mine, came over during the peak of the Great Bike Boom when distributors were finding every regional maker they could find to supply product. I suspect the rear wheel on yours is a replacement. The front looks like it might be the original R.F.G. front laced to a rusted-out Saminox steel rim. It's worth rehabbing, as it's on the thinner and lighter end of gaspipe. Mine takes a 25.8 mm seatpost in metric tubing, so a whisker over 1 mm thick tube walls. Not too bad.

Do rehab it - they are at the upper end of the spectrum that says, "The French have a way with gaspipe." Nicer than a Peugeot U-08 or comparable, ride wise.

oldroads

1956 Humber Sports.
Bifurcated forks.
Nice winter project.
The year I was born.

HMJ

Thanks much for the comments and for the thread link! I actually did stumble upon your thread and followed some of the links within when I picked this bike up because admittedly I knew nothing about the Liberia brand so I appreciate your findings. With your feedback I am now looking forward even more to getting it road worthy again. When the time comes I just have to remember to meditate some before I attack the rusty cottered cranks

hazetguy 

Found a few random goodies at the bike thrift store today.
Set of Gipiemme Sprint Italian threaded bottom bracket cups, a Campagnolo English bottom bracket cup. These will go in my spare parts box.
Also got a Rasta pattern Rock Ring. I was really bummed when I got home and found that the bdc for the rock ring won't work with the crankset I wanted to use it on. Oh well, it'll make a cool wall hanger for now.

jona5hon

I just picked up a Bridgestone Radac frameset that was going to the tip

Mr. 66

Here is the Benotto that I had for a short while. I thought about resto but I came to my senses and sold off to one that did. Here is the before and afters.

J.Higgins 

gorgeous!

bikerosity57

whatever you do, don’t strip and repaint it! It’ll clean up beautifully. Isn’t that a Reg Harris decal?

gaucho777 

Well, I literally just saved this one from the dump. I was driving to the post office a couple of hours ago to do some last-minute holiday shipping, and spotted this in a curbside trash pile a couple of blocks from my house. Funny how a 531 sticker jumps out from your peripheral vision. Figuring it's late-70s and a step or two below a PX10. Anyone have advice for pegging down the exact year/model? @verktyg ? Maybe '76 PR10?







Who throws something like this in the trash?! (Answer: Wives and landlords )

rustystrings61 

PR-10, 1975-78 or so, and odds are there will be a date code on the rear derailleur or somewhere else. NICE save!

verktyg 

Good eye! Usually find these kinds of gems at the end of the school year at UCB (and colleges around the country). Also at the end of the calendar year like now.

As many students graduate and leave town for parts unknown they abandon the steel steed they used while attending school. In their dreams, a BMW awaits them.

This year with all of the COVID-19 restrictions, many apartments sat empty. Now is the time when landlords and property managers are cleaning them out with hopes of future rentals in the coming year so there are probably a lot more bikes suffering the same fate.

It must have just been put out on the curb and/or located some distance from the homeless encampments around town. Otherwise it probably would have been grabbed and stashed under one of the I80 overpasses.

Now to the bike: It's a 1975-77 56cm Peugeot PR-10L with the 3 main tubes made of butted Reynolds 531. The forks and stays are made of the standard Peugeot seamed tubing. While 56cm (22") isn't listed US catalogs from that period PR-10 bikes were produced in 52cm to 64cm.

The Simplex Criterium rear derailleur has been replaced with a rare direct mount long arm Simplex Maxi-Prestige with a 13-30T sprocket capacity. The standard but rare Simplex Maxi-Prestige RDs had a non-interchangeable "claw" attachment.





The shift levers were changed to ratcheting stem mounted Suntour Power levers.

THE STEM IS WAY TOO HIGH! Check the quill and top of the steerer for any sign of cracking!!!

The Suicide Brake Extentions may have been an aftermarket addition to the MAFAC levers. MAFAC had their own version which were much safer.

With a little cleanup, should be a nice riding bike. That oversize front tire looks like it will have a lot of pedal overlap.

The saddle is an Ideale 80 "bacalao" dried codfish model:



They are either hard as plywood or have a sag that will make a proctologist cringe!

Solution, soak in water for a week, throw away the saddle and drink the juice!



Lastly... The Horror, the Horror... everything will have GAWD!!! metric threads except maybe the FW which could be inch that was forced onto a metric Normandy Luxe Competition hub. Hopefully the cones in those hubs are in good shape. They became unobtainium in the mid 70's.

verktyg from down the road

gaucho777 

@verktyg
Chas.,

Thanks so much for your detailed and helpful reply. Much appreciated!

I'm experienced in the arcane arts of French threading and metric tubing, equipped with a proper Stronglight crank puller to boot!

Interesting note about the Maxi-Prestige RD. I did notice and was surprised by the large FW range. Glad to have that 30t capacity in these parts.

You're right about the saddle. It looks worse in person. I've managed to bring some life back to other Ideale saddles, so we'll see if I can salvage this one.

I pulled the stem and saw no signs of cracking. Good thing, because it's a neat stem with a cool window revealing an AVA logo on the bars.



Thanks again.

-Cheers, Randy

verktyg 

Randy,

For some odd reason, Peugeot provided 52-45T chainrings on their performance models. The 7T difference doesn't provide 1/2 Step Gearing.

I have some 42T Stronglight chainrings. PM me if interested.

A 42T with what looks like a 14-34T FW will give you mo betta gears for the EB hills.

You can get smaller than 42T 122mm BCD inner chainrings for Stronglight cranks but they get "spendy". 40T - 38T -37T

verktyg

Barchettaman

I don’t want to be That Guy, but does the front wheel look a little close do the downtube on that blue Peugeot?

Or is it just the size of the tyre/ camera angle?

maybe just worth checking the front fork.

jaknudsen

I was going to ask the same thing.

shadoman

I think it's because the wheel is turned away from the camera, and the angle of the shot is slightly downwards.
Having more time on my hands than good sense, I opened the pic in photoshop and it' looks pretty darn straight there.

verktyg 

gaucho777

Looks like a 700 x 35c front tire. The standard tires for US model PR-10L bikes during those years were 27" x 1 1/4".

The is a little "wheel flop" that gives the appearance that the fork is bent back. Looks OK to me....

verktyg