ExPatTyke

I bought a 1970-something Peugeot (AE8, AO8, UO8??) a while back - less than £50 and 5 miles away, so I couldn't say no.

It was a complete bike, frame in ok condition, but tyres completely perished and chain and freewheel covered in rust but no other problems I could see when I collected it. The seller told me it'd been sat in the garage when he bought the house several years ago.

Anyhow, I had some spare time to work on it this week. Chain off and soaked, freewheel wire brushed, brakes off and stripped down and reassembled, new tyres and tubes, cables and outers replaced, saddle and pedals replaced, wheels cleaned of rust, chrome parts scrubbed as clean as possible. Not a full strip down, but it looked okay and everything seemed to be in working order.

I had some get some shopping for mother, who lives half a mile up the road from us yesterday afternoon, so it seemed a good idea to run round on the Peugeot to try it out.

It rode in a straight line ok, gears shifted nicely, and it stopped very well for a combination of steel rims and Mafac brakes, but something wasn't right while pedalling. No odd noises, grating, or anything noticeable just a very odd feeling.

I had a quick look when I got home, couldn't see anything untoward, so I did the usual and left it in the garden and had a beer.

A cycling friend called round later for a drink, took one look at the Peugeot and immediately saw what I'd missed. Anyone else spot it on the photo?




Yep, the cranks are way out of line. My wife may be right, sometimes I don't look properly. And I suspect that's why the bike ended up sat unused for years in a garage.

I've now got to decide whether to attempt removing cotter pins that might have been in there for 40 years or take it to the LBS. With something of a hangover this morning, leaving it alone and taking it to the LBS in the week is very much the favourite option.

Kovkov

Guess one of the cotter pins is installed the wrong way around or the angles of the flats don‘t match. Both issues are very easy to fix.

John E

With the wingnuts and painted fork, that is a 5-speed AO-8, not UO-8, European variant. Reverse one of your cotters as suggested, unless your left crank has cracked at the pedal eye, and that is the culprit. (Been there ... done that, while crossing a major street in west Los Angeles.) These are great frames, far better than their lowly status, materials, and price would indicate. My 1970 UO-8 is my go-to bike for remarkably enjoyable general transportation. Your decals look like mid-1970s, and your paint is in far better condition than mine.

Road Fan

Good eyes, I didn't see that!

Bad Lag

You also have a chain that is massively too short. As an off the cuff guess, I'd say you need to add about 6 inches of additional chain.

Kovkov

The derailleur body position looks funny indeed. What intrigues me is that the cage seems to be pretty vertical. But my familliarity
with the simplex prestige ends with removing two of them and replacing them with shimano 600 and suntour vgt