The bike has been sold.
This is a lovely bike that I put a lot of thought and effort into. My mistake was acquiring a 21 inch frame when I am most comfortable on a 23-24 inch frame. I am now trimming my collection of bikes that don’t fit me. I posted about this bike previously as the PX10 that I built up with 1st generation Dura Ace components. I now have a PRN10 frame in my size, so I am moving the Dura Ace parts to that since they are more suitable for the Randonneuring build I plan with that frame.
I tracked down the appropriate French bits for this bike to make it an accurate early 1970s era PX10. All of the Simplex parts on the drivetrain are either NOS or very lightly used parts that were cleaned and serviced before reinstalling. One cracked pulley wheel on the Simplex RD was replaced. The FD is new old stock and the Delrin is in excellent shape with little UV exposure. Every bearing on this bike has been cleaned and inspected. The crowns and races are smooth and in good shape. I rebuilt every bearing interface in the hubs, headset and bottom bracket with marine grease and fresh bearings.
Normandy Sport hubs and 27 inch Wolber alloy rims with reinforced eyelets. New Panaracer Pasela tires. Bike rides beautifully with these wheels. The freewheel is an Atom with a 14-25 range. The crank is a Stronglight 93 with a 52-42 chainring set. You can buy a 38 tooth chainring from Red clover components if you want a smaller lower chainring. The FD and RD would have no trouble with this 14 tooth differential because that was how I had it set up before I moved the 38 to my Stronglight 49d on the rando project.
The Atax stem is the original and I inspected it carefully to ensure there are no cracks. This is the old design with the plug that gets pulled up with a long bolt. One of the issues that led to some of them cracking was that the slot for expansion was very narrow with no relief cutout to distribute pressure. To prevent this issue, I cut a round hole with a Dremel. There is a photo in the Google album of the cutout modification. I rode the bike with the original stem with no issues, but I know others advise that these stems be replaced. I have some 22 mm French stems and I will include a nice one with a later style wedge expansion if you want to set aside and not use the Atax stem to save it for show purposes. I left it on because I trust it with the modification, and it is an important part of the look of the bike.
Mafac brakes were disassembled, polished, and installed with proper toe in and new rubber pads so they work great and are quiet. Mafac Levers are polished and in great shape. Mafac Half hoods are pretty good and will come with the bike. I obtained Rustines full hoods while in France and those are on it for everyday riding.
Chrome is excellent and the paint is about a 7 out of 10. Bike looks really good, even up close. You can find where touch ups have been applied, but they are not jarring. Seat and down tube decals are original and in good shape. The Reynolds tubing decals are historically accurate replacements from Velocals.
I am starting here because I would like the bike to make it’s way to someone who would enjoy and appreciate it. It is the 21 inch/54 cm frame which was the smallest size this bike was issued in. I am close to 5’10” and it is noticeably too small for me. I ran it with a long SR seatpost and made it work. Now that it has the original Simplex seatpost, there is not as much post length to get that much extension. I think the bike would be ideal for someone 5’4” to 5’7”.
$750 for the bike. Local pick up would be ideal but I can ship for the actual cost of shipping. CONUS only. I have a bike box and know how to pack it carefully. After packing, weighing and getting dimensions, I can obtain true cost of shipping at Pirate Ship to get best rate.
Here is a link to a Google album of the bike and some catalog information.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/EW1ey2ZU3YXKdQEo9
There is a restoration file in my profile for back when it was set up with the Dura Ace parts.
