Originally Posted by
IAmSam
If I read one of your earlier posts correctly - a copper-plated frame like you mentioned sounds very cool and I once actually gave a thought about doing that myself to a rawed SS/FG frame I had.
But...how many of your "local friends are excited to see my progress as I've been dreaming and talking about this build for the last 3 years" are real and/or knowledgeable vintage bike buffs? Did you ever ask in any Pug interwebz or FB groups?
I don't get french bikes myself, but a PX-10 is not just any run-of-the-mill old bike. For your dream build, did you really have to have a very sought-after bike that many others, especially vintage francophiles, would have given their left nut to have a shot at restoring, no matter where it was discovered and whatever its condition? And now there is one less of them...
OK, so sorry for letting my retro-grouch out on you, sorry to preach, and its too late now anyway...so good luck and enjoy
No problems with the "retro-grouch" perspective! I get the restoration vs custom arguement. And to be honest I figured I would be flammed a whole lot harder than I have. Despite most of our own ego-centric perspective, this isn't being built for YOU but it is for ME!
As for the decision to **** and pillage THIS PX10, I was looking for a few things:
"Soft" Reynolds 531 Steel frame for the ride comfort, vehicle dynamics, ultimate strength.
- Subsequent recipies of steel were less ductile or rather flexy as a steel frame.
- Also 531 is one of the best recipes of steel to resist hydrogen embrittlement from the electroplating process.
- One of my buddies suggested a custom frame but I wasn't willing to do that for the cost of getting a custom run of 531 lugged and brazed. Beyond my price range and this one was FREE.
Horizontal dropouts for the FG/SS build.
Repairable damage / Questionable paint
- So much so that I felt I MIGHT be risking a structurally unsound frame anyway, possibly needing tube replacement.
- if that was the case, the potential for anyone, noob, custom, or restoration expert still wouldn't have much interest in, makes the potential market size for someone willing to do a full restoration, VERY small.
- By that logic I really wasn't taking a potential bike off the market for full restoration and lastly, there are PX-10s out there to be bought at the right price (READ: the market isn't paying in testicles), it wasn't THAT rare of a bike.
-Had I bought a running version of a PX10 and dismantled it, THAT would have been bad form IMHO.
Up to this point I'm only able to salvage the brakes and MAYBE the headset. It feels a LITTLE sketch upon refurb and install. So in the end I spend $2k all in. Someone could have paid the same for a full restoration. Either way the bike lives on and the rider hopefully happy.
I get that riders that ride in the 70s, have a desire to "MAKE A PEUGEOT GREAT AGAIN!" but to my young ears thats one specific policy that's lacks practical substance...
Also, I miss my old 1995 Chromed Hoffman Big Daddy and 20" Hutch. I must have a racoon gene to be drawn to the shiney and needed something a bit faster!
Thought about the copper finish but that just didn't sound durable. The process I'm looking at should deposit 0.003"+ in copper, 0.003"+ Nickel, and a THIN final layer of chrome to give it that HYPER-BLUE chrome finish.
I like to think that if I was building bikes in the 1970's with today's technology, this is how I would have done it. And it's French, they did it their way. Why can't I?! In a round about way, I'm keeping with their tradition... LOL!
Hell, the original SIMPLEX seat post is toast with DEEP pitting. But, Just got the replacement in the mail today! Stay tuned...! :-D
ALL the best my friend! :-)
Michael