stronglight

Auction for a very nice Peugeot 650-B wheeled Randonneur/city bike recently ended on eBay (a PX-50, I believe).


This bike dates from the 1960s (the seller had guessed 1970s). The inverted triangular shield of the head badge and seat tube decal indicates it probably dates from the last half of the 1960s. This was the period when the Peugeot racing team had adopted the white with black checkerboard uniforms and this example was painted much like the familiar PX-10 racing bikes - with black headlugs on a white enamel frameset.

Fans of Peugeot bikes will notice many familair features which were shared between quite a few mid-range Peugeot models for over 20 years. The head lugs are the same as on the ubiquitous UO-8 bikes. This model also had a steering tube lock - a rod which was inserted through the down tube port. These bikes (models made for 650B wheel size) were never imported directly to North America. The steel fenders mounted with head and tail lights powered by a rear wheel dynamo were continued for a few more years - at least as late as 1975. And the same very heavy racks (made of solid chrome plated steel rods) were also continued well into the 1970s. The cantilever brakes found on this model were discontinued after 1973.

The separate Simplex alloy chainguard was eventually replaced with simple steel chainguard rings mounted outboard on the crank arm. Notice the slight hump on this chainguard. This was present on some models so the front derailleur could pass across the double chainrings; on Peugeot's single front chainring model bikes this feature was absent from the chainguards.

What makes this bike especially attractiive to my eye is the little details such as the pin striping throughout the frame... and of course the excellent overall condition for a bike of this age. The final winning auction bid was $511, and an estimated $200 would be the shipping to the US. Seems like a fairly nice deal for someone who wanted an uncommon and very durable city bike - now over 50 years old! - and in what appears to be almost entirely original condition. Perhaps the upright Tourist-style bars may have a later substitution, possibly a replacement for a drop handlebar and Mafac guidonnet brake levers,... but, those are Mafac Ville levers, so even the handlebar may have been an alternate option for this bike originally.

You can check out the fascinating photos while they are still archived on eBay here: https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...NA%3AUS%3A1123

A neat bit of French cycling history. These bikes were once sold by the tens of thousands in France. But, even over there, they are now becoming increasingly scarce. And this is an uncommonly well preserved example.

surreal

A very nice bike, with some interesting details. Did you bid on it, Stronglight?

-rob

prettyshady

I took a small px50 from france to england to sell, and it didn't fetch much money. Worth more if I parted it out, but the buyer was happy and used it for randonneuring.It had the original bars, lever and saddle. Oh, and the original tyres.... (link to photos)

stronglight

No. Didn't bid on this bike. Figured the shipping cost to the US, and the looooooong wait for it to pass through customs (while the searched for explosives or whatever else these days) would not have made sense. Looks like someone else did indeed appreciate it... $500+ is quite a lot for a non-racing model Peugeot bike.

rcschafer

Saw that one, very nice! Too pricey and too small but someone's going to have a great time riding that (I hope.)

Thanks for the writeup.

nlerner

I was also watching that one, Bob, as it is a close cousin of my 1959 PHX-50 project, including the fork lock. The bidding must have jumped up at the last minute (as usual) as it was top bid was only a couple of dollars fairly late in the game.

Neal

Grand Bois

Nobody in the US wanted bikes like that when they were new and now some of us are willing to pay five times the original price for a nice example. I wonder why it took 40 years for us to come to appreciate practical bikes?

cb400bill

In the US, most bikes at that time were for kids. It wasn't till the Bike Boom that many here wanted a bike.

southpawboston

I wonder how long it will take the French to come back around, since it's very doubtful the high bidder was French. Most of the bikes (even cool 650B bikes) that are listed on ebay.fr and not made available to overseas bidders don't get any bids. The seller of that Peugeot was smart to list it internationally. It may not have gotten $100 within France.

Grand Bois

That wasn't the case in Southern California. Everybody had a ten speed. I got my first one in 1960. We all wanted bikes that looked like racing bikes.

noglider 

Yes, it seems he was particularly catering to Americans and Asians. Smart of him.

I don't know why now is the time for people to wake up to the practicality of bikes. The bike boom of the 70's was about racing style. Note that we saw a lot of sport coupes on the road in the 70's and 80's, like the Datsun 240Z and its descendants. Half the people were driving cars styled like race cars or sports cars. My first car was a Datsun 200SX, and it was tiny.

Today's bike boom, and I do believe we are in one, is more practically oriented. The MTB fad has faded, and there is a lot of variety in the bike styles, so I can't claim the city bike is king, but I see more city bikes now than I saw in the bike boom. And look how we C&V'ers like to add fenders to our various-style bikes.

bikenut2011

Love the expression on the dog's face!! Haha Like he's losing his best friend...

andy

dck

Yes indeed, well preserved. Nonetheless, about 10 years to young for me.

David Newton

Because I'm tired of riding my sting-ray.