Andy Antipas 

Happy Autumn everybody. I have been in a French mood the last couple of months. After many years of neglect, I started riding my circa 1986 PX-10 and Vitus Carbone-7 and have been enjoying both of them, which got me surfing eBay, which was a mistake. Unfortunately, while surfing eBay, I came upon a Peugeot PY-10FC frameset missing most of its decals but for the "Fibre de Carbon" decal on the left side of the top tube. I also noticed the additional 1cm collars Peugeot added to the frame to accommodate the larger diameter carbon tubes they used when compared to the Vitus marketed version of the frame. Of course it was my size and I bought it. All kidding aside, this was a bike I lusted after when I was racing back during the last ice age in the 1980s, and i have been looking for one on and off for 30+ years.

The frame arrived at my door and was in excellent shape and appears not to have a lot of miles on it. I pulled the last few Spidel components out of my stash, and shuffled some components between the PX-10 and the Carbone-9. I was able to keep all three bikes French builds, but was aiming to build the PY-10FC as close as I practically could to the Peugeot Team bikes. I had to buy a Stronglight A9 headset and 25mm Simplex seat post, and bing-bang-boom here it is. I have some other parts I will eventually install like Weinmann brake lever hoods, but it is "fini" for now.

We are expecting our first major winter storm starting Saturday night in Western Colorado, and so after work this afternoon I got changed and squeezed in a 20 mile ride to shake the bike down. I need more time on it, but overall it is nice. I'm lucky to have a lot of nice bikes and I have learned there are many ways to build a nice bike out of steel, aluminum, titanium, or plastic! The tubular wheels are Fiamme Ergal rims with Kenda branded Veloflex 25mm tubular tires. Stronglight and Simplex Super LJ drivetrain; Weinmann Carrera brakes, Cinelli 1R stem and Giro Handlebars, Simplex seat post with Turbo SLG saddle. Weight as shown is 18.5 pounds. I need to give a shout-out to Chombi1 serving as my consultant over the course of the last couple of weeks. It was helpful to get his feedback as the bike came together. @Chombi and I also have some overlap in our collection between Peugeot, Vitus, and Gitane bicycles.... Great minds as they say! Ok time for some pics.

DiabloScott

chacun à son goût
I remember when $1800 was about 30% more than Super Record Italian steel.

pastorbobnlnh 

What a beauty! White leather hoods would look magnifique* on those brake levers!

*DISCLAIMER: They'd be a real PITA to keep clean.

Andy Antipas 

Robert Miller and Ronan Pensec and their PY-10FC

El Chaba

Nice work. It looks like it is in great condition. Re that photo of Pensec…I think that is the last year for the Peugeot team as they became Z/Peugeot the next year….It’s a great photo showing the Stronglight Delta headset, the Adidas death pedals, and I *think” the next generation of Maillard 700 hubs. When I look at a bike like that, it just emphasizes how boring the bikes of modern professional racing are…

Andy Antipas 

What is also interesting about the Pensec photo is the first generation Dia-Compe aero brake levers. I have also seen a photo of Sean Yates on a PY-10FC and he is using the same levers. Also, in the Robert Miller photo, it looks like he is using Mafac LS2 brakes with Weinmann brake levers? Racing bike archaeology.....

El Chaba

Yes, the lever situation then was a funny one. That was right at the time when Mafac was going under. They introduced the LSX brake set with a set of very nice levers to go with it. Photos of those levers on team bikes are very rare. Pretty soon, all of the bikes seemed to have either older Mafac (drilled) levers or the Weinmann Carrera levers. I don’t know if it was because of crash damage ( pro bikes go through brake levers almost like tires or chains) or if the shape was preferred by the riders. The Weinmann Carrera shape is very close to Campagnolo ( the hoods are perfectly interchangeable). As Mafac disappeared, there must have been an informal agreement with Weinmann, and then Weinmann was brought in as the brake supplier. Starting in 1985, the “ Dia Compe” levers started to appear on the team bikes to take advantage of the new trend of aero cable routing. There had been a long association between Weinmann and Dia Compe with Dia Compe licensing designs from Weinmann. The same was true for the Weinmann Carrera 400 which Dia Compe made as the Gran Compe( with some slightly different hardware). You see those aero levers being used in photos of the LaRedoute team riders at that time period as well.

Andy Antipas 

Interesting how the French component industry went through its fits and starts. I have a pair of those Mafac brake levers along with LS2 calipers on my c1986 PX-10. They are nice. The hoods I'm currently using on them are Shimano, and they are a B- fit. I think conventional square shaped Mafac hoods would fit perfectly. I have a pair I think will work, and will change them when it is time for new bar tape. On the Weinmann Carrera levers on the PY-10FC I have generic Campy replacement hoods. I recently picked up a pair of Weinmann gum rubber hoods that (again) I will change out when it is time for new bar tape. I would say the generic campy hoods are a B+ fit. Both the Mafac and Weinmann levers are comfortable for me, and I would say the braking performance between the two brands is comparable. There are a lot variables when it comes to brake performance between type of rim, brake pad material, cables, and the amount of mechanical advantage the lever has. I have several bikes with the first generation of Dia-Compe levers and I believe they have better mechanical advantage vs. the conventional non-aero originals of the time.



Mafac levers and LS2 calipers

Weinmann Carrera levers and calipers

Rkopec

Great work Andy. Looks beautiful. Its interesting how the "seat tube" lion faces forward on the 1987 models (mine is a PSN), however, in 1986 and 85, it faces backwards on the drive side. I wonder why they made that change?

Andy Antipas 

I have been wondering about that too. I have seen photos with the lions facing backwards and forwards on the web, but I haven't been able to connect a year to that. You may well be right. The Lion on the head tube faces to the left, but I don't know if that had any bearing when they installed the decals?

Part of me wonders if it was frames were finished before or after lunch? Or, maybe Jock did it one way and Pierre another?

Thank you for the kind words.

1simplexnut

Nice machines !!!

FWIW Both my 84 PX10 have the lion facing backwards

Chombi1 

The lion on mine faces forward on both sides.....
As far as I could tell the decals are all original.
I built up mine with mostly Stronglight Delta components including hubs, but not the seatpost (Simplex SLJ) and brakeset (Weinmann Carrera 400).
Great work Andy! Tell us how it rides!

Soody

Are you supposed to cut these out yourself?

Andy Antipas 

Thanks Chombi - So far, I only have 20 miles on it. The weather worked against me this weekend. Hopefully, I will put some more miles on it next weekend, but Friday's shakedown ride was positive. I'm looking forward to comparing it to the Vitus Carbone-7 and the PX-10.

Andy Antipas 

LOL - I guess one could cut it out! On Stronglight 107 chainrings, I believe it is just a styling feature!

Chombi1 

Stronglight did not cut those open for the "aero" effect......
If you might have noticed too that the edges on the rings are all rounded off, unlike the rings on the 106 that are square in profile

1simplexnut

My PY10FC has the lions facing back . Same as my Px10s
The decal is one piece so would need to be cut to change orientation of the lions.
Presume it is original but I guess anything could have happened since the 80s .

All good fun !

Lascauxcaveman 

Ok, from what I've seen of your collection, that's a bit of an understatement

Andy Antipas 

Here is a link to an informative blog or those interested in learning more about PY-10FC: https://on-the-drops.blogspot.com/20...eugeot-py.html

Chombi1 

Andy, How many speed FW did you install in your PY10FC?
Just wondering if you tried to put in a 7 speed FW. I did, and the smallest 13 cog did not fit under the drive side seatstay, because of the way the seat stays curved inwards from the seat lug.

Andy Antipas 

Hey Chombi, I haven't tried a 7 speed FW on the FC. I have a nice Sachs 7 speed I can try. I remember you mentioning there isn't the clearance. The wheels I'm using have Maillard 700 hubs, and I'm not sure they are spaced appropriately for 7 speed freewheels. Most of my classic bikes use 6 speed freewheels, but I have a set of campy record hubs on my Colnago Mexico that is spaced appropriately for 7 speed and I will see if it fits.

Chombi1 

I think it was a Sachs/Maillard 7 speed freewheel that I tried to install on my bike and it did not fit.
Almost all my C&V bikes hVe 126mm OLD spacing and so far it was only the PV10FC where it did not fit.
The PY10FCs did come standard with 6 speed FWs, but I suspect the factory team might have opted for 7 speeds, somehow.

Andy Antipas 

Most of my bikes have Campy record hubs, and it is my understanding that there is a spacer on the non-drive side that needs to be installed on the drive side if one wants to use 7 speed freewheels? Moving the spacer on built wheels would require relishing the wheel, and I’m usually to lazy to do that especially on used wheels. I don’t know what other hub manufacturers did, and though I have repacked numerous maillard hubs, I haven’t measured the spacing on the drive side and compared it to Campy hubs. After writing all of that, the design of the rear dropout maybe the limiting factor, but I would think guys like Sean Kelly would want that extra cog when riding their Vitus 979s? More research!

Andy Antipas 

Chombi, I took the rear wheel off my '84 Colnago Mexico with an IRD 7-speed freewheel, and there was no interference with the dropout. I was able to shift through all 7 gears when installed on the PY-10FC frame. I took photos with the 7-speed and 6-speed wheels in place. I think there is enough room on the Maillard 700 hub for me to try a 7 speed. Stay tuned!



6-speed shimano freewheel. I think there is enough room to try a 7-speed FW on the Maillard hub?

7-speed IRD freewheel

pastorbobnlnh 

FWIIW, and my two cents, a Maillard hub must run a Sachs-Maillard or Sachs-Aris 7-speed freewheel--- just for the sake of purity!

I know a guy who can set you up with one.