randyjawa 

You are about to embark on a real learning exercise. For example, you say - "Yea rust removal won't be hard I'm sure I can dis and reassemble it. Whether riding or selling - clean stuff is worth much more."

Apply that theory to the spoke/nipple connection. With rims that badly oxidized, chances are very good that the spokes and nipples will be all but impossible to remove without damaging the nipples. Truing a wheel is not just an exercise in mechanical ability, it is a bit of an art. It takes a basic understanding of how to true and dish and stress a wheel. With that learned, it takes practice to actually do it. However, with patience, anyone can build wheels. But those rims are close to toast, in my mind, hence my suggestion for a junk bike build. And, once the steel rim wheels are built, don't expect them to stop well in wet conditions. My point is...

You will learn a lot with that seventies something Peugeot Mixte and what you learn can be applied to your next bike and the next one after that, in case a case of N+1 sets in. You might also learn that if you are five foot eight, or taller, that the bike does not fit you properly.

Anyway, best of luck with the experiment. Please keep us posted with your progress and do not hesitate to seek help here. The Bike Forums is a great place to share your vintage bicycle interest.

In closing, be prepared to spend $$$. I got this bike for free, did all of my own work, and presently have close to or over $400.00 CND invested in it. Can I sell it for that much? Probably but only by exercising patience. Was the investment of cash, time, blood, sweat and tears worth it? You bet it was...

As found...


Lots of cash, time, blood, sweat and tears later...

markk900

I may be in the minority here but I would love to have the OP's bike - a mixte Peugeot of around 1969-71 vintage that appears to be unmolested (even if it appears to be unmaintained).

Paint looks great (well as good as it ever did) and decals are all intact, so no major frame cosmetic issues. Lots of dirt is all. The rims are looking like the most challenging; easy enough to build up new ones though the chrome on those rims might have held up well - try the cheap OA/Aluminum foil tricks to see what is there after you remove the visual distraction of the rust.

Also, I hear the "problem with french parts" discussion all the time - on a bike boom era bike I believe the only "parts issue" you might have is bottom bracket cups. I have a couple of francophone bikes from that era and have not yet run into any kind of issue with "French only" parts....I reused the BB cups to go cotterless at one point on my Pug and had no issues (since reverted to cottered).

I think a lot could be done with liberal application of elbow (and real) grease. If the objective is to flip you might get away with a lot of labour, some brake pads and tires and tubes.....

randyjawa 

"Also, I hear the "problem with french parts" discussion all the time - on a bike boom era bike I believe the only "parts issue" you might have is bottom bracket cups." Really, lots of these Simplex front derailleurs have arrived at my door step looking just like this...

CliffordK

Hmmm...

It might be a fun bike to restore... and you don't have to worry about "breaking anything".

Option 1: Sell it on Craigslist/Facebook for somewhere between FREE and $25.

Option 2: Restore it. Spend $150 on parts and supplies. Plus your time. Plus the $25 "value", and you'll end up with a fully restored $100 bicycle!!!

markk900

Oh I get that part Randy - sorry I meant much more that people seem to imply that somehow french stuff is harder to work on, harder to get parts for, etc. That to me is not true, but then again I replaced my simplex front derailleur in 1975 with a suntour and its still going strong Which actually makes my point - the basic bikes are fine and you can upgrade them almost infinitely - when I started doing upgrades to my Pug 40 years ago I had no idea about things like seat post diameter etc....I always found something to make it all work.

Wileyone 

Put the old girl to rest. She's led an interesting life. Cremation or burial may be your best bet.

randyjawa 

I hear you and fully understand. Sometimes, we at Bike Forums, tend to under sell the problems with fixing up old bikes. I have built a few, over the years, and not one of them has actually been restored. Not one. Restoration is very costly but just getting a bike on the road need not break the bank. That said...

I, too, am a fan of French bikes. When compared to any other country, they are more than competitive in the looks and performance departments. There are, however, issues that would prove troublesome to just about anyone getting into vintage bicycle building for the first time. Heck, I still tend to ask myself if it is worth it and the answer, always, is yes...

capnjonny 

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned yet.
Make sure you catalogue and bag every part that comes of the bike if you restore it. A box of plastic zip lock bags is cheap and taking the time to carefully photograph every part as you take it off the bike and place it in a bag with a slip of paper i.d.ing it will likely save you untold grief later.

There are specialty parts on your bike that you might easily loose that if you do will make reassembly impossible. They are sometimes virtually irreplaceable.
Be especially careful as you do the disassembly not to drop anything on the floor. I am still looking for a wrench I dropped years ago that disappeared into a parallel universe.
I suggest getting an old white sheet and spreading it out under the bike stand as you do the tear down . Hopefully, when you inevitably do drop that tinny Ferrell that you will need later to assemble the brake cables it will fall on the sheet which will keep it from bouncing 6 feet away under a scrap of cardboard on the floor never to be seen for months or years. Seriously, Do this.

Those of us who restore bikes frequently have boxes and bins full of misc. bits and pieces acquired over the years that we fill with random parts we sweep up off the floor so that when something gets lost or the Gremlins hide it from us we can rummage around and find a replacement.

SurferRosa

.
From the perspective of someone who has never restored a bike and never intends to restore a bike but has refurbished and flipped dozens...

- Is anything stuck? Check stem and seatpost first, then the cotter pins.

- Are the rims steel and can I refurbish those? What's the braking going to feel and sound like with those rims?

- Find out how much it's going to cost me to refurbish those brake calipers. If I have to buy kool-stops for Mafac, what's the cost?

- Can I overhaul those pedals? Is anything broken inside?

- Check the bb and hubs for anything that looks wack.

Oh, and "refurbish" means fully overhaul everything (even pedals), polish everything, and add new consumables everywhere ... or, in the least, where necessary.

I agree with the other poster that the paint looks really, really good. So, there's a great starting point here.

Murray Missile 

I've saved far worse. I suspect it's only real issue is the surface rust on the chrome. A few hours with some tasty tunes, your favorite beverages, some elbow grease, rags and polish and that little jewel could shine again.

sunburst

Just sold this last week for $295. Had 2 buyers willing to drive some distance for it, and the one that missed out was very disappointed. I mainly do mixtes because I love them, and the bonus is that they are easy to sell because buyers love them. This same model was my first restoration and I've restored and sold a dozen+ by now, ranging $150-$340 based on condition and the amount of work and $$ I put into them. Don't be put off by the French idiosyncrasies. It's rare you can't reuse the various French-threaded parts: BB cups, headset, pedals. One thing to look out for is the French stem. It has a 22.0mm diameter (into the headtube) and 25.0mm diameter bar clamp. Both are problematic if you try to use a 25.4mm bar with the French stem, or try to put a standard stem into the French headtube (in that case you can file it down to 22.0).

sunburst

haha, I bought that bike!!! I saw it at a bikex sale and took a picture to show my nephew in LA. Partly because he is tall(!) and partly because he had expressed a desire to restore the AO-8 I started him out on. Subsequently, he really got into bikes and built a few Surly's, but also thought he might want to restore his Peugeot with vintage parts someday. So I send him the pic and he replies "purple is my favorite color!" So I called up bikex and bought it post-sale. I kept saying (to whomever, can't remember, but one of the founders I believe) I couldn't believe the quality of the restoration. And the bikex guy was quite casual about it like, no big deal, this is what we do. But I gotta say, after restoring so many vintage bikes, especially French, that this beauty was special, and restored with great attention to detail. My nephew was thrilled when he drove up from LA for pickup.

Here I am, at bikex's former Leghorn location, with receipt in hand.

Kovkov

If i‘d like to ride it i restore. If not i don‘t buy it in the first place.

Phil_gretz

Unlovedwarrior ,
From your posts, I'm guessing that you don't have the tools or experience to take this on. But here's what I'd do with the subject bike. Overall strategy: part out the things of value, discard the rest.

Things of value:
1) frame/seatpost binder bolt/headset/fork - after disassembling everything and removing [them] from the frame, these items will have the most value. Clean up the binder bolt and headset components/bearings as best you can with a light penetrant and brass wire wheel. You can probably get $75 for them [clean polished frame and fork, headset, binder bolt] in most any market. Maybe keep the seatpost, too, as an example diameter for the purchaser to replace. Or, measure that diameter and record.
2) hubs - you'll need a freewheel remover tool (take to bike shop if you don't want to buy the tool), and have to get that freewheel off of the rear hub. Then you can simply cut all of the spokes and discard the spokes and rims. Those Simplex hubs will fetch $40-60 on eBay, once re-greased, polished, and skewers de-rusted, lubricated and shined up. Drip lubrication through the bearing seams in the freewheel and go over the cogs with a penetrant and soft brush. There may be some value there, depending. An additional $20 on eBay, maybe more.
3) brake calipers - disassemble, clean and hand polish the parts, re-assemble and lubricate. Discard the rubber pad inserts, but shine up the pad holders. Make certain to keep the straddle yolk, straddle cable, as well as front and rear center cable stops. Sell as a group for $30.
4) grips - these may have some value depending on branding and condition - I can't tell from the photo. Do your research.

Donate: bars and stem, brake levers. Keep the inner tubes.

The rest can go to a metal recycler.

There you go. A plan forward. PG

Korina

I gather you sell on CL?

sunburst

yes, craigslist mostly, but I've started using Facebook Marketplace also. I sold a Univega Gran Turismo there last week. And when I'm desperate I'll even post on Nextdoor. My impression from responses (and extended interactions) is that people trust Facebook and Nextdoor more than craigslist

I'll be posting a Motobecane Mixte on at least the first two tomorrow.

sunburst

Each, or a pair?
Damn, I've probably thrown away some of those because of spoke and rim condition.

Korina

Cool. I've been on the lookout for a unicorn, which I'm told doesn't exist, or at least a one-horned goat. So to speak. Ideally it would be a 26"-wheel mixte (for my short legs) that I can put some mtb. gearing on (old short legs, and so many hills). Barring that, one that can take 650b and wide-ish tires for our terrible roads.

Does such a beastie exist?

sunburst

I haven't heard, but I have seen quite a variation in seatpost lengths in mixte frames with 27" wheels. I think the shortest I've found was 50cm. The Moto I'm selling is 55cm, as a comparison. And I'm keeping two 56cm Peugeots for myself. I've seen 52cm the most. Anyway, I fit a very short woman to a 50cm off-brand Japanese mixte and I even had to change to a low profile saddle to eke out a few extra mm, but I made it work.

Btw, I changed the tires this morning on the Moto prior to listing because a friend in SF may be interested and the roads can be pretty bad up there. These Continental Utrasports are the biggest honking 27 1/4" tires I have ever seen, by a big margin, so you might want to keep those in mind.





Checkout this Nishiki for gearing. Although I'm primarily a Francophile with mixtes this is the best mixte I've ever restored. It's light and solid with a cromoly frame. I had it for years before noticing the low BCD which supports a 34T chainring. I paired that with a 6-speed freewheel with a low of 34T. Like the above tires, this also was in deference to the hills of San Francisco. I gave this one to a (good!) friend but would replace it in a heartbeat if I could find another like it in need of restoration. This is a 52cm.

Korina

🤤 What model is that pretty, pretty Nishiki? So I know what to look for.

sunburst

You can see the model name decal is worn away. I saved the serial number so I will dig it out, try to determine the year, then find a catalog for that year. I'm guessing they would have only one cromoly mixte model in a given year. I bought this as a frame and a box of parts, saving it from a fixie conversion. 😁

John E

I can vouch for early 1970s Peugeot AO8, UO8, UO18, UE8, UE18 being great general purpose road bikes. The frames are much better than the components, so most of these can benefit from Japanese drivetrains and aluminum cranks and rims. (Been there ... done that.)

My UO-8 with barcon cables routed between the rack and the cylindrical Bellwether front bag.

Korina

Thank you for your service to C&V; turning that beauty into a fixie would have been a crime.

I really appreciate you taking the time to find the bike for me. If I may ask, what name do you use on CL? I'm way north of you, but for the right bike (and a trip to TJ's) we might be willing to make the drive.

sunburst

My handle is "bluesjr". can you search for ads using that!?
Anyway, T-Mar on the Nishiki serial # thread says it is Royale or Olympic 12. I'm guessing Royale from what I can see of that decal.
Just listed this one Motobecane today.

sdn40

Open your wallet and check inside.
Also if you have to ask you may already have your answer. A project like that takes time, patience, passion, etc.
Did I mention open your wallet and check inside ?