jj1091

My new toy, a 1972 Peugeot PX-50L, 650B Randonneur. This is the bike I posted in the "What's It Worth" section. I just brought it home, these are the pics of it as-found. Everything is original, except for the seat and tires. It once had fenders, racks and lighting, but those were not with the bike. I paid $125 for it. It'll be my daily rider.

I'll be doing a moderate restoral on this one, no repaint, just touchups, polishing, rust removal, and reconditioning of the moving stuff. Following is a number of posts showing details. I'll update with pics of my progress.

jj1091

More pics.

jj1091

Even more pics.

gioscinelli 

Nice Peugeot! Let us know how it rides

jj1091

Thanks, gioscinelli, it rides wonderfully. Took it on its 2nd check-ride yesterday, about ten miles. The only issues were a slipping crank arm which needed tightening of the cotter-nut, which promptly snapped off upon tightening (oh well, it's tight now and doesn't slip), a wobbly AVA death-stem which needed tightening and then lowering to get it back to its un-wobbly insertion point, and stripped rear plastic derailleur guide-wheels which were round objects with no teeth and bits of shredded black plastic all around them, and a wobbly rear rim, which upon post-ride inspection needed truing and some other stuff. Seems a previous owner didn't know about the common problem of mounting the tires properly, which involves NOT pulling the stem down until the tire bead is seated on the rim, so's said owner decided to fix the problem of the tube pushing the tire off the rim, by, um, GLUING THE TIRE TO THE RIM with Gorilla glue or something, leading to much work by the current owner (okay, everyone who knows this one put your hands down now and stop waving).

As for the "actual" ride, not the stopping and fixing stuff part, it rides wonderfully. Lots of flex in the old steel, very nimble, and well-balanced allowing for the no-hands hand-rest periods. I do a fair amount of urban riding on sidewalks, up and over curbs and such, and it took all I could give it without trouble. It is nearly noiseless, with the only sound being road noise from the tires on the pavement. The shift indexing was flawless on the Simplex derailleurs with only one gear requiring trimming. The brakes worked well, had one nut needing to be tightened on the rear caliper which required disassembly of the caliper to get to it. Rear braking was normal for the ridged braking surface, but the front squealed like a banshee and will get new shoes. For now, it's my horn, just touch the front brake lever and people everywhere turn and stare. Overall, a joy to ride. I've a 75-mile one-way, fully-loaded camping trip planned for next weekend to check out its touring ride.

I completed the first-round fixes, new guide-wheels on the rear derailleur, trued and unglued rear wheel, new cable inners and new center-pull cables, varnish removal here and there, calipers polished and relubed, wheels and hubs and chainring cleaned and polished, all the rust removed or touch-up painted, and the frame Meguiar waxed. Today's project is tear-down of the bearings all around and repack. I'm pleased with the performance, probably will be a keeper.

bikemig 

That's a cool old bike. A bit of work and you can get that rust off the frame.

jj1091

A few pics of the cleanup process.



chrome on the crank cleaned up well
kind of proud the way this area cleaned up
wheels and hubs cleaned and polished
chrome on forks turned out nice

Finished all the new cable inners, completed the bearing repack on everything. Mechanically, she's almost perfect. Did another 10 miles yesterday without a hitch. Next up: repairing the frame scrapes and touching up the pinstripes and painted graphics.

puchfinnland

nice find..It will reward you w a nice ride

LarryBSky

I have a PX-10 in that color, I was never able to get a real good paint color match. Let me know if you find anything close.

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Shp4man

Nice bikes. Don't see that color much.

jj1091

Gorgeous bike Larry. I didn't see that mine was green in the C/L ad, looked silver, but once I saw the bike, I liked the color very much. Yours is the first Pug I've seen in the same color, what year is your PX-10? There seems to be no rhyme or reason to graphics differences in the early 70's models, some sold in the US market have rainbow stripes on the seat tube, like yours, and some sold in the French market, like mine, don't have the rainbow stripes. Did the PX-10 come without the graphics on the forks, or was it repainted at some point? I'm still researching market and model differences hoping to come up with some way to note the differences.

I've always had good luck with Pep Boys, they're the only auto parts store around here that carries a decent selection of Dupli-Color paints, and I'll be there today. I'll let you know what I find and post pics of the results. Great-looking PX-10 there. Just something I love about the Peugeots, been looking for one for nearly a year that I could afford, and was complete, and in decent shape. Got lucky with this one.

jj1091

The latest incarnation after some more cleanup, touchup painting, and new home-made racks.

Grand Bois

The color is called champagne. You'd think that the French would know that champagne is not green, would you not?

It's my least favorite Peugeot color, but the fact that my ex-wife had one that color may "color" my opinion.

jj1091

Yes, you've got to change your opinion to protect the home front, huh? Oh yeah, the French weren't very good at that, were they? Must have something to do with their Champagne being green.