G.Varela

Hi guys,
I bought this PXN that I intent to restore but I can't figure out what year it is. None of the PXN offerings in the brochures are of that color. It's a full 531 bike, and as you can see it has zero original parts on it. Thanks in advance.

bikemig 

I have a 1982 PXN 10 in white and the frame is very similar to yours with a chromed fork and the newer style simplex drop out that is threaded and has a stop. I know that the older PX 10s from the 70s were sold in black. Looking at the catalogs online, I don't see a black PXN 10 either. Nor do I remember seeing one when working for a Peugeot dealer in the 80s. This may be a European model.

Are you located in the States?

G.Varela

Thanks for the reply. For some reason all the catalogs show pearl white or metallic blue for all PXN10 through the years.

Ex Pres 

I had what I think was an '82, and the only way I really determined that was because it had the loop Simplex shifters, and they didn't appear in the catalogs I saw until '82.
The serial number semi-confirmed it [in my mind], but I don't have it, nor do I remember the exact format that made me feel comfortable with that determination.
I think for the most part '79 (or was it '80?) to '83 were essentially the same frame, paint scheme, chrome with minor changes to components.

Does yours have a serial number on the bottom bracket shell?


I still have pictures HERE, but not of the serial. Mine was light blue

G.Varela

Thanks for the reply. Here's a pic of the serial on the BB. It reads 0065451.

On the contrast my blue PXN reads 1128386.

Ex Pres 

Hey, you didn't tell us you had two of these

Looking at yours, I think the first (possibly second) digit of my SN was a 2. But I was never really sure whether that meant 1982, or just happened to fall in the sequence of production.
Did your blue one come with starburst or loop retrofrictions? (assuming OE)

G.Varela

Sorry my blue one was an Ebay frameset purchase so I have no idea what shifters it originally came with. I do love those bikes though lol!!!

T-Mar

The black frame has at least one character hidden under the cable guide, though it's proably just the alpha facility indicator, in which case the frame is from June 1980 and should be a 1980 model. The blue frame is from December 1981 and should be a 1982 model, given the very late calendar year manufacture

G.Varela

Thanks man.

francophile 

It would appear there's possibly a 1st character under the edge of the guide. Thus 1980.

Edit: Late to the party. Looks like T-Mar already gotcha.

Ex Pres 

OK, that's probably why I was hazy on whether the 2 in my SN was the first or second digit, because the first character was the alpha facility indicator. IIRC mine was a B.

T-Mar

B is the indicator that your Peugeot was manufactured in Beaulieu, the older of Peugeot's facilities. It's the facility where Peugeot had their Prestige frame shop that manufactured the team bicycles and custom frames. However, they also did semi-mass production, hand-brazed models and the mass production, machine brazed models.

I'm assuming the lead character on the blue frame is poorly struck 'B' as opposed to a '3' or '8', as it's offset from the other characters. However, like the black frame, I'd advise checking under the under the cable guide for other characters. It could completely change the apparent year.

G.Varela

It's a B under the cable guide. I guess that makes it a Beaulieu bike.

T-Mar

So, for any members who haven't figured it out, the Peugeot serial number format is:

pymmxxxx(x) where:.

p i is a letter indcating the production facility, (i.e. B = Beaulieu, Y = Romilly Sur Seine)

y is a numeral indicating the last digit of the calendar year. The serial number system spans multiple decades, so you have to determine the decade from other bicycle characteristics, such as the graphics or components. (i.e. 8 could be 1978 or 1988)

mm are numerals indicating the month (ie. 01=January, 02 = February,...12= December)

xxxx(x) are numersls indicating the sequential frame manufacturing number for the period (i.e 36172 would be the 36,172nd frame). The length of this number string can vary, though it's usually four or five chanracters.

Sometimes the format will include spaces, usually after the production facilty indicator, year, indcator and/or month indicator. The bottom line is that Peugeot employees weren't consistent with spaces.

So far, the earliest example I've seen for this format dates to 1976. Howevever, it may not have been instituted at the same time in both facilities or across all lines.

As with most manufacturers, Peugeot stated bulding the new models late in the calendar year. There is no rigid rule but it was typically around the end of August or start of September. So, the model year does not necessarily correspond to the calendar year of the serial number. When in doubt, refer to literature, where available,

Also, not all Peugeot were manufactured in France so there are different serial number formats such as those for Canadian licensee, Procyle, and Asia contract manufacturers, such as Araya.

I think that is all the disclaimers. If not, please be tolerant with me. I'm only trying to help members by giving them the tools to perform serial numbers decoding by themselves.

francophile 

The B is not always consistently a B, either, it changes shape and sizes. I think someone at some point had a Greek stamping set and some models I've seen have a B reminiscent of a the BETA symbol stamped into the shell, i.e. β

But that said, here are some samples off a few bikes I refurbed or restored over the years, both with B and Y stampings. Note the one with the utterly mangled Y (last pic), it came on a bike from Ireland I bought several years back.

Oh, and it seems the Romilly Sur Seine factory preferred stamping parallel to the BB lockring. Oh, and sometimes you'll find the serial stamped into the rear non-drive dropout.