gaucho777 

Around the holidays, as I was driving to the post office, I spied a bike-shaped object down the road beside a trash pile out by the curb. As I approached, the checkered Peugeot graphics came into view. Figuring it was another rusted out UE-8 or something, I was about to keep rolling. However, the leather saddle and 531 decal jumped out in my periphery, and I quickly got out for a closer look. Thanks to verktyg , it was confirmed as a 1975 Peugeot PR10-L. Although rusted and neglected, it had a lot of potential. I thought...It's not garbage!

Here are a few before/as found photos:





I finally had a chance to start working on it earlier this month. As far as I can tell it was in nearly original condition except for the Suntour stem shifters, brake pads/holders, tires, massive 34t Suntour Perfect FW, and probably rear rim. (The front had galvanized spokes laced to a Rigida rim, while the rear had stainless spokes laced to a Super Champion rim. I rebuilt both wheels with stainless spokes, which allowed me better access for polishing the hubs and rims.) I'm not sold on the turkey/safety levers, but I'm trying to give them a shot. This is a bike I could potentially set up for m wife, and she might appreciate them more than I do.

A lot of elbow grease went into this, but not too much else. Along the way, I made a few minor changes. I added some Simplex downtube shifters from my parts bin. Sticking with the tout French build, I swapped the FW from the 34t Suntour Perfect to a 30t Maillard 700 FW and replaced the badly broken Simplex pulleys with Bullseye pulleys (I've been having some other slight issues with the derailleur - more on that later). I also added some fresh rubber, new cables/housing. Oh, I also added the French pump I got from the local co-op a while ago for $3 because it wasn't working at the time, but was able to rehab it. The red Mafac hoods came from @obrentharris. I didn't really have a purpose in mind when I bought them, more of a backup set, but I think they fit in with the French color theme here. Lastly, I added the Eiffel Tower ornament (a gift from one of my students) to add a bit of...je ne sais quoi..whimsy.

I've given it a few test rides and spent about 30 minutes riding around looking for backdrops. It rides and handles really smoothly. The fit is really good, too. Plus, all my other bikes have clipless pedal systems or clips & straps, so it's nice to have an option to ride with wide tennis shoes and sturdy platform pedals.

Here it is...Voici!

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

gaucho777 

The saddle was a concern, but I wasn't willing to give up the ghost. I remember reading about a technique mentioned by an experienced restorer using the back of a spoon to press out the crevices in cracked and weathered saddles.

First I loosened the tension bold and soaked the saddle in a bucket of water for a few hours. Then, I used the back of a spoon to press the cracks out of the saddle. It was remarkable how the leather seemed to fuse together in places. I certainly could have kept going, but I wanted to start with a gentle approach my first time trying this. In certain places, the cracks seemed to disappear, though in other places it felt lit a bit of the top layer was starting to mush into a paste-like coating. I avoided the logo section of the saddle for this reason. Next, I patted the saddle dry and then wrapped it in towels to keep its shape. I stuffed a number of small rages under the rails to give a flat section in the back and tapped the whole thing together with a couple spins of duct tape. This I let dry for a couple days in the towels then left out for several more days to fully dry before applying a little proofhide and mounting it.

I might do a 2nd round at some point, but I'm happy enough with it for now. I knew it wasn't going to look new again, but it's definitely still useable according to my low standards. The saddle still feels strong, secure, and comfortable.

Before:



After soaking, prior to spoon treatment:



During spoon treatment





Wrapped for drying





Back in service

Pcampeau

Beautiful job on this! That bike looks so good I can look right past the turkey levers. I wonder what whoever threw this away would think of it now after seeing what you’ve done with it? Garbage it ain’t. Do you have a Peugeot water bottle for that cage?

gaucho777 

By the way, I have found that vasoline does a wonderful job of restoring the color and luster to faded delrin. Just a few seconds of rubbing a dab of vasoline will do wonders. I like to think it helps retain some of the moisture and may prolong the time before parts start cracking. I've done this on other bikes and the vasolined parts keep their refreshed look for quite a while.

Before




After
Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

That said, I did have a couple of broken parts to deal with. First was a badly damaged pair of pulleys. They didn't spin at all when I brought this bike home, and I wonder if that's part of the reason the bike ended up in the trash pile.

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr

Unfortunately, as soon as I started trying to adjust the RD, the high gear limit screw snapped off. I'm going to try to re-attach with some strong epoxy but I'm not optimistic about it's effectiveness. For now, the cable tension is blocking out the movement past the small cog. You bet I cinched that bolt tight! I also improvised a barrel adjuster to give myself a little bit of fine-tuning until I can cludge something else.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mcH9r2]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mcHaiT]

gaucho777 

Thanks! Yes, the turkey levers aren't my preference but they actually do work pretty well I must say. They were a struggle to position, too. I've got large hands and can reach them okay, but it was a challenge to get them closer without putting the bars and/or levers at odd angles. I imagine getting rid of the turkey levers is a simple matter of swapping to shorter pivot bolts? Hopefully, fairly ubiquitous...

SurferRosa

Just insane what people will toss. Such a beauty.

Love the creativity: bucket of water, spoon, vaseline, cable tension in place of high limit...

juvela

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wunnerful find and beatific job!

thanks for sharing it

even looks me size; i'll be right up

now you need to find a bottle holder gaulique so that Rampinelli product can come off
if placed upon the waves of the embaymenture might generate a surprising return...

Vaseline: "...your first aid kit in a jar..."


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KenNC

That came out great and I learned alot about saddle restoration from your post, thanks for sharing! I came across a 1977 (I think) PRN10 awhile back--paint not as nice as yours and missing some parts but decals good--and got it back on the road as well. No black on the front lugs, sadly, but a different head badge. Here are my before and after pics

gaucho777 

Curious about the turkey levers...The levers are Mafac, but the safety extension/turkey lever portion is made by Dia-Compe. I have a hard time imagining it would have come from France this way. Would this have been an after-market option, say added by a domestic LBS at time of purchase? Also, the pivot bolt seems larger than the pivot bolt on my other (non-turkey-levered) Mafac levers. If I wanted to remove the turkey levers, is there a simple way to convert back to standard levers, assuming I could source new pivot bolts?

juvela

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the extension levers are fitted with an adaptor kit produced by Bicycle Research Products of Concord, California - Don Millberger

American Cycle Systems of southern California also offered such a kit




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what a treat to follow along with this thread; you made an outstanding find and have done an even more outstanding job working with it!

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gaucho777 

Thanks, juvela!

juvela

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if you have repacked BB would be curious to know which spindle was employed by the lion rampante

118 or 120?

me guess is that you found it to be the 120



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Riveting

I'm not currently a C&V'er, though I've been considering dipping my toe in for a while, but does this frame have a geometry that has a TON of toe overlap (which I hate)? Is overlap common in C&V frames? Is there a C&V brand/model known for less/no overlap?

Phil_gretz

ne ... pas is the negation = "not"

ce est would normally be contracted to become c'est = "it is"

so, ce n'est pas = "it's not"

gaucho777 

Yes, I did repack everything soup to nuts, but didn't measure the spindle when I had it out. I'll be glad to take a measurement when I have a chance.

No toe overlap issues at all. The first "before" photo is a bit misleading with the camera angle and oversized front tire. Some C&V frames with a steep head angle and shallow rake can cause toe overlap, especially with fenders and/or very small frame sizes but it hasn't been an issue in my experience with my own fleet of vintage bikes. Here's a shot of the Peugeot showing full toe clearance.

Untitled by gaucho777, on Flickr
@onyerleft Ce n'est pas garbage (French) = It's not garbage!

One more gratuitous shot...just back from the bakery. Seemed like an appropriate bike to take on this errand:

juvela

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looking great!

thank you for the response

no need for spindle measurement; they are marked clearly in centre section with a three digit number which indicates model/size

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seeing the silver finish cogs on there reminds me that you said it came with a Maeda gear block with a 34T large cog

one can only wonder what someone must have been thinking to pair this with a Juy AR637 rear mech...no wonder they broke two pulleys

amazing the mech body survived...

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see you changed pedals from Lyotard 36 to Lyotard 460D

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in this image can be seen some markings on the drive side of the seat tube - does it look like they were put in by a licensing agency?

if the cycle were licensed when purchased new in 1975 it would have been a municipal license (Berkeley?)

the blue and silver California license transfer visible on the seat tube is something which came in during 1977 when the state went to a statewide licensing system for bicycles - individual municipalities did their bicycle licensing on behalf of the state in this system

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it appears someone may have put the ALGI seat binder nut on backwards; if the side facing the brake hanger is concave it is on backwards

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gaucho777 

Markings on the seat tube below the post: I figured that was a serial number. It's really difficult for me to read. Possibly it was added by the licensing agency....

Re the 34t freewheel: Surprisingly, it was able to handle the 34t cog! Note that the rear mech is not the short cage variety. I think verktyg may have refered to it as a medium length/GT cage. The problem is that when in the 2nd largest cog, the cage catches on the large cog.

Pedals: Pedals are actually the same. I just removed the reflectors and cleaned, de-rusted, and overhauled them.

License: Yes, I was tempted to leave the blue/silver CA license on for sake of provenance but I didn't like how it was applied over the original decals. Thankfully, the bike has a nice clearcoat over everything so the stubborn CA came up without loss of the Peugeot decals.

Binder bolt: Good eye. I'll have closer look at it...

Cheers.

ollo_ollo

je ne sais quoi = I don't know what, a very useful exprassion.

juvela

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not as yet mentioned -

not only is it a high quality machine put out for trash collection and saved by you but judging by the image in front of the bakery the amount of pillar on exhibit would indicate it is the perfect size as well!

this find really was your lucky day


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the 637 series rear mech must have been fitted when the gear block was replaced by the p.o.
noticed that shift levers are Criterium so original rear mech would have been Criterium as well...

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btw -

interesting to see that it came with the Cibie bolt-on amber pedal reflectors; they were still using these in 1975; suspect this must have been about the final year for their use

Lyotard seemed to go with more built-in reflectors beginning about the 1976-77 time, perhaps in response to CPSC requirements...


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delicious

What a find, and an amazing job restoring it! This is my favorite sort of C&V thread.

unworthy1

Beautiful job, stunning results! Congrats and thanks for sharing!
My only tech comment it that Vaseline is basically jellied mineral oil so what long-term effect does mineral oil have on Delrin? I sure don't know but oil has been known to have ill-effects on SOME plastics, but I don't have any specific data re: Delrin, maybe someone here might know.

SurferRosa

Italian??!!

Playoffs??!!