partyanimal

Picked up this Orient Express for $30 on CL. I have another one I turned into more of a gravel bike but want to keep this mostly original for some off road stuff. Guy said he bought 30 years ago and didn't ride it much, thought it was mostly original except for the pedals. As far as I can tell it's an 85 and the saddle probably isn't original. Also oddly, the brakes are reversed, front on the right, rear on the left - which is, I believe, how some folks do it in UK/Europe?
I'll obviously be changing that, replacing cables, probably tearing the wheels apart with new bearings. A few bent spokes so I'll replace those. Definitely new pedals. Might try to replace axles with QR axles if I can find the right length. Love the bars so I'm keeping those. But the shifters are friction shifters, would like to change to indexed. Any recommendations index shifters that would fit these bars?

Also thought about replacing the rear hub with a 10spd cassette and a front 1x. I've never rebuilt a wheel but kinda want to learn the process (I have a local bike co-op I can use and get assistance).

Question: what are the spacer things in the dropouts for? And what's the advantage of keeping them? Never seen them before.

1simplexnut

Well spent $30 !
Always wanted one of those back in the day .
Would look good sitting next to my road bike with same decals
I have wondered about those spacer doohickeys too .
I have a bunch in a drawer somewhere .
Someone will be along to educate us I am sure .

verktyg 

The "spacer things in the dropouts" are axle position stops so you can remove and replace the rear wheel without having to visually center it between the chain stays. They are useful, I'd keep them.

The rear dropouts are measuring 123mm. They should be 126mm wide for those wheels. If you spread them, make sure that the dropouts are aligned and the rear triangle is parallel with the rest of the frame.

Nutted hubs like yours are usually lower quality and not worth spending a lot of money on to upgrade to QR. For example Wheels Manufacturing makes hollow replacement axles but they've gone from ~$20 to $40 each !!! Then kick in QR skewers and so on....

You might be better off trying to find a used set of wheels at you co-op but... 126mm MTB wheels may be hard to find. Most MTB wheels from the late 80's are going to have 130mm wide rear hubs which will require even more dropout spreading.

There's always Shimano thumby index shifters for sale cheap on eBay. Does the bike have a cassette or freewheel? How many sprockets - 6 or 7? Get shifters to match the number of sprockets.

A 10 speed cassette is going to take a 130mm rear hub. Also a 10 speed chain, a 10 speed index shifter plus you existing derailleurs may not play nice with the narrower chain.

My suggestion is to back into the job slowly while you're learning. That is address one or two changes at a time while you round up parts. You have a 37 year old bike and sometimes parts are hard to come by.

verktyg

PugRider

Can't go wrong with the bullmoose bars. This could be folklore, but I thought I read somewhere here that those dropout inserts were Shimano specific for bikes that still had semi-horizontal dropouts--it was important that the axle be as close to over the derailleur hanger as possible.

I loved my Paris Express, such a great bike. Went to a new owner two years ago.

DSC_0015 by Eat More Plants1, on Flickr

partyanimal

Thanks, after doing some research yesterday I think I'm going to keep it mostly original. I'll definitely keep the spacer things. It has a 6spd freewheel, I might replace it with just something similar. I'm pretty comfortable working on everything except the hubs/wheel building as I've done a few other similar projects. I definitely do want to find index shifters though. I know the friction are kinda the hip, OG way to go on these vintage bikes but if I'm a little lazy and like what I like.

partyanimal

Nice lookin' bike! I built out a beater gravel bike from my last $10 Peugeot find. I really like these bikes.

gthomson

Great find and that would be a great foundation for a gravel conversion of just a fun mountain bike. That's my favourite Peugeot decal scheme/design but then I might be biased. Peugeot sure had a variety of different bikes, with different design schemes varying by region.
My 1999 Peugeot Dune, in it's original state. I've since added a riser stem and a rear rack.

partyanimal

Wow, never even heard of that model, looks great. I'm definitely keeping this one for a mtb set up. I already have the other Orient Express and an All-City for gravel stuff.

gthomson

Thanks, I like the design on yours better but this bike was like in mint shape for a 20 year old bike and a great price so couldn't resist it.

partyanimal

Here's the last Peugeot I built out. It was pretty rough, completely stripped it down, had to remove the rust then rebuilt it from scratch, only kept the wheels and front crank. I did a thread about it last year. Peugeot Orient Express rebuild

verktyg 

Looks like everything is low mileage. Unless there is some specific need to change the gear ratio I'd stick with the old FW, especially if it's a Shimano, Suntour or Atom brand. Good freewheels are getting expensive. There are some Asian made ones that are cheaper but their quality varies....

The Shimano Deore LX RD is made for indexing. After you clean up and lubricate everything you may find that the Deore LX will shift like an indexing set up. The secret to effective indexing was the lateral side to side float of the upper pulley which allowed it to self center on the sprockets. New cables and housings will probably make things a lot smoother.

There was a lot of weirdness with the early Shimano 6 speed indexing shifters. They didn't get things worked out until the introduction of SIS. I've been using these Shimano SL-MT62, Deore II 7-8 speed thumbies with a Deore LX RD and a 6 speed FW since 1992. They still work great! YMMV



If it aint broke, don't fix it!

verktyg

partyanimal

yeah, we'll see about the freewheel. Having a hard time removing it to clean and redo the bearings. Might have to take it to my local co-op and use their vice. I did just pick up these shifters from ebay.

verktyg 

"Clean and redo the bearings" did you mean they rear hub bearings? What brand is the FW? Those levers should work well.

verktyg

Rotten

What a beautiful survivor! I have a soft spot for Peugeot bikes although I only have one that doesn't get ridden. Upgrade it to a 7 speed freewheel and keep the triple front, 1x setups are overrated I know cause I invested a lot in building one up and much prefer my 2x and 3x bikes much more. No shame in the nutted axles just find a compact wrench the right size and keep it in you pocket.

gthomson

On the discussion of choosing or upgrading a group set for a 90's mountain bike, I am inclined to keep the original 3 x bikes to allow for a lower set of gears, avoid a new drive train, crank and cassette but has anyone ever used those 3 x 6/7 brifters on a rebuild?

I've seen them online and was wondering if they are a good choice for a mountain bike conversion but allowing to keep the original group set of 3 x 6/7? They sell for less than $100 and if they work well, would make for a relatively simple conversion.

partyanimal

Yeah, just remove, clean and repack the rear hub.