jamesdak 

Local pickup yesterday for a really cheap price. Has a fresh new powdercoat in the original white color with replacement decals. A nice canvas to start with. The parts though are letting it down in my book. Period correct and all but nothing special. Not that this frame really is either but it was a nostalgia buy. Rode a similar Peugeot all over Germany in the 80's.

Headset and BB feel fine but I'll open and check them anyway. The front hub doesn't feel like it's seen any grease in a very long, long time. Wheels were trued up by the seller though. Fortunately at a minimum I do have some lighter Gipiemme/Mavic G 40 rims with GP 4000s II 700 x 28's I can use on it for now. There's more than enough room to clear those tires. 24 lbs 9 ozs in the pictures below. Certainly no lightweight.

I've got lot's of ways I could go on this. Keep it as is and just clean, polish, and service the parts. Or.... I've got decent Shimano 105 7 speed DT setup stashed somewhere that came of the KHS I rebuilt last winter. Or...I've got a full NOS Ultegra 6500/6600 Triple setup just sitting in a box. Or....I've got a mint 10 speed Ultegra setup around too. Or.....I can probably piece a better DT friction 7 speed setup from my parts stash also.

My understanding is that these have british BB specs which makes things easier. Rear spacing is probably 126 but I haven't checked that yet.

As it sits right now there are some issues. One issue are the brakes, they are backwards and the hoods on the lever's are a bit of a mess despite being new. Bars are taped wrong too. It's got some grease on the frame and decals but hopefully that will clean right off and hasn't stained anything. More things to deal with too.

First time I've had a powdercoated frame but I guess I can wax as normal to keep it protected.

Anyway, some pics as I picked it up. It was about an hour and a half away. Grabbed these pics to document how I got it before I started working it over.


How I brought it home.

How I brought it home.

All this need addressing.

Frame and decals are pretty nice

These don't inspire confidence. Plenty of tire clearance.

These don't inspire confidence.

Frame and decals are pretty nice

It works but...

It works but...

Hmmmm, need to see what the pedal threading is on this crank.

jamesdak 

Fork isn't HLE

Internally lugged if I understand this right.

This is looking shabby.

More replacement decals.

jamesdak 

Well, a few changes this morning trying to get it ready for a little test ride to see what it's like. Cranks were threaded for standard pedals so no issues putting on some Look Keo's. Fizik Antares saddle and then swapped on the wheelset mentioned above. It's already at 23 lbs, 3 ozs now.

ShannonM

Sweet!

My first good road bike was a Peugeot Ventoux, with the internally lugged Reynolds 501 frameset.

Great riding bike. I'd rock another one all day long.

(The 1988 Reynolds 753 Chorus is one of my grail bikes.)

​​​​--Shannon

old's'cool

Internally brazed, rather.
Haute Limite Elastique means high tensile strength, or something to that effect.
Lots to like about the bike.

jamesdak 

Hmmm, local bike for sale with like first gen Shimano 600 SIS with nutted brakes. Might be a good source for a period correct groupset that should bolt right on. Everything have otherwise requires spreading the rear, which isn't a big deal.

jamesdak 

Well,..... I hate Weinmann brakes, LOL! Always a fight to center them without the special tool.

Other than the brakes everything else seems to be sorting out fine. Headset needed tightening and there was play in the BB. Took 'em apart and then sorted things out just fine. Couldn't find torque specs for the Nervar crank bolts so I just with with 30 ft/lbs. I also took some polish to all the shiny bits as they were letting things down a bit. Nice and shiny now. The seatpost works but is chewed up pretty bad. I've got some generic new 24mm seatpost in my stash that is way long. I'll probably cut it down and just use it.

That crankset felt pretty light while I had it off and is running true on the bike now that it's reinstalled.

Did a few miles as a little shakedown and other than having no brakes everything was fine. I'm thinking I'm going to leave things as they are and just invest in some Tektro nutted mid reach brakes and new levers. It'll still look pretty classic with that stuff on it.

May come down to if I get my hands on that cheap Trek donor bike or not. It would give me index shifting and a bit wider cassette as well as actual brakes that work. Decisions....decisions.....decisions....


After I got it all put back together. Wondering if red bar tape would look better with that red/white saddle. The current tape job is backwards up top so will probably come undone.

Out on the test. Stuck to the neighbor hood since I had pretty much no working brakes right now.

jamesdak 

And guess who found a 4mm socket he didn't know he had!!! Bring on those cursed brakes now!

Chombi1 

[QUOTE=jamesdak;22618271]Well,..... I hate Weinmann brakes, LOL! Always a fight to center them without the special tool....[QUOTE]
Nope! Even if you have thd "special tool, Weinmann brakesets will usually not stay centered......
That's just how they usually were......

jamesdak 

[QUOTE=Chombi1;22618791][QUOTE=jamesdak;22618271]Well,..... I hate Weinmann brakes, LOL! Always a fight to center them without the special tool....Yep, ordered a set of Tektro brakes and levers last night. Both black and brown hoods.

I also found a honey brown Brooks saddle in my stash and I know I still have matching Fizik bar tape. That may look better on this than the red. Finish it off with some brown sidewall tires....

aland2

In my experience you have to get the cable length and cable routing just right with Weinmann sidepulls, otherwise the cables themselves with repeated flexing will eventually pull the calipers out of kilter. Once sorted they're fine.

jamesdak 

Don't tell Bianchigirll but I may have found a donor bike for the Peugeot. Got my hands on a 1985 Trofeo with the Superbe shifting bits, Ofmega Crank, and Modolo brakes. Everything superior in my opinion to what is currently on the Tourmelet. The only problem is the Bianchi looks to be pretty nice under all the grime and such. I may not have the heart to tear it down. But I'm pretty sure it's too small for me. I'm getting about 50-51cm on the seattube but over 54cm on the top tube. So long enough but way too short I think. Seems to have all the original spec parts save for tires and the fact it came with no saddle. Oh and the pedals are Shimano Deore. The hoods on the Modolo brake levers are toast but I may have suitable replacements in my stash.


She's grubby but there just may be a gem under the grime.


I did do a real shakedown ride of around 14 miles on the Peugeot today. For sure it need brakes. The shifting worked but man did the throw between gears seem long compared to my other two DT setups, both Suntour Superbe. The Tourmalet felt fine at speed and comfortable. Only took it up to 27 mph for a brief moment because the brakes are just plain scary. I'm sure most of that is just due to old pads.

Anyway, I've got a decision to make. I'll probably fully sort out the Bianchi before I decide on what to do. The frame looks fairly marked up but a quick wipedown showed that most of it isn't paint damage. If it cleans up well with my usual polishing routine and then rides nice I'll have a hard time taking the parts off.

jamesdak 

Ok, trying a few things on this. I put on an old set of Mavic rimmed tubular wheels with some nice fat and cushy Veloflex tubulars. Then I swapped on the brown Brooks saddle I had. So if going this way I'll go with brown hooded brake levers and the brown leather looking bar tape. Or I still have the white/red saddle with red bar tape or I also found a black Gyes saddle so I could go black with black tape. Still decisions to make I guess. First up though is putting on the Tektro brakes so I can actually stop and sorting out the headset. Keeps coming loose so I'm going to take it apart and make sure it's put together right. I think the guy building this put the spacers under the first adjusting nut instead of between the adjusting nut and lock nut.

Here's today's changes.


23 lbs 1 oz like this. I bet the ride will be smooth.

jamesdak 

And..... I think it's finished. This morning sorted out the headset (I think), adjusted the RD, serviced and repositioned the stem, and the swapped in the new Tectro brakes and levers. Oh and I added a Zefal mount so I can carry a frame pump on it. I hate just relying on Co2 inflators. Gonna test 'er in a bit with the tires set at 75/85 F/R. The new brake gear added some weight, it's now setting at 23 lbs 12 ozs.


I wish the hoods were brown vs the tan but I guess they sorta match up to the tire sidewalls. The black Zefal mount sticks out but won't be bad with a pump on it.

Final touch were red bolts for the cages. Although, here too, it might be cool to add some of those Zefal cages that are leather wrapped.

Matafuna

Its all in the details.. looks great!

jamesdak 

So, did a shakedown ride and this bike did as I expected. Super smooth on the road with the tubulars and the new brakes worked great. Sure feels like a nice cruiser machine now that should go for miles in total comfort. I noticed some drivetrain noise during the ride but nothing terrible. Still not liking how long the throws are though when shifting though. Made seem even worse when I took the Bianchi with the Superbe drivetrain for a ride right after finishing on this one. The shifters and RD are letting this one down but the ride itself is great.

Some pics from the road:

Chombi1 

I got 82 PH10S with Carbolite tubing down to 23 pounds too back in the 80's with lighter wheels and components.
It remains to be one of the best riding bike I ever had.

jamesdak 

I've been thinking about this all night. The drivetrain is letting this one down or maybe I'm spoiled by all the Superbe stuff on my other bikes. I think I need to find Superbe for this.

Or maybe stay cheap and try couple of my newer RD/FD/s from my stash to see which would work well with these DT shifters.

jamesdak 

Suntour parts are on the way. While cleaning things up today I also found a NOS Sedis gold chain in my stash. Got it with some other parts on a De Rosa I took in trade a year or two ago. I wonder how that would work with a SRAM 8 speed cassette and the Nervar Crankset.....