AdventureManCO 

I wasn't looking for another bike. I already don't have room.

That's how it started. I'm betting most of you know where it goes from there...

I innocently stopped by the local co-op on the way home from work. I thought I'd look to see if they had any barcons in the bins, and maybe pick up a few tubes while I was at it.

This particular co-op has a row of 'as is' cycles out in front of the shop. Once they spend time/labor going through a bike, the put it on the racks inside, the the price changes accordingly.

Before I went in, I ran the racks. Had some interesting bikes, a few roadies, a few mtbs, a few kids bikes, some city bikes...then I got to the end of the row.






Then this.








It was just sitting there, with a sticker on the seat saying 'As-is, simplex parts', and no price.

I stopped in my tracks. My eyes widened. "Well hel-lo, what...have...we...here?" I could hear Lando in my head. While I have a PX-10, I don't really know anything about Peugeot outside of that and the UO8. But, you all have taught me well. Reynolds 531? Check. Campy parts? Check. Fully chromed fork? Check. 'Hand Brazed'? Check. All the names...Maillard, Simplex, Spidel, Mafac, Stronglight. Okay, this is a nice bicycle. A really, really nice bicycle. Actually, a completely gorgeous really really nice bicycle. That Brooks saddle looks almost new.

Scratch the part finding. I walk straight in and inquire, saying that this bike has no price and I'm interested. "Sure, bikes that don't have a price tag are $75".


Okay.



I politely step aside and sort of in slow motion, and with much apprehension, check the wallet. I usually don't carry any cash on me. But today, for some unknown reason...I had $77.


So of course this bicycle came home with me. Of course! and is honestly one of the most beautiful bikes I have ever seen. I can't stop looking at it. I would NEVER have thought to put white tires on a bike, but I even like the tires (they are Vittoria Randonneurs, probably really nice tires). I haven't even really given it a once over. I still don't know hardly anything about the 'Super Competition' (please fill me in if you know more). I have no idea what year it is or what is original (I know the tires, crank bolt caps and toe straps are not).















Here is what is on the bike from what I can see:

Maillard 700 hubs on Super Champion clincher rims
Stronglight crankset
Simplex/Peugeot front and rear derailleurs
Simplex seatpost
Campy dt shift levers
Atax/Peugeot stem
Atax bars
Spidel brakes
Spidel levers with Mafac hoods

It looks to be in terrific condition. I see some minor paint chips, a few places where the decals are coming off, and 2 small spots of surface rust on the fork. That's pretty much it. I don't even think I'm going to touch it until Christmas and do a complete teardown over the break. But I can tell the headset will need servicing, and I'd like to change the handlebar tape to some Neubaums brown cloth and do the whole varnish thing, to better match the saddle. Really if I could find a nice Stronglight 99 alloy roller bearing headset, that would be a nice, worthy upgrade.

And yes I still love my homely little Novara Randonee (getting the minor rust treatment right now), but now I love this one, too!

PhotonDon

Merry christmas!

WGB 

In parts there's double what you paid!

Is the seatpost a rebrand? I know Simplex did make posts but yours looks like a fluted Sugino.

Chombi1 

Great find! Great bargain!Full 531 frame and fork? plus, the bike still has most of its original French components like the MAFAC LS sidepulls and the beautiful Stronglight 106 crankset.Only thing to really change on it is the out of place Campy DT shifters. They should really be changed out with French, Simplex Retrofriction to get the full French experience.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

zukahn1 

Great find the single bottle cage and graphics date it as 82/84 really like the stem. I worked at a bike coop for a while and understand the pricing we made all efforts to get nicer road bikes out the door to members preferred patron's for next to nothing, Other wise there would be fights conflicts over bikes that likely would be sold cheap on the street or pawn shop.

Flying G

Absolute proof that you lead a charmed life or have earned this for past good deeds! Great inspiration for the rest of us to continue to visit the local Co-Op and liberate these bikes before they are cannibalized or worse.
Looking forward to your updates!

cudak888 

You lucky dog. 1980 PXN10E?

-Kurt

vonfilm 

What a score !

AdventureManCO 

I have no idea! I read a former post about these 'Super Competition' bicycles and how they were the 1980s version of a PX-10, but there were a few models designated as a 'Super Competition'. It also mentioned that the serial number could be a good way to determine year. Let me see if I can grab a pic of the serial on the underneath of the BB.

AdventureManCO 

Okay here are some additional pictures of the bike, components, and (sort of) the serial number. My garage lighting isn't the best and it is freaking cold out there right now, so I might have to wait till daytime for better pics.






Serial number hard to make out with this lighting, but it looks like B101X846...which may indicate a January 1981 date?

merziac

You're looking at this all wrong, muddying the waters, an encounter like this is a done deal, the question is "what am I going to do with the next one?".

Great score, love it, well done.

AdventureManCO 

Bunch of frickin enablers on this forum. Which is why I'm here.

merziac

Yeah, I never found a cool later one in my size yet, got a couple big older PX-10's including a blue one but still need a later one like yours at a price like yours.

georges1

very good bike and you can't go wrong with a reynolds 531 frame

dukeofearl 

Nice score! I got an 81 recently as well, in white pearl, and am just finishing building it up. I think mine was bought just as the frame, CFX10, because it has a strange mix of components, none of which would have come on the PXN10.

Sedgemop 

This one too small?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...rral_code=null

Murray Missile 

Wow. Wow. Wow. Great score! You now have 2 PX-10's. I believe your new one is a 1981-ish PXN-10E like mine but in much better condition and I paid a fair bit more for mine but still think I did good on it. You did GREAT on yours.

I was just contemplating my '81 last night trying to decide if I should do a complete strip and repaint or just clean and preserve. Sadly, mine must have been stored in a damp environment, it's not as badly rusted as the stained white paint makes it look and a lot of the brown is some kind of surface funk not rust but I'm still going to lose a lot of paint removing the actual rust. I need to finish my current Raleigh Competiton build and knock out a couple "easy" ones that have been waiting far too long but the goal is to have this one done and be riding it next Summer.

AdventureManCO 

Thank you! This was pretty much all dumb luck, the right timing. If any skill was involved, it what how fast and accurately I whipped my hand around back to swiftly pull out the wallet . For a time there, I actually had two PX-10s as well before this - my first was a 64cm blue from I think '67? I'm way too small but you know what they say, if you've got it, rock it. I built it up as a freakish single speed w/ inverted riser bars, kinda that old school turn of the century look, and rode it for a while (commuting to work and such) and even then it rode GREAT! So when I found my white '68 at a co-op as a homeless rescue, I knew it was going to be fantastic, and it is. If this new one is half the bike my '68 is, it is going to be a lovely bit of ride.

It is SOOOOO hard not to just go out and tear it down and clean and polish and repack bearings and air it up and just GO. But it will provide a nice something to do over the break, so I'm not going to rush it. It is pretty grimey, so I think it is going to clean up really well. In the meantime, I've been thinking about change, because I'm a tinkerer. The rear derailleur has a pretty good scrape on the back of it, and I thought how cool it would be to do a Jubilee / Retrofriction combo on this bike. That, a new alloy Stronglight A9, and the Newbaums tape, and it should be very tastefully upgraded. I'm keeping the white tires, and even thinking about some brass Honjo fenders even.

Murray Missile 

The white tires do look good. I've never seen brass bicycle fenders, I'm curious to see what that would look like.

I stumbled on this PKN-10 a couple years ago for $55, it's in MUCH better conditon than my PX and I like the color better. No excuses for why it's not done yet. And yes, the fork may be tweaked a tiny bit but I'm not going to mess with it. Rear derailleur is broken but I found a replacement right away.

merziac

Yes, a bit but ifn it was here I would give it some serious consideration aside from no $$$.

Really needs to be 64 to make the cut.

AdventureManCO 

So, I am looking up info on this bike, and I find some pictures of the same bike, with the exact same wear spot on the 531 decal on bottom tube. I mean, identical. Can anyone tell me what this came from? Thumb?

Other bike #1:





Other bike #2:





My bike:



What is this!?

Also, I know almost nothing about Campy shifters. Are these Super Record? How can you tell what they are? I'm thinking I'd like to trade them for some Retrofrictions.

cudak888 

Check to see if the top of the front brake smacks that part of the frame when the RD is in the highest gear and the bars are turned full right.

-Kurt

Trakhak

Not from the brake. I watched helplessly as my thumbnail slowly filed its way through the paint at that spot on my Bianchi Specialissima over the course of several seasons. Coincidence or not, that was with Campy Record downtube shifters.

El Chaba

When the brake quick release on the Mafac LS2 brakes is OPEN and the handlebars flop to the side, that is the mark that results….

Bad Lag

That yellow bar tape is making me feel whoozy every time I see it in a photo.