1984 Peugeot (nothing special) Equipe - modernisation project.

[Colin_P]

For no reason at all I've decided to document this project, I lie, any tips and tricks more than welcome.

I had one of these new in the mid 1980's and used to ride it to school. I kept it and kept it and even used it for a while to communte to work across central London back in the early 90's. I loved that bike and kept it until about six years ago where in a moment of madness I took it to the dump!

I deeply and sorely regret that decision.

About four years ago I had a real near miss health scare which came with a six month medical driving ban. The plus side of that, if there could ever be one was it got me back into cycling in a big way. I already had a small collection with my N number equalling five and as you do was always on the lookout for the +1. When this current Pugcame up locally for a very reasonable pprice I snapped it up.

It is 25" 'carbolite' (nothing special) steel framed beast but rides so, so nicely.

This is the only pic of it as was just after I purchased it.

Shortly after I stripped it down and gave it a quick blowover with some satin black paint. This was done as I fancied it and that the forks didn't match the frame.

This is how it stood up until a week or so ago, all original components except for a narrower saddle.

Slightly dulled now but when I gave it the blow over I properly polished up the aluminium comonpents. And yes I know a frayed cable, tut tut.

All black and shiny shiny bits

And then I went bonkers deciding to give it a proper refresh and a bit of a modernisation. Plans and work in progress is / are;

1. Strip down the paint and re-apply using and etch primer, matt black base coat and a satin laquer topcoat. This was after going over the frame and forks with 120,180,240,400 and 600 grit wet and dry. Each rub down with each grit of paper took about and hour. All hell of a lot of work.
2. MTB chainset. Having a heart condition and being on some hefty drugs which won't allow my heart rate to go above 110bpm means that I am no longer able to meaningfully push a 52 cog front ring. So I've plumped for 42/32/22 triple MTB item up front and an 11-32 8 speed out back instead of the approx 12-24 five speed that was on there. Interstingly the stock front was a 52/42 now the biggest is a 42!
3. New low/mid range Acera derailleurs going on, choice seems to be limited for the small diameter seat tube and rear direct mount.
   
4. Staying are the downtube shifters.
5. Staying are the Weinmann / Diacompe duel brake levers, some people call them suicide levers for some reason, I absolutely love them.
6. Going though are the old and feeble Weinmann 500 sidepull brakes and in there place are some Tektro A559 long drop 'nutted' duel pivot calipers. I've got these and may have a problem, more later on that.
7. Blumel mudguards currently being fitted, what a lovely fiddle they are. More problems, more of hich later.
8. All new cable and any other embellishments I can mount on the thing.

Anyway, a few more pics...

Frame painted. I decided to purchase a set of decals off e-bay for about £6 and stuck some of them on, not all but some! The laquer was sprayed over the decals.

Shiny shiny A559 caliper.

Huret downtube shifters and a "Carbolite 103" decall worn with pride. It might be a gas pipe frame but who cares!

As it sits tonight. A world of pain. Lots of clearance issues clustered around the BB, front derailleur, mudguard and kick stand area.

Talking of stands. Did you know you can still but brand new Pletscher items exactly the same as they were back in the 1970's? I had to have one and it HAS to fit! And the real biggy, you can also buy brand new shiny shiny Pletscher rear 'rat trap' racks as well, so I bought one!

No downtube water bottle bosses on this frame so I bought some DMR clamp ons. They are beautiful beautiful things.

I know, I know, I'm lavishing loads of cash on a bike that is worth next to nothing and is nothing special. Nostalgia eh?

More to follow...

 

[Colin_P]

The bottom bracket.

Fitted originally was an old cup and cone setup. I had an old Shimano UN54 in the tool box so trial fitted it, it fitted, good news. Except when the new crank was fitted the chain line was sitting at 57mm as well as I could measure it.

So, some crude measurements and fag packet calcs were done (I don't smoke anymore, gave up a long time ago) so they were post it note calcs, as follows...

Old trail fit BB = 128mm long with a 57mm chain line
So to get 50mm; 128mm less 7mm x 2 = 114mm so I threw caution to the wind and ordered a 113mm UN55 ! Probably wrong.


The clearance issues.

The old front derailleur was fitted quite high and with the curve of the wheel was well away from it, no problems. Now there is a little diddy MTB crank on there the derailleur is a lot lower and is very tight to the mudguard. Add in the Pletscher stand and things are tighter still.

The biggest issue is that of the horizonal rear dropouts as with everyting in place there isn't quite enough room to move the wheel forward enough to clear the dropout lower prong thing. This was / is with 700x 28c tyres. To solve this I'm throwing yet more cash at the problem and have ordered some 25c tyres to create a bit more room for the wheel to move forward so it can drop down without wedging against the mudguard which needs to be set back as far as possible so it doesn't foul the derailleur. I've yet to try andrun the derailleir cable but am hoping there will be just enough room between the downtube and the Pletscher stand.

It is all trial and error stuff.

 

[Colin_P]

Also very importantly, you have to have sounds whilst you work.

The Hi-FI in the garage is as old as the bike, the Amstrad tuner older still.

 

[biggs682]

Sounds like a lot of work is being done on a good old Pug they make excellent work horse's .

And your mods should make it better and more suited to your needs .

 

[davidphilips]

Only thing i disagree with is the bit about lavishing loads of cash on a bike that is worth next to nothing and is nothing special.

Lots of cash and time yes, but that is something special and its value to you will be unmeasurable it will help you keep up with cycling and the health benefits that go with the sport/hobby.

Great work and i look forward to a picture of the finished bike.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I really like the paint finish, is that a satin finish ?
Shame you've lost the red though (purely from my own sentimental point of view) as the Peugeot Equipe was my first ever proper bike when I was about 11 or 12. I bloody loved it. Might still be in my parents loft! It would be a junior size.

 

[uphillstruggler]

that paint finish is superb, good job.

also now purchasing some bottle cage doodahs for one of my bikes so cheers for that.

 

[Colin_P]

Sounds like a lot of work is being done on a good old Pug they make excellent work horse's .

And your mods should make it better and more suited to your needs .

Indeed, no matter how cheap it and un-collectable it is in the cycle-o-sphere, it rides beautifully. The MTB gearing, if I can get it to work will help me enormously.

Only thing i disagree with is the bit about lavishing loads of cash on a bike that is worth next to nothing and is nothing special.

Lots of cash and time yes, but that is something special and its value to you will be unmeasurable it will help you keep up with cycling and the health benefits that go with the sport/hobby.

Great work and i look forward to a picture of the finished bike.

I only wish I hadn't dumped the actual bike I'd had since I was a yoof. This is a near identical replacement though. Mine was a pale blue colour though.

I'll keep posting up pics and updates, it could take a while as a lot of it is trial and error and not being able to drive means I have to rely on the post for bits as I cannot nip off to the bike shop. Believe it or not there is no bike shop in my town except Halfords.

I really like the paint finish, is that a satin finish ?
Shame you've lost the red though (purely from my own sentimental point of view) as the Peugeot Equipe was my first ever proper bike when I was about 11 or 12. I bloody loved it. Might still be in my parents loft! It would be a junior size.

Yes, that is a stain finish. You buy direct / one coat satin but for an added depth of finish I applied a base coat of matt black, slapped the decals on and then gave it a few coats of satin laquer.

 

[Colin_P]

Lovely looking project. I did a similar gear-lowering job with a Dawes of similar vintage. But my project was much more bodgy and doesn't look half as nice.

How did you get on with the downtube shifters? I toyed with the idea of going brifter for about two seconds until I realised it would mean ditching the Weinmann / Diacompe duels, which cannot happen on this bike. My modern roady is briftered and also has cross top / interuptor levers but that would be a step too far here.

that paint finish is superb, good job.

also now purchasing some bottle cage doodahs for one of my bikes to cheers for that.

They are beautiful beautiful objects of polished aluminium. I have spent a lot of time just staring at that rear bottle cage.

Paint job is fantastic, really like that. Whole bike looks great too (except for the mudguards).

Cheers. As for the mudguards, did you pick up on the fact that a Pletscher kick stand from 1970 something and a Pletscher rat trap rack is going on, both period correct items and both will un-recer'ify the bike even more than the mtb triple !

 

[Colin_P]

I love them. They are the One True Way to change gear.

If I was having a dream bike built entirely to my spec it would probably (a bit like @Fab Foodie ) have downtube shifters.

Downtubes are a given as you can 'trim' any gear to get rid of noise, they are lovely things.

My question was more to do with them being able to shift a triple out front and eight speeds at the back?

 

[Colin_P]

The trouble with having a week off work to dig out and lay an extension to your patio is that invariably you end up dossing about and doing things you shouldn't, like messing about with old bikes.

Some more info, some of which will make some make a Ffffffffff noise.

First of all, pedals, this may trigger some of you! A pair of Wellgo's finest flat resin specials, with reflectors! None of my bikes have those funny clippy pedals that require silly shoes and fast approaching 50, I'm not starting now! I'll be able to get to and from the pub in flip-flops on a bike without them, that is important on those balmy summer evenings.

These are like the Casio watch of pedals, both around in the 80's and both made of resin, I love them.

Serious stuff now, duel lever brakes.

Two set below, at the bottom are what has just come off of the bike, a set of pure Weinmann aero (little holes drilled in them) levers, top is a set of Weinmann / Diacompe items which I got off e-bay for a very good price. They are the real deal, these are the ones where you have to get out a massive screwdriver and tighten up the aux levers after every ride wheras the bottom set are rivetted and need no further fettling.

They are as dull as ditchwater, no the patina, not the fact that they are the greatest brake levers ever made.

The pure Weinamnn items are now surplus to my requirements so if anyone fancies them, give me a shout.

The real deal, Dia-compe's, it really will be like riding in 1985 with these bad boys.

 

[si_c]

I only have a double at the front, so that's not a problem.
As to shifting 8 speed I don't have any trouble but I don't think I'd like to do 10 speed. I do quite often miss a gear and have to adjust it.

Actually my Dawes is 7 speed due to cramming a modern freehub wheel into the frame. This means there isn't enough clearance for the 11T sprocket.

I've done 10 speed with friction shifters (I have a couple of sets of simplex retrofriction shifters - truly sublime), it's actually a touch easier to shift I found with 10 speed, as the gap between shifts is smaller, so you can just tap the lever and it moves the derailleur. With practice, I found I could tap and trim to the final position with one relatively smooth movement, part of that is the shifters though, buttery smooth.

 

[Colin_P]

And what do you know, the doorbell rang whilst I was typing the previous post with more stuff delivered.

Eight speed cassette, it was a 11-34 I ordered, not an 11-32, that is better for me to really granny up those hills, will it fit, will it work, find out soon.

And then the thing I have been getting really excited about, the Pletscher "Rat-trap" rear rack. So excited I just had to trial fit it...

Look at that, just look at it and drink it in!

Shiny shiny happy people

Right I must get on and do some work, the work I took the time off of actual work to do and stop messing about with old bikes.

 

[Colin_P]

I've done 10 speed with friction shifters (I have a couple of sets of simplex retrofriction shifters - truly sublime), it's actually a touch easier to shift I found with 10 speed, as the gap between shifts is smaller, so you can just tap the lever and it moves the derailleur. With practice, I found I could tap and trim to the final position with one relatively smooth movement, part of that is the shifters though, buttery smooth.

I suppose the narrower chain and tighter spacing on a ten speed would negate any need or worries about there being sufficient cable throw from the shifter.

Personally, I do a lot of riding in very harsh conditions, maybe I won't on this bike, but I'll typically get through a cassette and chain in about 1,000 miles and that is with a full width chain on a chunky 3x8 setup. Using that mindset, I think 9/10/11 speed stuff would be too delicate (and expensive to frequently) replace for me.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I'm reading all this and starting to get daring ideas for restoring my Carlton Kermesse this winter