Peugeot Aubisque: any info?

[enas]

Hi all!

I always liked vintage Peugeot bikes (80's/early 90's), like so many others I presume. I never finalised my idea of buying one though, but I am now very tempted to buy a Peugeot Aubisque. I just wanted to know if any of you had any info and advise (what to look at, what are the non-standard and hard to find parts that I should particularly watch for) on those bikes in general, and this model in particular. For those of you who can read some French, this is the bike that I'm coveting, since I'll soon be in the area for holidays (my wife is a native of this area). Any particular opinion on this ad? From the photo, it looks good, but I'm a bit wary of the fact it's been converted to a fixie and back to its original setup.

Thanks for your advises!

 

[raindog]

That's 25ks from where I live!
Looks like a decent machine, doesn't it?
He says the front wheel has a slight buckle. Should be able to get rid of that pretty easily though.
Agree with him that it's a shame to convert this kind of bike to fixed wheel.

 

[enas]

That's 25ks from where I live!
Looks like a decent machine, doesn't it?
He says the front wheel has a slight buckle. Should be able to get rid of that pretty easily though.

It looks pretty decent for that price.
The buckle is nothing (of course, I have to confirm it visually). I'm more worried about parts (bottom bracket, headset?) that are hard to replace on those bikes. Essentially, I would be interested to hear from persons who bought a similar bike and regretted it, or at least who want to share their experience.

Agree with him that it's a shame to convert this kind of bike to fixed wheel.

I agree. In fact, I agree that converting any bike to a fixie is a shame but each to their own

 

[biggs682]

should be a good basis , what you going to use it for ?

 

[korsch]

Ok it's a good bike for the price i wouldn't worry to much about hard to replace bottom brackets etc. i have a french bike for past 2 years and had to replace bottom bracket once £28 found at the second bike shop i went to in london. So there's not that much hassle

 

[Cycleops]

Check out mytenspeeds.com if you haven't already done so. Loads of advice there on restoring french bikes. There are quite a few things you need to be aware of.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I have a Versailles from the late 80's. It does not have a French gruppo, but rather Shimano light action. The Aubisque, according to a Dutch Catalog I'm seeing from 1987, says it has Helicomatic gears and Huret Club 2 ECO derailleurs. The Maillard Helicomatic was rather a touchy fellow, IIRC. A lot of early Trek Bicycles here in the States had them, and many do not have them now. However, it appears to be made of HLE steel, not Carbolite, and HLE is a really nice alloy, in my opinion. (Also dependent on my iffy translation of Dutch)