Retro upgrade

[J4CKO]

A mate of mine was going to chuck his early eighties burgundy "Peugeot Premier" (most were white), a solid steel framed old road bike shaped object, I had one of these back then and it was my only transport, this one apart from a few scuffs is in pretty good condition.

It rides quite nicely, just how I remember, kind of lopes along, not that nimble but quite fast considering.

Anyway, the wheels are a bit past it and I have a brand new spare off my Allez so I have "cold formed" (copywright the late, great Sheldon Brown) the rear stays, i.e. have stetched them out to allow for the wider rear axle which worked quite nicely, trouble is the Cassette (was it a Cassette back then ?) is a five speed and the hub on the new wheel is set up for 8 or more, also the rear mech is the old Huret pressed steel cheapy with friction shifters which I kind of like and want to keep so what do I need to get it all working together ?

Going to get an Iscaselle "Turbo" saddle like I had back then as the current one is hideous and the turbo one is just so cool.

Need some bar tape as well, currently sporting what appears to be Electricians tape, very thin and scratchy, to go with the very thing bars, honestly the diameter of the ones on my Allez Elite are twice or more the thickness.

kind of thinking of this for leaving at the leisure centre when i go to the gym or for a swim, dont want to leave a £800 bike outside, wheras this shouldnt attract the attentions of the local magpies, I am hoping that they wouldnt be seen dead on it, even though with nice modern black rims, shining and nicely detailed it has a little retro cool.

 

[PpPete]

Friction shifter will be just fine with any modern cassette.
Whether the Huret mech will have quite enough lateral movement to cope I'm not 100% sure. It's a "suck it and see" job, but it should at the very least be possible to set it so that you can use 7 out of the 8 sprockets. You probably won't need the 11T anyway.

There's an old steel drop-bar pug round our way that's been tricked out with modern wheels, but still has the downtube shifters.
More or less "invisible" to the scrotes, but I suspect it is very quick.

 

[Grasen]

if you have friction levers and want to keep them , then any wheel will do, as long as the cogs and chain get along.

I gather you mean Selle Italia Turbo?

 

[J4CKO]

Grasen, yes, thats it, oops !

Have a spare MTB cassette, will give that a try, even though its huge it should work, just aneed a rim tape as I have realised the spare wheel didnt come with one, once its working I will scout out a matching front wheel, looks quite nice with the black rims.

Will use it for work and give my nice Allez a little break.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

When I did a similar conversion, I found that my rear mech (an 80's Campag Super Record) fouled the spokes when it lined up with the largest rear cog on a 9 speed Campag cassette. I don't know whether this happened because of the arrangement of the spokes (on Campag Proton with asymmetric geometry for minimising dish), or because these old rear mechs are "wider" than modern ones, or both.

The way I got round the problem was to move the second smallest cog on the cassette to the other end, essentially using it only as an additional spacer against the spokes. This sacrifices one speed, but 8 speeds are quite sufficient for me!

As porkypete wisely pointed out about the Huret's reach (a problem I did not have), you might want to install the wheel even without the right cassette to assess if constraints such as reach or clash exist. The assessment might inform your decision as to which cassette to get (if you do not have one in mind already).

Good luck!

 

[J4CKO]

I just installed the rear wheel from my Allez and it worked fairly well, I think the chain is too wide for the chain as in certain gears it skips so will try an 8 speed and see if its any better, have to say though I almost prefer it to the modern, maybe its because its what I remember but the brakes work well (the bat top extenders provide enough for non emergency slowdowns), the bars seem a more natrual size and shape, I though knocking 40 going on the drops wasn't for me anymore but it is some much easier on these, not missing the gear change on the bars, the Tiagra has some annoying play anyway (on mine, might need adjusting) so the friction shifters seem good.


Wierd how skip bound snotter can grab your attention more than an £800 brand new bike !

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Wierd how skip bound snotter can grab your attention more than an £800 brand new bike !

It is because they are more mellow, more dependable, untainted by current fashion, and have lived a life.

 

[J4CKO]

Its up and running now, got an overpriced close ratio 8 speed cassette from the LBS, 8 speed chain I didnt end up needing and new bar tape, looks pretty nice now, just need a matching black front wheel or at least putting a new tyre on to replace the 20 year old gumwall, will do that before I go anywhere on it, might bung some spds on it as well.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Following this thread closely as I am currently rebuilding an early eighties BSA (by Raleigh). Good frame (531), but it has only a five speed block with an old Suntour rear mech. I am going to try the original wheels/gears etc. for a while, but as the tyres are tubs, I have serious reservations about using them long term. I may have to get the wheels rebuilt on clincher rims.