Road Bike

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si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Ok, so I've been riding for a while now, but entirely on a MTB, but I've been thinking of buying a road bike, mostly because I wanted one, a hybrid would more than suffice for the riding I do.

Anyway, rather than go out an buy a shiny new bike I wanted to be sure that I'd actually enjoy riding the thing, so I ended up punting for a Peugeot on ebay. My thinking being if I liked it I could clean it up and use it as a beater until I get a more modern bike. Suffice it to say it arrived today and I've noticed a few problems, mechanically and geometry wise.

First thing that I noticed is that the top tube and seat tube appear to be equal lengths, checking this with the diagonal tube linking them indicates that is the same too, is this normal? Also the bike feels much smaller than an MTB, with similar downtube size, again is this normal?

Secondly, and which I assumed would be the case, nothing was setup correctly, the brakes were loose, and in the case of the front brake, non-functional, the rear derailleur (these are friction gears btw) became disconnected when I tried changing them.

I spent a little time getting them up and working, the brakes work well enough on the 700c wheels, although I needed to replace the rear tube, as it exploded about 2 minutes after pumping it up.

Anyway to the meat of my queries, first of all the rear wheel has QR skewers fitted, but after removing the wheel to replace the inner tube, I found the axle too wide for the frame (120mm), and had to apply a lot of force to get the rear wheel into the frame. Then, when tightening up the QR, I realised that the QR was actually tightening from the off-side, and the thread was poking several mm beyond the edge. This led to the more major concern, whilst riding the bike around the car park, the rear wheel dislodged and jammed against one of the stays causing immobility.

I'm guessing that this is likely to be a consequence of the axle? Is there a simple way to resolve this without involving the LBS? I'd rather not spend too much more money on it at this stage if possible.
 

Big Nick

Senior Member
Personally if none of this was described/declared prior to sale I'd ask the seller for my money back and then lodge a dispute if they don't cough up, sounds like you've been sold a lemon
 

broady

Veteran
Location
Leicester
I think the bike you've got is in a worse state than this is.
Hope you didn't pay much for it or travel to far to get it
 

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raleighnut

Legendary Member
I think the bike you've got is in a worse state than this is.
Hope you didn't pay much for it or travel to far to get it
Nice looking resto project there broady, I've got a blue Raleigh city that's very similar as my next one. Plan is 3spd SA with the option of an SS wheel.
 

tjones

Active Member
Location
Wiltshire
I done the same as you, purchased a second hand Peugeot as I wanted to try a road bike alongside my mtb

Mine was from a bike shop that sells second hand bikes, I paid a little more than it was worth but at least I new it was mechanically sound.

I am more than happy with my 1980's Peugeot and take it out from time to time for a 30 mile spin. I also use it for commuting some times as it came with mudguards. I have now been given a tracx turbo trainer so will put the bike on this in the bad weather when I cannot get out Saturday

Good luck with your Peugeot
 
OP
OP
si_c

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Ok, so things weren't so bad today, I got on the bike rather late yesterday, and didn't spend any time checking it over really. Had a proper look today, and the QR skewers were frankly crap, and not matching, went down to evans in town this morning and picked up some new bar tape (surprisingly hard to put on!) and some new QR skewers.

Spent a few hours this afternoon stripping down and cleaning the bike a bit, and putting it back together again. Went around the block a few times, much better today although the brakes are terrible, not confidence inspiring at all. Raised the saddle a little, and despite the nut shearing off as I was tightening it off, it feels much more comfortable, albeit strangely low on the road, even though the frame is the same size as my MTB.

Much more confident with the purchase now, it's definitely a project though, gonna see how much I can restore it :smile:

Attached a couple of photos, one before stripping and cleaning, one after. Although it looks much better after than the photos indicate. Still covered in rust though :biggrin:
 

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Looking at the pictures I'd say it's got the original brake blocks in still, so it's no wonder they feel crap.

Old calipers are never going to be great TBH, but if you fit some new pads you definitely feel the benefit.

As for bar tape, this is my go to video whenever I do mine :thumbsup:

Part 1


Part 2
 
OP
OP
si_c

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Looking at the pictures I'd say it's got the original brake blocks in still, so it's no wonder they feel crap.

Old calipers are never going to be great TBH, but if you fit some new pads you definitely feel the benefit.

Yep, it does, although it has new pads on, given the cost of the bike and that it also has new tyres, albeit non-matching rims, the pads are quite cheap and don't grip spectacularly well. Add in that the levers feel awkward to pull in any position, and it's not confidence inspiring. Ideally I'd like to get an set of decent shimano brakes to replace these with, some old 105s from around the same period. I would like to have some STI shifters, but given that the distance between the rear triangles is only 120mm, I'm guessing that's not gonna happen.

As for bar tape, this is my go to video whenever I do mine :thumbsup:

That looks like a good video, I've subscribed to the channel. I watched the GCN video before doing it, which made it look quite easy, but it was harder than I anticipated actually doing it. I might take the tape off and reapply it at some point, but given that what was on previously was slippy and very very thin, even my mediocre attempt at replacing it makes it much better :smile:
 
Yep, it does, although it has new pads on, given the cost of the bike and that it also has new tyres, albeit non-matching rims, the pads are quite cheap and don't grip spectacularly well. Add in that the levers feel awkward to pull in any position, and it's not confidence inspiring. Ideally I'd like to get an set of decent shimano brakes to replace these with, some old 105s from around the same period. I would like to have some STI shifters, but given that the distance between the rear triangles is only 120mm, I'm guessing that's not gonna happen.

The pads may be new but they are still old school, and very possibly NOS, (New Old Stock). I've just stuck THESE on my Raleigh and they've improved the braking no end. I don't normally use Shimano, (or similar) pads TBH as they're made of cheese, but this bike was built to a tight budget so it was case of needs must.

As for STi's, it's really not hard. You need to cold set the rear spacing, but AASHTA. I've done it a couple of times myself, most recently on my Raleigh, (kept the downtube shifters though), but stuck a pair of modern wheels on and changed it from 6 to 8 speed.
 

broady

Veteran
Location
Leicester
To Raleighnut, think the bike is well above my level of restoration. It came in a lot of 3 bikes that I wanted to practice stripping down, cleaning/replacing parts and rebuilding so I have the confidence on any work on my own bike.
I might have a go at or just see if anyone else wants it
 
OP
OP
si_c

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
To Raleighnut, think the bike is well above my level of restoration. It came in a lot of 3 bikes that I wanted to practice stripping down, cleaning/replacing parts and rebuilding so I have the confidence on any work on my own bike.
I might have a go at or just see if anyone else wants it

I'm planning to restore the peugeot, no idea what I'm doing, but it should be "fun", although I've been told I'm taking it to my Dad's house to do, as stripping it in the kitchen is apparently not an option :eek:

Going to need stripping back to the bare metal though, as there are some rust spots that really need sorting. From there I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
 

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broady

Veteran
Location
Leicester
That looks spotless compared to my one. I need to get rid of all the bikes I don't want to clear space to strip this down completely and find out what still works and how much things will cost to replace. If they cost too much then the bits will be up for sale
 
OP
OP
si_c

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Yeah, the rust on the frame appears to be largely cosmetic, even where it's worst around the top of the seat post. Popped into the LBS today, picked up a pair of clarkes pads, took the old ones off the bike, the ones at the back are new apparently put on at halfords during a service, the front ones are another matter.

Needless to say the new brakes are much better, far more confidence inspiring. The levers still travel far too much for me too feel comfortable, on my other bike it's setup so the travel needed is about 1cm and they're full on, not the case on this bike however, the travel is far too much for my liking, but I've also picked up some new brake cables and housings, so the plan will be to replace these over the weekend and sort the other issues with the brakes out.

The only remaining real problem now is the seat, there was a bolt on the seatpost, however the seat was dropping down when I sat on it, and an attempt to tighten it up resulted in the bolt snapping. Looks like a trip back to the LBS tomorrow, I think I need a new seatpost anyway, the one I have currently is too short, and at 25mm I can't swap one over from the other bike either, not that I want to, but still.

all pads.jpg front pad.jpg seatpost bolt.jpg

Getting there slowly. Took it out for a ride tonight despite the issues and set my best time over a mile, 2:30 :smile: Happy with that, get the last couple of issues sorted, and then I can use it day to day for a bit.

Edit: Strava shows 1 PB and 1 2nd fastest time, pleased with that as I wasn't even trying, just getting a feel for the bike :biggrin:
http://www.strava.com/activities/191811642/overview
 

Colin_P

Guru
Another old Pug owner here. They are great old bikes. The brakes are scary but you learn to manage with them. My bike is from the early 1980's and I used to ride one similar to school back in the day. I regret ever getting rid of it so bought this one a few years back and restored it.

Have some faith in yourself, invest a bit of time and effort and the bike will be sorted. I have resprayed mine and polished up all the old tarnished aluminum...

How these duel brake levers ever went out fashion is beyond my understanding, I love them. The brakes are still terrifying though.
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DSCF3709_zpsdbe5af87.jpg


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DSCF3711_zps8a62c59f.jpg
 

Gravity Aided

Legendary Member
Location
Land of Lincoln
Try tightening your brake cables, so the brakes react quickly when you squeeze the levers. A product like naval jelly will remove the rust, but not the paint. For touching up the rusted spots after the naval jelly, use appliance touch-up paint. I believe almond corresponds to Peugeots' version of white, but don't be afraid to experiment. We've all been down this Peugeot road before. They make good road bikes for small coin, in many cases, and provide good service and a repository of fettling stories. Good Luck!
 
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