1984 Peugeot (nothing special) Equipe - modernisation project.

[PHL67]

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.
View attachment 375574

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.
View attachment 375575

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.
View attachment 375576

All black and shiny shiny bits
View attachment 375577

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.
View attachment 375578

Shiny shiny A559 caliper.
View attachment 375579

Huret downtube shifters and a "Carbolite 103" decall worn with pride. It might be a gas pipe frame but who cares!
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As it sits tonight. A world of pain. Lots of clearance issues clustered around the BB, front derailleur, mudguard and kick stand area.
View attachment 375581

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!
View attachment 375582

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

Doesn't matter about the tubing. As soon as you mention Peugeot and it looks nice people just love them. I know I do. It does look really nice. Better than the old red colour.

 

[Colin_P]

Doesn't matter about the tubing. As soon as you mention Peugeot and it looks nice people just love them. I know I do. It does look really nice. Better than the old red colour.

Thanks for that. As a yoof I lusted after something with a 501 frame and when a friend got a Record Sprint with all the gold stuff on it I was down in the doldrums a bit. Thing is my old Pug kept up and some. I had a very similar setup as I'm recreating now with the Pletscher rack and with it my old Pug would carry me and loads of fishing gear where my mates Sprint couldn't.

I'm a bit busy elsewhere at home at the moment with quite a large garden patio build going on which I'm trying to get done before the weather breaks. I did however want the frame sprayed on the bike also before things got too damp for spraying. I'll pick up doing the bike once the garden work is done.

For reference, me and my sons have dug out and almost filled a 6 yeard skip and yesterday knocked up two tons on concrete through the mixer barrowing into the garden and placing / levelling / floating it. Another three tons of ballast being delivered tomorrow. Once the concrete bases are I down I then need to lay the paving! The week off I took last week was hopelessly short, this garden project is taking far longer that I thought.

 

[Colin_P]

And finally I got the tyres wet.

Finished the bike this evening having completed the patio works.

Here she stands finished.

The blumel mudguards are very nice things to behold but are a real labour of love to set up correctly.

The new duel pivot deep drop A559 calipers work really well and with the old 70's / 80's suicide levers, really well. I'd say the braking even using the aux levers is up there with my modern roady which is fitted with cross top aux levers. Very little pressure required and the modulation and braking power is very good.

About the only thing I'm not entirely happy with is the angle of the Pletscher rack, it kicks up a bit and had to do so to clear the brake calipers.

The low / mid end Acera rear bolted straight onto the frame

As did the front. A new Shimano UN55 bottom bracket should last and my calcs regarding chain line and bottom bracket length were spot on. The gears shift beautifully although it is going to take some time to get used to the extended choice of ratios. Previous and this will ring true to anyone who has used downtube shifters is that you'll leave it in a gear rather than shift to another one. Easily done with a brifter or a thumb shifter but on a downtube setup it takes some effort. I'm sure i'll get used to it.

The full drive train, fitting an MTB triple setup to an 80's road bike can be done and is actually quite easy. The hardest part is working out the bottom bracket length to get a proper chainline.

The Pletscher kick stand. I love these, always have from the late 70's when I first had one on a bike. For those who can remember them, they are exactly the same and make the exact same noise you may or may not remember

Bar tape. It has been a while, in fact never since I fitted any. Back in the day when it got scraggy it all got ripped off and I went "bare bar". My modern roady tape has lasted and lasted. This stuff though bought as a kit is probably for slightly wider and thicker modern bars? I might un-ravel the thick bulgy bits and trim some off!

And, just back from the test / shakdown ride. A proper Autumnal evening, light drizzle and a bit nippy. It didn't matter, the bike was an absolute joy to ride.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Well done, that's a fabulous job sir.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

It's a beauty

Good work with the patio too!

 

[raleighnut]

Nice

 

[buzzy-beans]

Words fail me, truly well done.

 

[davidphilips]

If it goes as well as it looks and i am sure it does, you have a real great bike, well done sir and hope you have many safe and happy miles together.

 

[Colin_P]

Thank you all for your kind words.

Mistakes, I made a few.....

1, I should have built everything up before spraying the frame so as to avoid scratches. But there again this bike isn't and isn't going to be a show queen, it'll get used for non cargo carrying duties. I cannot drive and my modern roady does not (I've tried) have the clearance for mudguards. The Giant in the background will remain as my heavy hauler. This Pug fills a perfect gap.

2, The thought of even fitting grey cable outers was silly. Another set has gone on the bike in black. Saying that there is still a very short length for the rear derailleur in grey but I doubt anyone would notice. I'll probably end up changing it !

3, Bar tape. I think this may be a case of costly practice will make perfect. Not too happy with it as-is.

4, Top tip for horizontal front facing dropouts; fit the wheel with the tyre flat and avoid a whole lot of head scratching when it come to clearance issues. Of course this would not have been an issue if I'd not fitted the mudguards and the kick stand. This revelation has allowed me to fit the originally intended 28c tyres rather than the newly bought 25c's. Talking of which, I thought the 28c's would go on the roady, nope, not engough clearance, so the roady is now sitting on that new set of Continentals.

5, I should have stuck the Lions halfway down the seat tube, not at the top!


And a question for those in the know or who might know..

The front dropouts are un-equal on the fork which allows and requires you to center the front wheel, and not, as every bike I can remember where you just drop it till it stops and everything is centered by default.

I cannot remember if this is normal on an old road bike such as this or do you think the forks may be damaged in some way? I don't think they are the original, in they are not, forks, they are 27.5"'s rather than 700c'ers the bike would have left the factory with.

Should I be looking for another set of forks? If so, anyone got a pair they'd flog?

 

[Colin_P]

Costs.

I was reading a thread on here last night about a Jamis Aurora which I've liked for a while. In this bike I've aped the style and function of one and think I've ended up with a bike with very similar characteristics. But the Aurora is currently selling for £639 down from £749 at Evans.

This bike, I didn't keep track of the costs and if I did, I probably wouldn't have done it...

Bike itself, £0 as I already had it but I believe that when these come up they can be had for <£100

Wheels, £0 already them, not to fancy a set of shimano hubbed eyeletted jobbies. These are actually hybrid wheels are are bit wider than I would have chosen to fit or buy new specifically for this build. They are however, despite being double walled, the same width as the old wheels that were on the bike.

Paint, about £20, all rattle cans, etch primer, matt black base coat, satin laquer topcoat and a few sheets of wet and dry sandpaper.

Decals, about £7, even if they are not period correct, who cares at £7 !

Bottom bracket, about £15

Crank set, about £40, the priciest item of the build

Pedals, Welgos finest, £10

Front derailleur, £10

Rear derailleur, £17

Cassette, £13

Chain, £9

Brake lever set, £4, yes won in an auction. Already had a set of Weinman aero's but wanted the Weinman / Diacompes

Brake caliper set, £31 front and rear (well worth it!)

Rear rack, about £30, yes, I know....

Kick stand, about £10

Mudguards, £23

Cables, £24, £12 x 2 (as I made a mistake on colour choice) Jagwire sets.

Bar tape, £6

Bits and bobs say £20, I ordered a load of M5 sized stainless steel fixings, nyloc nuts, washers, bolts etc of which I only used a tiny number of but obviously now have as spares.

Tyres, £20, yes, those contis only cost a tenner each. Currently on the modern roady and will no doubt be puncture magnets!


YIKES, that lot comes to about £290 !!!

And if I had to add on the cost of the bike, then, say £390

And if I had to add on the cost of the wheels, then, say £490

.......getting close to the cost of a brand new Jamis Aurora there but not half as cool.

And of course the real biggy is that I've not factored in my labour which is a labour of love.

 

[GuyBoden]

Excellent job and great photos, I have a MTB triple on my 1980's steel racer, they're great for spinning up hills.

 

[buzzy-beans]

YIKES, that lot comes to about £290 !!!

And if I had to add on the cost of the bike, then, say £390

And if I had to add on the cost of the wheels, then, say £490

.......getting close to the cost of a brand new Jamis Aurora there but not half as cool.

And of course the real biggy is that I've not factored in my labour which is a labour of love.

But the thing is Colin that your bike is unique to you, furthermore, you know every single square inch of it and last of all it positively shouts out QUALITY, QUALITY, QUALITY.

As I have written before, truly well done, you can ride it with a bloody great big self gratification smile across your chubby little cheeks with a warming thought flooding through your mind "bloody hell, I did all of this".

 

[Colin_P]

But the thing is Colin that your bike is unique to you, furthermore, you know every single square inch of it and last of all it positively shouts out QUALITY, QUALITY, QUALITY.

As I have written before, truly well done, you can ride it with a bloody great big self gratification smile across your chubby little cheeks with a warming thought flooding through your mind "bloody hell, I did all of this".

I know, you cannt beat or add to the satisfaction doing it yourself. As the old saying goes, anything is possible with a cheque book. (or debit / credit cards / paypal etc these days). It would have certainly been a bit easier if I'd toddled off to Evans or the LBS. Talking of which, there isn't an LBS here anymore!

Another random thought on the brakes; to get everything just so alignment wise I had to use V-brake blocks and ditch the as supplied road blocks.

 

[Crackle]

And a question for those in the know or who might know..

The front dropouts are un-equal on the fork which allows and requires you to center the front wheel, and not, as every bike I can remember where you just drop it till it stops and everything is centered by default.

I cannot remember if this is normal on an old road bike such as this or do you think the forks may be damaged in some way? I don't think they are the original, in they are not, forks, they are 27.5"'s rather than 700c'ers the bike would have left the factory with.

Should I be looking for another set of forks? If so, anyone got a pair they'd flog

I don't recall ever having to do that with a bike from that era, Carltons, Raleighs or even a 50's Rotrax. How far out is it, anything a bit of filing won't cure?

 

[Colin_P]

I don't recall ever having to do that with a bike from that era, Carltons, Raleighs or even a 50's Rotrax. How far out is it, anything a bit of filing won't cure?

I've always been hands with bikes, right from the mid 70's and cannot ever recall this either on any fronts. Rears yes, they'd need centering but fronts no, just push the wheel right into the dropouts and job done. Not this bike though, it needed centering.

When I've got time i'll carefully inspect the fork.

Looks like I might need to source another set which may be tricky with being a 25" frame.