Good morning,
......... What an absolute bargain for someone looking for a cheap way into cycling !
Whilst I agree that there has been a lot of labour spent on the bike I think that it is overpriced and would never offer it to someone new to cycling or looking for a cheap bike.
When it was new it was a nice bike, and if it were new today it would still be a nice bike, although 3-5lbs heaver than equivalent priced aluminium bikes.
If you are "into" older bikes you may already have a collection of tools and access to parts, you may also be happy with 2x6 when everyone is telling you to bin it for at least 2x8 or even 2x10. If not every time you think I would like to change ..... you could end up scouring
ebay, buying the wrong parts or being told, sorry can't help unless you are willing to upgrade this that and t'other.
You could very quickly regret not spending £100-£150 and getting a Claris equipped Specialized Allez or equivalent.
It is also a 35 year old bike, I know that the Steel Is Real types love to imply that steel bikes last forever and some do, but many don't.
At around the time that was built I had a Raleigh Record Sprint, pretty much the same bike with a few component tweaks and a different paint job. Actually I had two, the first frame failed within the first couple of thousand miles, the downtube fractured around the whole of its circumference completely detaching it from the lug that joined it to the head tube.
Note that the frame in the video is a 501/carbon steel hybrid, 501 was entry level competition/almost competitions stuff, so it was a collection of thinly drawn main tubes joined to thicker unspecified carbon steel forks, stays and probably head tube. This was always tricky as using different metals in the same frame runs the risk of overheating one tube and underheating another tube in the same lug.
Although 501 was often referred to a a Cro/Mo it was a Cr/Mo/Mn alloy, the argument for more Chrome is that the frame is less brittle after heating and the argument for more manganese is less strength is lost after heating, Most modern Cr/Mo frames are 4130 which is also a Cr/Mo/Mn alloy and it is quite rare to see new frames that are Cr/Mo/[Mn] and carbon steel, this combination was popular when trying to penny pinch but appear to be expensive.
If you can find one Peugeot made a lot of 501 tubes, forks and stays frames, but they are rare on her used market because relatively few were made and few owners want to sell them because they are very good.
This a pic of a 531 frame that failed disastrously just above the shifter bosses, as it was 531C it was drawn ever so slightly thinner than 501;
Note how thin the tubing wall is and how little rust would be needed to compromise the tube integrity, 501 was also a seamed tube which means another a long weld to worry about as the tubing starts to age and rust.
For me the video was unclear on the level on rusting on the top tube both in the centre and at the join to the seat tube, but even an apparently perfect frame would need some consideration given to its age.
It is a 2x6, probably 42/52 and 14-24 which nowadays would be considered well overgeared, but would you accept that or get caught trying to upgrade to 7 or 8 speed, meaning new wheels, cassette, shifters (unless happy to have the existing ones in friction mode, if they still work as parts dry-out and fracture over time).
Downtube shifters, why would I want those over STI?
And the condition of the wheels wasn't really mentioned. When you hit a pot hole will you find that the spokes and nipples have rusted together and you need to replace them to true the wheels or that steel eyes have started to corrode through the aluminium rims or anything else associated with 35 years of non use?
I won't even start on the frustration that comes when you realise that you were at the start of indexed shifting and the bits you have are the last one Shimano made before they changed the pulled ratio for what became their standard. Of course this only happens once you realise that there is such a thing as pull ratio and only a few old fogies remembered that it ever changed.
I am not anti-steel it's just that some old steel stuff should only be sold to people who understand what it is they are buying and the if they don't know either by new stuff as is it so much easier to keep on the road or accept that they have taken on a labour of love not made a sensible practical purchase.
Bye
Ian
