Here is a a 1970’s Peugeot Mixte frame made from Reynolds 531 tubing that I purchased from a French seller several years ago. My goal in building the bike up was to recreate a Peugeot PR65, whose photo is shown below, and whose style is evocative not only of Peugeot’s legacy and its consistent focus on women riders, but also of that amazing decade known as the 70’s. 
The PR65 Mixte model seemed to exist only for year or two. I love the porteur bars and the cable routing, not to mention the super nice components. 
This 1978 Dutch Peugeot catalogue reveals that the frame was built with Reynolds 531 7/10 butted tubing and Nervex lugs, brazed below 600 degrees using silver, with brazed on cable guides. Components included a Stronglight 48/38 crankset weighing 650 grams, which is lighter than modern day Ultegra and Dura Ace cranksets. The rear derailleur was a Simplex SX410T with a 30 tooth cog capacity, and the front was a Simplex LJA302. 
I decided to go all out and use Simplex Super LJ derailleurs front and rear.
This frame’s Reynolds 531 transfers were in excellent shape, and the bike shop sticker from the shop where this bike was first sold is up in the Pyrenees, on one of the Tour de France routes. Drop-outs are by Simplex, and the fork is fully chromed underneath the paint. No model number is indicated on the frame, and I am not aware of any other mixte frames that Peugeot built during this era with Reynolds tubing.
I used vintage Mafac Racer brake calipers, and a Pivo stem mounted with new Velo-Orange porteur bars. I had to spread the clamp a bit. The shifters are Suntour ratcheting bar ends, which are great to use with these bars because they are close at hand. Believe it or not, I used Raleigh’s steel brake levers because they feel much more solid and sturdy than the flimsier Weinmann and Dia-Compe levers of this era.
The wheelset is an early 80’s Shimano 600 set, with Wolber Super Champion Gentlemen 81 rims, and I managed to find some NOS Bluemels fenders complete with front mudflap. I don’t want to talk about the hours spent installing and adjusting the Velo Orange front porteur rack. Let’s just say that a certain amount of pain was involved. The tight clearances also made it necessary to carefully adjust the fenders to avoid rubbing.
I ended up swapping out the Zeus crankset shown on the left post with this Stronglight, which has smaller chain rings and is better suited for the kind of riding I do. I have had fun commuting and grocery shopping on this bike.
Small Ortlieb panniers fit fine on the Velo Orange front rack.
After a rainy ride the bike stayed dry and clean thanks to the Bluemel’s fenders.
It takes a little while to get used to hauling a front load, but after a few rides, it starts to feel natural. Now that the bike has been thoroughly test ridden and vetted, it’s time to put it up for sale. It’s hard to properly price a bike like this. Many hours went into creating it, and many dollars went into the parts, and most importantly, I hope is the value of the creative process. But, the flood of low-priced Chinese-made bikes in the U.S. has created an expectation gap among bike consumers, and there is a real lack of understanding about why it is possible to buy a cheap bike from their LBS, and what the real cost of that cheap bike may be. But, that rant is for another blog post.
More photos can be seen on this FB Album.
Nice bike! I like the way you have it set up with the porteur rack.
Hi there, I love these bikes!
Can you post some details about the frame geometry? What’s the seat tube (c-t) and effective top tube?
Thanks!
Phil.
Hi Phil,
I’m glad you enjoy the blog. I will be adding geometry specs to each of the posts featuring a restoration soon.
Hi, Nola:
Just stumbled across your blog tonight. What a collection of wonderful and rare vintage bikes. I had no idea that Peugeot ever made a 531-framed mixte. Last year I restored and sold a lovely Peugeot folder which I purchased locally on Craigslist. I liked the bike a lot, but decided to sell because my basement was getting too full. I believe I might have bought the last 22-inch Schwalbe tires in existence.
I’ve done a fair number of restorations, mostly 80s-90s mountain bikes that I’ve turned into commuters and Bike Boom 10-speeds. Keep up the good work. I’ll be checking back
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your comments. If you have photos of restorations you would like to share, I have a FB page for just that purpose: https://www.facebook.com/RestoredVintageBicycles
There were lots of great bikes built during the bike boom, and I’ve also found that steel framed hard tail mountain bikes make a great platform for upgrades and reinterpretations. Happy riding!
Nola,
I have a 70’s Peugeot Mixte with all chrome forks. I want to restore it for my daughter but I’m not sure if I should repaint the frame or just not touch it and leave it as is. The frame is clean but when I looked at the photos of your bicycle restorations, well it got me thinking.
Hi Joe,
If you know what model you have that could help you to determine whether it should be kept all original if possible. This site has lots of the historical catalogs on file both for the French and U.S. markets – http://cyclespeugeot.com/Catalogs.html
If the fork legs are fully chromed, and if the other components are higher end, such as alloy crankset and alloy rims, then you may have a nicer model that should be kept original. However, many of the Peugeot frames make a nice platform for upgrades such as the UO-8, which was one of Sheldon Brown’s favorite touring bikes, even though it did not come standard with the nicer alloy components of the time.
Hello, I know this post is old but I really like your setup on this. Great job! What kind of handlebar tape do you use? I’m trying to restore a vintage 1970s motobecane.
I used the Velo Orange porteur bar, which they still carry. It matches very closely to the vintage Phillipe which would have been mounted originally.
I love it thanks! I ordered one myself, but now that it is here I need to open up or widen my stem clamp a little bit. Do you have instructions on how to do so and what tools/techniques were used?
You can use a large bladed screwdriver to spread the clamp while inserting the bars. You don’t want to use a lot of force – just enough to get the bars centered in the clamp. Another alternative is to take a taller stem, such as Nitto, and sand it down so it will fit in the steerer tube. The porteur bars are quite a bit more comfortable when used with a taller stem.
Good work on your bike. I just moved to France and found an original bike you show that hung in a basement after only two rides by the owner in the 70s. She sold it to me for 60 euros – about the same in US. I don’t need it just liked the classic look. Now I know it is rare atleast.
love this rebuild I about to start one but looking for the paint code for the bike do you by chance know what it is thanks
Thanks. Don’t have a paint code but maybe a reader can help out.
Hi Nola! Stumbled across many of your builds on random Google searches and this one was really nice! Which panniers did you fit here? Am considering building a commuter/rando style bike and using the constructeur rack with a pair of back-city rollers for commuting duty, but maybe they’re too big. Never seen this rack in person so hard to judge.
Hi Justin, I used Ortlieb’s small rollers which I think are now referred to as the Sport model. They fit fine on the V O front rack.
Would you know the years that the white plastic brake levers were used on Peugeot Mixte frames?
Glenn, I’m not aware that plastic levers were ever spec’d on any vintage Peugeot models. But you could try checking online vintage catalogs to see if any are there.