1980’s Peugeot 650c Conversion

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Nola Wilken

I came across this Canadian Peugeot on eBay. Before I converted it to a 650c city bike, it was equipped with a mix of Shimano 600 and 105 components, and even sported some brifters, which of course had failed some time ago. Probably, the bike was garaged after this and that is why it was in pretty decent shape. Thank you, Shimano.

There was a little bit of rust in the bottom bracket shell, so I decided to treat the frame with Weigle’s frame saver. It was nice to see the vertical drop-outs, and the cutouts on the lugs were a surprise. Most of the finish work is very good, except for the sloppy work on the seat stay brake bridge. Of course, the serial number is meaningless, except the “Y” makes me wonder if this was a PY model. Canadian Peugeot’s were manufactured by Pro Cycle beginning in 1978. The company used lug construction vs. the French models which were internally brazed. The frame and fork are Reynolds 531. The fast back seat stays and the unicrown fork, as well as the style of the Reynolds stickers (which are in French) made me date this bike to the mid-80’s. I’ve never seen a Peugeot in British racing green, but I really do like this color. There are even some gold racing stripes on the left side seat stay. So, it doesn’t look as French as it does British. (And, I guess that’s why it’s Canadian.)

I salvaged the nice Shimano 105 rear derailleur by inverting the b-screw, a la Sheldon Brown. That made it possible to use a 32 tooth cog on the rear cassette. For this city drive train I used a 45 tooth SR ring, a Velo Orange chain guard, and a 165 mm SR Signature crank. With this wheel size, that yields a gear inch range of 34-93 with the 12-32 7 speed cassette pictured. That’s just about right for any kind of city riding that involves hills. I used Tektro’s long reach brakes, which are what I use for all my 650c conversions, and 650c Terry Tellus 28 mm tires. These tires ride quite well and are virtually bullet proof. The wheelset is comprised of 28 hole Dura Ace hubs laced to Mavic XP12 rims in a 2 cross style. This wheelset came off of a late 90’s titanium triathlon bike. While this set may seem positively robust by today’s standards, I am a big fan of strong wheelsets with at least 3 cross lacing and 32 spokes front and rear. However, for a small and light-weight rider, which is who I designed this bike for, this wheelset should work just fine.

For the rest of the build, I chose an upright position using Velo-Orange’s Monmartre handlebar with reverse Dia Compe levers. I had some matching Shimano 105 shifters, so used those to complement the rear derailleur. They can be used in friction or index mode with this 1 x 7 drive train.

The standover height is 29 1/2 inches. The bike weighs 21 lbs as pictured, so it will make a very nice and responsive city bike for a small rider.

For sale now.

1970’s Austro Daimler Inter 10

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Nola Wilken

Here is a late 70’s Austro Daimler Inter 10. It is built with Reynolds 531 butted tubing and has an unusually nice mix of quality components. I have overhauled and restored it in my usual way, which involves removing all components for cleaning and mechanical overhaul, cleaning and waxing the frame, treating the frame internals for rust, then putting the bike back together with new: cables, housing (if needed), tubes and tires and of course a rebuild of hubs, bottom bracket, and headset. With its high quality frame and excellent overall condition, this is a bike to keep as original as possible.

Campagnolo Nuovo Record Long Cage Derailleur

Campagnolo Front Derailleur

Top end Red Label Normandy Lux Competition Hubs

Stronglight crankset with 42/52 rings – showing no wear

Not all Austro Daimler Inter 10’s were made with Reynolds 531 tubing, but they were mostly set up with components for light touring and sport riding. This Inter 10 also has higher end components normally found on the upper level models such as the Super Light and the Vent Noir.

The drive train is geared for touring, with a 14/34 freewheel mated to a 42/52 crankset. With this wheel size, the yields a gear inch range of 33-100. That’s a pretty good range conducive for all types of riding.

Rare and beautiful GB Maes bars in fantastic shape.

Atom 600 pedals

Weinmann 605 Sidepulls with quirky Mathauser finned brake shoes

Maillard 14-34 5 speed freewheel

I encountered just about every marquis existing in the bike world in the 70’s on this bike: Reynolds, Campagnolo, Weinmann, Normandy, Maillard, SR, Atom, Simplex (the seatpost bolt!), GB, Shimano (forged chrome drop-outs), Stronglight, and Huret. To clean the component mix up, I replaced the Huret downtube shifters with Campagnolo shifters from the same era. I also replaced the Weinmann levers, which were in bad shape, with these Campagnolo levers also from the same era:

Campagnolo downtube shifters

Campagnolo levers – this style first introduced in 1976

Campagnolo shifter cable guides

I also had a nostalgia moment when I removed these “extras” from the bike – an odometer, tire savers, and flick-stand. These were de rigueur back in the day. The flick stand is actually a very useful device that I will probably use for one of my bikes. The Huret odometer shows less than 1600 miles on the clock – that seems about right given the nice condition the bike was in.

All of the Austro Daimler’s I have encountered have been surprisingly nice. The company had a lengthy and complex relationship to bicycle manufacturing. If you want to know things you never dreamed of wanting to know about the company, here is an amazing manifesto on the subject.

This frame is built with Reynolds tubing. The sticker is missing on the seat tube, but still present on the fork. This bike’s top tube is 57 cm, even though the seat tube is 53 cm. Apparently, Austro Daimler just used the same top tube length for most of its bikes, regardless of seat tube length. Fortunately, when the bike was built up, a short reach and tall SR stem was chosen, so the ergonomics on this bike still fit like a typical 53 cm bike. The bike has an unusual seat post – a “G.S.” San Marco, which is actually very attractive and has the diameter inscribed in a helpful location.

The build quality of the frame is extraordinarily nice, with Shimano forged drop outs, lined lugs, a chrome fork crown, and top quality finish work on the seat lug. There are no braze-ons of any kind, but the clamp-on Campagnolo and Weinmann guides are very attractive.

This is another great example of a quality touring/sport-touring bike from the late 70’s. Although a production build, the bike has survived quite well and has many miles left to go.

Update October, 2016: Sold! Congratulations to Bob in Pennsylvania.

Peugeot 650b Mixte Restoration

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Nola Wilken

Spanning several years, my work on this restoration project is now complete. This 1930’s (or possibly 1940’s) Peugeot came to me like this:

The frame was pretty dirty, but seemed otherwise intact, with all the brazing in good shape and no serious dings or dents. It is made with Vitus “Rubis” tubing, a type used on higher end bicycles in the 30’s and 40’s. As many enthusiasts know, Peugeot serial numbers appeared to follow no rhyme or reason and cannot be used to successfully date older models. So, the main clues to its provenance are the “H” in front of the serial number, the tubing type, the decals, and the components. The drive side chain stay has a braze-on for a derailleur spring, but when I purchased the bike, it came with a Simplex Tour de France derailleur, a model which doesn’t use such a spring. I think this was a later upgrade to the bike, as these derailleurs were first introduced in the late 40’s.

Peugeot Serial Number

Vitus Rubis tubing

In two previous posts I documented the process used to create a rideable machine out of the original bike plus as many period-specific parts as I could source. I added 650b wheels, hammered fenders, a Henri Gauthier leather saddle, a polished aluminum stem, custom levers, and aluminum handlebar with wood grips. My final quest was to set up the lighting. I needed a full lighting system, and after going through a number of possible dynamos I finally found a Ducel fork mounted system that was NOS from the 50’s, that looked just about perfect.

Ducel fork mount dynamo

Ducel headlamp

Ducel rear lamp

Riding this bike is really fun – it is very comfortable with its super long wheel base and the 650b tires. It is quite the attention getter and conversation starter and was really rewarding to work on. Here is the bike now, and it will be up for sale in my new on-line store – coming soon.