Mid 80's Peugot

[msl819]

I have a chance to pick up a mid 80's Peugot for 50 bucks. My thoughts were to make it into a fixed gear beater. I am wondering if anyone can speculate as to the bottom bracket situation on these frames. I do not have a specific year or even a model, but i have heard folks talk before about "french" bottom brackets and how much of a pain they are. Can anyone shed a light to potential issue in removing the orginal equipment and pulling off the conversion? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Also if anyone would be interested in a six speed, DT shifted group let me know. It also has Weinmann tubulars and brakes. I would have no use for this after removing to convert.

[Kevan]

but depending on age and model, be glad you're not recabling it. It was one of those that broke me. Never again.

[Don49]

I converted a '73 LeJuene with French BB to SS/fixed with no issues. I was able to retain the original BB and TA crank and get a perfect chainline with the new rear wheel. I removed the inner chainring and just run the big (50T) chainring on the inside of the spider. If you really needed to replace the BB, I think French BB's are still available from Harris Cyclery, but the easier solution would be a Phil Wood with French cups.

[Ken Robb]

I think Velo-Orange may sell French BBs now.

[palincss]

I have a chance to pick up a mid 80's Peugot for 50 bucks. My thoughts were to make it into a fixed gear beater. I am wondering if anyone can speculate as to the bottom bracket situation on these frames. I do not have a specific year or even a model, but i have heard folks talk before about "french" bottom brackets and how much of a pain they are. Can anyone shed a light to potential issue in removing the orginal equipment and pulling off the conversion? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Also if anyone would be interested in a six speed, DT shifted group let me know. It also has Weinmann tubulars and brakes. I would have no use for this after removing to convert.

Velo Orange has a French threaded bottom bracket (http://velo-orange.com/grcrufrthbob.html) to fit "various cranks". These would all be cotterless cranks, though, and many of the cheap Peugeots had cottered cranks. The "pain" thing with French bikes is that they had their own, different, standards and dimensions and in many cases parts are no longer available.

[40x14]

I got a good deal on a 70's px-10 frame. Reynolds 531 tubing. I like it a lot.

It's been remarkably versatile: incarnate as a fixed gear commuter and as a cyclocross bike. Chainline wasn't an issue for a couple of reasons, namely I have a good bike mechanic, a campy bottom bracket, and the chainstays are kind of long so it doesn't matter as much. Also I used a 3/32 road chain rather than 1/8 track chain.

If your "find" has cottered cranks, you'll probably want to swap out the cranks and bottom bracket in order to make it a fixed gear, or expect to deal with banging on the cotter pins every month to keep the cranks tight. Not practical. Once you have the french parts namely bottom bracket, headset, seatpost and stem, everything else is just as on a standard italian, japanese, or american bike. If you have french cranks, I believe the pedals may be french thread too.

Here are some photos of my bike as a fixed gear (http://www.bikecult.com/works/archive/07bicycles/peugeotFGGW.html) and as a CX bike (http://floovio.blogspot.com/2007/10/fixed-gear-bicycle-conversion.html). It was painted flat black when I got it, I made it even uglier with a little rustoleum. It's the only bike I've owned that has been locked up in NYC and hasn't yet been majorly $#!@ with or stolen yet and I've been riding it since 2006. ;)