Peugeot elan

G1ANTR1DER

Hi I usually ride freeride but recently bought a 1970s Peugeot elan road bike as a couple of my mates ride on the road and I thort it would be good for my fitness. My only queries are getting hold of parts. e.g would modern wheels fit the old style frame and new tyres fit the old wheels. The bike is in pretty good condition for the age but over time would like to upgrade the components to end up with old school frame combined with modern more efficient parts. Any advise would be very helpful. Cheers Tommy C.

Monty Dog

Your frame was designed for 5/6 speed transmission and therefore the rear drop-out width will be too narrow to accept modern wheels. Old frames are 120-126mm whereas current are 130mm. However, it's perfectly acceptable to cold-set or bend the rear end to make it wider - best get a bike shop to do this to keep a track on frame alignment. Many modern parts can be fitted, but it might be defeating the object because it'll probably be cheaper to pick up a whole, more recent bike for less.

lae

^ yep.

Unless the wheels are heavy old steel rimmed things, I wouldn't bother upgrading to modern ones. Even if they are 27" size you can still get some good tyres for them.

I would clean it up, polish the aluminium and paintwork, and enjoy riding what is probably a much classier looking and more comfortable bike than most modern ones!

If you want to get better parts for it, you can sometimes get period parts very cheaply at car boot sales sometimes. I got a Campagnolo Nuovo Record rear derailer and Campagnolo Record hubs, both early 80s, from a car boot sale for £1 for the lot (would cost £40-60 on ebay).