New project

SimonAH

My father is not feeling too cheerful at the moment, so yesterday I stole his bicycle.

OK, to be fair, it has been stored in an outbuilding for the last 20 years and only the thick crust of spiderwebs have prevented it from completely rusting away - but he did idly talk about getting out on a bicycle recently, so I thought I'd haul it back to the workshop in Wales, overhaul it and spirit it back to Hertfordshire on Saturday.

Not a lot of time!

This is state as stolen;



It weighs....wait for it 18.4 freakin' Kilos!!!

Stripped it down to frame and forks last night (frame, forks and crank come in at 5.4Kg..Did Peugeot have a glut of gas pipe in 1972?) and the pierced lugwork and depth of paint is lovely - a bit of rust here and there, but a good clean and Autoglym later and you can't see it because the gleaming purple sears your retinas.After rummaging through the parts bin (decent wheelset, tyres, chain, bars, saddle, stem - check) I ordered;

1 x Clarks Universal Front and Rear Brake Cable Kit White
1 x Clarks Universal Front and Rear Gear Cable Kit White
1 x Tektro FL540 Brake Levers Silver
1 x BBB BHG-45 Intergrip MTB Handlebar Grips Black

from Wiggle on express delivery (going flat bar, he's in his early seventies).

Hopefully I shall be posting 'after' photographs tomorrow evening!

veronese68

Excellent, even if he doesn't actually ride it you can talk about going for a ride with him. That should help cheer him up a little. Look forward to seeing the after pictures.

rubertoe

Good work Simon,

I wish I had something like that laying about. fingers crossed it helps and brings a bit of cheer.

Looking forward to the pictures.

MonkeyMonster

Are you going to switch the drops round the right way and remove the plastic frisbee some critter has stuck in the rear wheel?

tgotb

MonkeyMonster wrote:

Are you going to switch the drops round the right way and remove the plastic frisbee some critter has stuck in the rear wheel?

Looking at the drops and the saddle position: Was your father a fan of Obree back when he was using the tuck position?

Great plan anyway, hope it helps lift his spirits!

SimonAH

Hi Dude,

The frisbee is steel! (welcome to 1972.....) but no, I'm replacing the wheels with a pair of Mavic rimmed DuraAce hubbed hoops that I've got in the parts bin and the frisbee can stay where it is, just not on the bike!

The bars live no longer.... they were so rusty (chromed steel) that to drag them through the beautiful faux-lugged stem would have been cheesgrater'ed. Sliced off with the grinder! The bike is going flat bar though....I know it will look a little odd but my dad will never use drops (hence why the bars are inverted in the photo!)

MonkeyMonster

Aye carumba! Steel frisbee, should keep it, polish up and make a trophy for mantlepiece from it

SimonAH

Arsebumwipes. No Wiggle delivery. Monday for bits now. Bugger.

cjcp

Looking forward to seeing the pics on this!

Twostage

I can remember the inverted bar craze when I was a kid. My little red Rayleigh (I think) was flat bar so I could only be jealous of the big boys.
I also remember monkey hanger bars, wasn't jealous of those I just thought they were daft.

Shame about the delay but at least you don't have to rush now.

rjsterry

Dura Ace hubs? That's some parts bin :shock:

Hope the refurb has the desired effect.

Jay dubbleU

Let me get this right - your father was feeling down so you stole his bike ? What sort of son are you!!

SimonAH

Yay! Wiggle delivery has arrived! The build can commence!

I can take a bit more time over it too as I've now got until next weekend to get it finished and taken back up to Hertfordshire.

pangolin

How are you getting on Simon? Looking forward to seeing this!

mudcow007

God damn it man where are the update pictures?

SimonAH

Aww guys, I wanted to finish fettling and photograph it in the sun to let the purple metallic paint do it's thang.... but here she is in the rain with the saddle angle wrong (rides proper good though).

And she's now sub 11.5Kg - not, one has to admit, exactly a climbers machine - but rather less of the lumbering cathedral she was when I stole her.

Looking forward to the reveal this weekend!

rubertoe

The frame has come up a treat Simon, I'm sure the old fella will love it.

pangolin

Nice! I like the old crankset, glad it stayed. That's an impressive 7kg weight drop as well! Almost second bike he's not lugging around any more.

the_fuggler

Brilliant colour - looking forward to seeing the finished article. Would like to see the reaction when you hand it over.

mudcow007

nice, i love retro bikes

did you just mask around the decals or have you replaced em?

it looks top banana

SimonAH

Thanks all!

mudcow007 wrote:

nice, i love retro bikes

did you just mask around the decals or have you replaced em?

The paint is au naturel Peugeot, just very carefully cleaned and then waxed with some high end car wax - original decals in place. Had I more time then I would have resprayed and re-decalled as there are some rust spots here and there, but they really are invisible due to the paint gleaming away at you (especially in the sun).

The real elbow grease was cleaning corrosion off all the Simplex drivetrain and mechs, and getting everything re-greased and polished. That old alloy and chrome comes up lurvely though.

Real shame I couldn't keep the wingnuts on the axles, but the axle diameters are completely different, still , the QRs are vintage DuraAce so they look pretty good.

I'll try to get some more photos up with some detailing at somepoint.

All in all, pretty happy with how it's turned out, and looking forward to putting a smile on the old sod's face :-)

pangolin

"Here you go you old sod" is probably the best way to go about it

Not too emotional, not too rude. Just right.

London_Falcon

Seriously, that's really the same bike?

Joking aside, great effort and I'm sure it will have the desired effect. Well done!

Jay dubbleU

Very cool Simon, being presented with that would cheer me up ( and I'm known to be a miserable git)