Modernising a Peugeot U08



D

Darb80

Guest
When I left school (many years ago) I took a summer holiday job in the
Peugot bike assembly plant that operated in Melbourne, Australia. The
factory only operated for a few years, at the peak of the 1970's bicycle
boom in Australia, but it did have a big impact on me and my appreciation of
"appropriate technology". During the time that I worked there, I was
introduced to the pleasures of cycling, mainly through a bike that I bought
from the factory - essentially a PX10, but built on a UO-8 frame. I rode
that bike to university for few years until I left uni, got a job and bought
a car, and, sadly, sold that bicycle. Over the years I had a number of
newer, better specified bicycles, but never one that was more comfortable -
especially on a long ride.

Now I have a family and a beautiful wife who grew up in the country (or the
bush as we call it in Australia). Her parents have a wheat and sheep farm
and my wife likes to get up there as often as she can, so our family
holidays often entail a week, "at the farm". On the farm, the nearest
neighbour is about five miles down the road and moving the sheep between
paddocks could be a ten mile walk. The country is flat - in other words, it
is the natural habitat for a bike.

I have taken to scouring the hard rubbish collection for old bikes and have
built up a stable of bicycles that our family (mother, father, three girls),
and cousins, uncles and aunts can ride around the farm (about 11 bikes in
total). I find bikes that people have thrown out (sometimes, apparently,
because the tires need repairing!). A couple of hours work, on average,
and these bikes provide years of pleasure transporting kids to the weir for
a swim, up the hill for the view or to do some "droving".

So, here is my point (thanks for your patience). I was driving down a
street in Melbourne about a year ago when I spotted a mid-1970's U0-8
bicycle - completely intact - (stacked up on top of some broken Ikea
furniture and a the busted desk light) in the hard-rubbish collection. I
slammed on my brakes, backed-up and liberated it from the rubbish pile.

It has been waiting in my shed for the past year and over the past month, I
have been bringing it back into service.

I have probably done this the wrong way - and, no doubt, should have
subscribed to this list for some guidance before embarking on the project.

Here is what I have done so far:

Had the wheels rebuilt with alloy rims, replacing the old (heavy, somewhat
bent and deadly in the wet) steel rims. The wheels have been build on the
(Mavic?) rims that were on the bike - so that I could fit them back in.
The dropouts on the back are too narrow for more modern rims. This has
given me a set of 28" alloy rims - and hopefully a less stressful commute -
I seemed to have a puncture a week on my 700c shod roadbike.

Taken out the old steel crank and replaced it with a Bontranger crank and
Shimano cassette. This all went in without any real drama and seems to be
working well.

Soaked the leather saddle with leather restorer and now have a remarkable
comfortable seat!

Cleaned off and adjusted the MAFAC brakes - which squeal like a stuck pig -
but stop the bike ok.

I have ordered a seat post that will fit into the frame - and will fit this
once it arrives.

My next question relates to the headset and the front forks. I would like
to replace the existing stem and I have referred to Sheldon Brown's
excellent site and read Tom Kunich's article on modernising old French bikes
(should have gone there before I started). Tom recommends that the Peugeot
forks are removed, are replace with modern forks - to allow a 22.2mm stem to
be fitted, to allow some modern caliper brakes to be fitted and to fix some
issues with the geometry. I am guessing that this requires that a bike
modified in this way would hae to be fitted with 700c wheels as the 28"
wheels will not clear most modern front forks. If I want to keep the 28"
wheels, are there any forks that I could fit, or should I be looking to buy
a 22mm head-stem or "file-down" a 22.2mm one to fit?


Cheers

Stephen
 
Darb80 wrote:
> When I left school (many years ago) I took a summer holiday job in the
> Peugot bike assembly plant that operated in Melbourne, Australia. The
> factory only operated for a few years, at the peak of the 1970's bicycle
> boom in Australia, but it did have a big impact on me and my appreciation of
> "appropriate technology". During the time that I worked there, I was
> introduced to the pleasures of cycling, mainly through a bike that I bought
> from the factory - essentially a PX10, but built on a UO-8 frame. I rode
> that bike to university for few years until I left uni, got a job and bought
> a car, and, sadly, sold that bicycle. Over the years I had a number of
> newer, better specified bicycles, but never one that was more comfortable -
> especially on a long ride.
>
> Now I have a family and a beautiful wife who grew up in the country (or the
> bush as we call it in Australia). Her parents have a wheat and sheep farm
> and my wife likes to get up there as often as she can, so our family
> holidays often entail a week, "at the farm". On the farm, the nearest
> neighbour is about five miles down the road and moving the sheep between
> paddocks could be a ten mile walk. The country is flat - in other words, it
> is the natural habitat for a bike.
>
> I have taken to scouring the hard rubbish collection for old bikes and have
> built up a stable of bicycles that our family (mother, father, three girls),
> and cousins, uncles and aunts can ride around the farm (about 11 bikes in
> total). I find bikes that people have thrown out (sometimes, apparently,
> because the tires need repairing!). A couple of hours work, on average,
> and these bikes provide years of pleasure transporting kids to the weir for
> a swim, up the hill for the view or to do some "droving".
>
> So, here is my point (thanks for your patience). I was driving down a
> street in Melbourne about a year ago when I spotted a mid-1970's U0-8
> bicycle - completely intact - (stacked up on top of some broken Ikea
> furniture and a the busted desk light) in the hard-rubbish collection. I
> slammed on my brakes, backed-up and liberated it from the rubbish pile.
>
> It has been waiting in my shed for the past year and over the past month, I
> have been bringing it back into service.
>
> I have probably done this the wrong way - and, no doubt, should have
> subscribed to this list for some guidance before embarking on the project.
>
> Here is what I have done so far:
>
> Had the wheels rebuilt with alloy rims, replacing the old (heavy, somewhat
> bent and deadly in the wet) steel rims. The wheels have been build on the
> (Mavic?) rims that were on the bike - so that I could fit them back in.
> The dropouts on the back are too narrow for more modern rims. This has
> given me a set of 28" alloy rims - and hopefully a less stressful commute -
> I seemed to have a puncture a week on my 700c shod roadbike.
>
> Taken out the old steel crank and replaced it with a Bontranger crank and
> Shimano cassette. This all went in without any real drama and seems to be
> working well.
>
> Soaked the leather saddle with leather restorer and now have a remarkable
> comfortable seat!
>
> Cleaned off and adjusted the MAFAC brakes - which squeal like a stuck pig -
> but stop the bike ok.
>
> I have ordered a seat post that will fit into the frame - and will fit this
> once it arrives.
>
> My next question relates to the headset and the front forks. I would like
> to replace the existing stem and I have referred to Sheldon Brown's
> excellent site and read Tom Kunich's article on modernising old French bikes
> (should have gone there before I started). Tom recommends that the Peugeot
> forks are removed, are replace with modern forks - to allow a 22.2mm stem to
> be fitted, to allow some modern caliper brakes to be fitted and to fix some
> issues with the geometry. I am guessing that this requires that a bike
> modified in this way would hae to be fitted with 700c wheels as the 28"
> wheels will not clear most modern front forks. If I want to keep the 28"
> wheels, are there any forks that I could fit, or should I be looking to buy
> a 22mm head-stem or "file-down" a 22.2mm one to fit?
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Stephen
>
>



I like the UO-8, but it's really not that special compared with modern
inexpensive bikes, if you remove the nostalgia.

Still, I've had two, and I fixed one up and gave it to my wife.

You can get the squeak out of the Mafac brakes by toeing in the shoes.
And those are pretty good brakes, aren't they!?

You might be able to fashion a shim for the stem out of a cut up soda can.

When you say 28", what do you mean? What is the tire definition in
millimeters, as written on the sidewall?

You can spread the dropouts to accept a wider rear axle. The trick is to
do it symmetrically.

Tom
 
On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 14:18:38 -0400, Tom Reingold wrote:

> When you say 28", what do you mean? What is the tire definition in
> millimeters, as written on the sidewall?
>


I'm confused too--sometimes 700c bikes get called 28" wheels, but most
often 28" mean old English Roadster wheels to my ears--like the Dutch
bikes have.

Perhaps the OP was worried about being able to drop the brake blocks to
fit 700s and had some 27" rims build up.

> You can spread the dropouts to accept a wider rear axle. The trick is to
> do it symmetrically.


Sheldon Brown's 2x4 method is highly recommended for such a bike. Worked
for me.
 
Tom and Maxo,

Thanks. You are right, the wheels are 27" not 28" and, yes, I got the new
wheels made up because I couldn't find new hubs that would fit in the
narrower dropouts. In retrospect - would have been far cheaper and quicker
to spread the rear drop-outs buy a new wheelset. The brakes seem to have
enough adjustment to fit 700 wheels.


"maxo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:p[email protected]...
> On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 14:18:38 -0400, Tom Reingold wrote:
>
> > When you say 28", what do you mean? What is the tire definition in
> > millimeters, as written on the sidewall?
> >

>
> I'm confused too--sometimes 700c bikes get called 28" wheels, but most
> often 28" mean old English Roadster wheels to my ears--like the Dutch
> bikes have.
>
> Perhaps the OP was worried about being able to drop the brake blocks to
> fit 700s and had some 27" rims build up.
>
> > You can spread the dropouts to accept a wider rear axle. The trick is to
> > do it symmetrically.

>
> Sheldon Brown's 2x4 method is highly recommended for such a bike. Worked
> for me.
>
 
On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:03:04 +0000, Darb80 wrote:

> In retrospect - would have been far cheaper and
> quicker to spread the rear drop-outs buy a new wheelset. The brakes seem
> to have enough adjustment to fit 700 wheels.


Live and learn.

:D
 
Darb80 wrote:
> Tom and Maxo,
>
> Thanks. You are right, the wheels are 27" not 28" and, yes, I got the new
> wheels made up because I couldn't find new hubs that would fit in the
> narrower dropouts. In retrospect - would have been far cheaper and quicker
> to spread the rear drop-outs buy a new wheelset. The brakes seem to have
> enough adjustment to fit 700 wheels.


So what state is the bike in now?

And how do you plan to use it?

--
Tom Reingold
Noo Joizy
This email address works, but only for a short time.