Re: Old Bike Worth Restoring - Peugeot Orient Express



L

Larry

Guest
Sure, if it fits you. I've refurbed plenty of old bikes. Sometimes
the lubricants dry out. It might be good to give at least the wheel
hubs & bottom bracket fresh lubrication, and maybe the head set too.
This can be real quick if you are willing to do a minimalist job. It
won't be nearly as good as a real rebuild -- take out the bearings,
clean, repack with grease, put in new bearings, adjust. Howver, this
will get you on the road riding and having fun. Then when you can do
a proper job sometime later (sure).
OK..Here goes: the quicky old bike fix up. Get some oil. Chainsaw
lube is a favorite of mine (reminds me of Phil Tenacious), but any oil
will do. Get an old pie plate or something to catch the drippings.
1. Bottom bracket lube: Take out the seat post. Pour in oil. Leave
pan under BB to catch the drippings. Go ahead. Pour in maybe 1/3 cup.
If the seat post is stuck, you can probablly pour the oil into the
water bottle cage bosses.
2. Wheels. Clean off the hubs first -- we want to minimize getting
dirt and debris in to the wheel bearings. Loosen the nuts that hold
the wheel togeather, squirt some oil into the bearings, tighten the
nuts so that the wheel spins OK, but doesn't bind.
3. Chain. Just wipe it off. Usually bike chains have too much oil on
them anyway. It's better to ignore the chain than to put lube on a
dirty chain. Eventually get a chain tool, remove the chain from the
bike, and do the job right.
4. Optional. It will really stop better with kool stop salmon pads.
A good upgrade if you neee help in the brakes department. If you like
riding the bike, new inner and outer cabling will work much better than
the older stuff.
5. The pedals shoud spin. If they don't you could try cleaning and
pouring some oil in. If that fails, new pedals can be cheap.
IIRC that Peugeot has horizontal drop outs and, if so, would make a
great single speed. It might even have a lugged steel frame.
OK. Ready to ride?
6. If you want more bike repair info, your library has books. I like
Zinn's books on bicycle maintenance. You hopefully know about
Sheldon's most excellent site <http://sheldonbrown.com/articles.html>

Regards,
Larry
 

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