Starting out again after 15 years.

[Kevin]

At the grand old age of 35, I've regained the 'kick' I used to get out
of cycling as a teenager racing through the Welsh valleys. How you may
ask? We'll after many years of commuting into London by overground and
undergound, I bought myself a Brompton. What can I say but "Ha you
stoopid commuters, get a bike and feel the air and water on your face".

This new found excitement has inspired me to brush off an old Peugeot
Competition I have in a dusty corner of the garage and look to upgrade
the groupset and components to make it a nice weekend training bike to
help with the expanding girth and bum and beef up the contracting
thighs. So the question I wish to put to you is what can I get for
around £200, bearing in mind the wheels and cassette are OKish (new
tyres the exception)?

Kevin.

 

[Arthur Clune]

Kevin wrote:
>
> This new found excitement has inspired me to brush off an old Peugeot
> Competition I have in a dusty corner of the garage and look to upgrade
> the groupset and components to make it a nice weekend training bike to
> help with the expanding girth and bum and beef up the contracting
> thighs. So the question I wish to put to you is what can I get for
> around ?200, bearing in mind the wheels and cassette are OKish (new
> tyres the exception)?

If it was my money, I'd spend it something like this:

New tubes - 5 quid ?
Schwable Stelvio tyres - 50 quid the pair
New chain - 15 quid?
New cables - 10 quid? Fit with new grease.

And that's about it. If you can pick up some STI/Ergos of the appropiate
number of speeds on ebay, then try and do that.

The difference good tyres make is amazing, and the top quality ones are
pretty puncture resistant as well.

Then I'd start saving money for a new bike, and keep this one as a nice winter
etc bike.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

 

[Bryan]

Kevin wrote:
>
> This new found excitement has inspired me to brush off an old Peugeot
> Competition I have in a dusty corner of the garage and look to upgrade
> the groupset and components to make it a nice weekend training bike to
> help with the expanding girth and bum and beef up the contracting
> thighs. So the question I wish to put to you is what can I get for
> around ?200, bearing in mind the wheels and cassette are OKish (new
> tyres the exception)?

If it was my money, I'd spend it something like this:

New tubes - 5 quid ?
Schwable Stelvio tyres - 50 quid the pair
New chain - 15 quid?
New cables - 10 quid? Fit with new grease.

And that's about it. If you can pick up some STI/Ergos of the appropiate
number of speeds on ebay, then try and do that.

The difference good tyres make is amazing, and the top quality ones are
pretty puncture resistant as well.

Then I'd start saving money for a new bike, and keep this one as a nice winter
etc bike.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

Come on Arthur, he obviously WANTS to spend money

You can get a complete Tiagra double group set for £200, or a Campag Mirage triple also for £200 from xpedia.

Alternatively )and more wisely) go with what Artuhur has suggested, which is all you really need, and then look around for specal offers, ebay bargains for slightly better kit than you already have.

Bryan

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Kevin
('[email protected]') wrote:

> At the grand old age of 35, I've regained the 'kick' I used to get out
> of cycling as a teenager racing through the Welsh valleys. How you may
> ask? We'll after many years of commuting into London by overground and
> undergound, I bought myself a Brompton. What can I say but "Ha you
> stoopid commuters, get a bike and feel the air and water on your face".
>
> This new found excitement has inspired me to brush off an old Peugeot
> Competition I have in a dusty corner of the garage and look to upgrade
> the groupset and components to make it a nice weekend training bike to
> help with the expanding girth and bum and beef up the contracting
> thighs. So the question I wish to put to you is what can I get for
> around £200, bearing in mind the wheels and cassette are OKish (new
> tyres the exception)?

This is presumably a bike with a six-speed freewheel, yes? If this is so,
then the only way to upgrade to modern gearing is to 'cold set' (i.e.
bend) the rear of the frame in order to fit a modern 130mm hub. This may
be possible (is it a steel frame? What is the over-lock-nut spacing of
the rear dropouts - i.e., how far apart are they? Being a Peugeot, I
assume it has 700c and not 27 inch wheels?) but it doesn't sound as it
it's what you want to do.

Brakes are much better than they were fifteen years ago. That's a
straightforward upgrade; dual calliper brakes from Campag, Mavic,
Shimano, or one or two other makers would be a real upgrade. Apart from
that, unless you're going to completely overhaul the gearing (including
bending the back of the frame and scrapping your present wheels),
there's not much that needs doing. Modern integrated shift levers won't
work with your present derailleur, so aren't worth fitting, and there
haven't been significant technical advances in anything else.

Save your money!

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Just as defying the law of gravity through building aircraft requires
careful design and a lot of effort, so too does defying laws of
economics. It seems to be a deeply ingrained aspect of humanity to
forever strive to improve things, so unquestioning acceptance of a
free market system seems to me to be unnatural. ;; Charles Bryant

 

[Jim Price]

Arthur Clune wrote:
> Kevin wrote:
>> This new found excitement has inspired me to brush off an old Peugeot
>> Competition I have in a dusty corner of the garage and look to upgrade
>> the groupset and components to make it a nice weekend training bike to
>> help with the expanding girth and bum and beef up the contracting
>> thighs. So the question I wish to put to you is what can I get for
>> around ?200, bearing in mind the wheels and cassette are OKish (new
>> tyres the exception)?

I've just done the very same thing with a 1980's Peugeot Triathlon. I
suspect the Competion is 6 speed, maybe even 5? I'm not the lightest
person in the world and tend to bend axles in freewheel type hubs, so I
have a preference for freehubs.

> If it was my money, I'd spend it something like this:
>
> New tubes - 5 quid ?
Yep.

> Schwable Stelvio tyres - 50 quid the pair
Tyres are a bit of an individual preference - I've got Stelvio lights
and Schwalbe Blizzards on other bikes (which were only ~£8 each!), but a
friend of mine has a bike with Michelin Pro Race tyres which seem very
good, and cheaper now the Pro Race 2 is out. I used Vredestein Stila's
on the Peugeot, because it has the clearance for them, and its going to
get used on some off road NCN cycle track, and I like 'em.

> New chain - 15 quid?
I used an SRAM PC48 7/8 speed chain from Merlin or Spa Cycles for £5 -
this is because of the transmission changes I made (see below), and the
CTC reckon its as goo a chain as you really need.

> New cables - 10 quid? Fit with new grease.
I used white brake cables from ebay item 7228964458 at £2.50 inc.P+P,
and gear cables from Decathlon for about £5 including outers.

> And that's about it. If you can pick up some STI/Ergos of the appropiate
> number of speeds on ebay, then try and do that.
Rather than STI/Ergos I went for the option of using a pair of 8 speed
indexed downtube shifters, and rebuilt the wheel onto a 7-speed shimano
freehub which was kicking around, and replaced the rear mech with a Sora
(also kicking around). The front changer didn't need changing, and I
only used 7 cogs from an 8 speed cassette at the rear.

> The difference good tyres make is amazing, and the top quality ones are
> pretty puncture resistant as well.
Agreed.

The only thing I would add to this list as a quite likely improvement
would be some new brake pads - my Peugeot got some nice new KoolStop
grey pads.

I also replaced the brake levers with some modern shimano aero ones (a
massive improvement on the originals if you're not going to put STI/Ergo
levers on it), and the handlebar tape with some very similar to the
original. Finally,it got mudguards, lights, lock, new pedals and a bar bag.

The resulting bike has turned out very well indeed, although I had to
rebuild the front brake after it got clogged up with salt recently. I
was going to replace the wheels completely, but when I started
rebuilding the rear, I realised that the spokes and rims were in great
nick, and must have been pretty good quality in their day. The hub was a
helicomatic (ahem). I'd offer it to Pete Clinch (see "death of a
freewheel") if I thought it was worth his while rebuilding his wheel
onto it, but I don't, and neither would Sheldon Brown.

JimP

 

[Jim Price]

Jim Price wrote the following with brain in neutral:
> I'd offer it to Pete Clinch (see "death of a
> freewheel")

s/Pete Clinch/David Belcher/

JimP

 

[Arthur Clune]

Simon Brooke wrote:
>
> Brakes are much better than they were fifteen years ago. That's a
> straightforward upgrade; dual calliper brakes from Campag, Mavic,
> Shimano, or one or two other makers would be a real upgrade. Apart from

That's a very good point and something I should have added to my list

--
Arthur Clune

 

[Call me Bob]

On 24 Mar 2006 20:14:58 GMT, [email protected] (Arthur Clune) wrote:

>Simon Brooke wrote:
>>
>> Brakes are much better than they were fifteen years ago. That's a
>> straightforward upgrade; dual calliper brakes from Campag, Mavic,
>> Shimano, or one or two other makers would be a real upgrade
>
>That's a very good point and something I should have added to my list

Oldham Cyles sell pairs of Campagnolo Mirage calipers for 20 quid...
that's great value for a very worthwhile upgrade. They offer good
prices on lots of kit in fact.

http://www.oldhamcyclecentre.co.uk/

Look in the "Top Campag Bargains!"" section.

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

 

[Kevin]

Thanks guys you have certainly given me food for thought and I never
thought of eBay (doh!) as a source for the components. I'll give it a
try and see what I come up with. In the meantime I'll concentrate on
getting the Bromtpon back on the road after a minor accident with a
spoke and after refitting not being able to get the gear chain (SRAM
Hub) back in. Today is not a good day :-(

Kevin.

 

[mb]

Arthur Clune wrote:


> Schwable Stelvio tyres - 50 quid the pair

Good grief.

--
Mike

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, mb
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Arthur Clune wrote:
>
>> Schwable Stelvio tyres - 50 quid the pair
>
> Good grief.

Very nice tyres, though. It's the Stelvio Evolutions that cost 50 quid
the pair, and they're what I use on my good road bike. Very fast
rolling, very good grip, and so far (1 year) haven't attracted much
attention from the p* fairy.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they
;; do it from  religious conviction."          -- Pascal

 

[mb]

Simon Brooke wrote:

> in message <[email protected]>, mb
> ('[email protected]') wrote:
>
> > Arthur Clune wrote:
> >
> >> Schwable Stelvio tyres - 50 quid the pair
> >
> > Good grief.
>
> Very nice tyres, though. It's the Stelvio Evolutions that cost 50 quid
> the pair, and they're what I use on my good road bike. Very fast
> rolling, very good grip, and so far (1 year) haven't attracted much
> attention from the p* fairy.


My bike shop down the road has them for 50 Euros a pair, maybe I'll try
some;
http://www.derks-wielersport.nl/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/76_108/pr
oducts_id/11132

--
Mike