Bike identification

[Chris27]

Hi everyone,
I’m trying to identify a bike I bought a few years ago and have finally got around to restoring. Although the bike has Peugeot decals I’ve no way of knowing if it is actually a Peugeot and I’ve been unable to find a Peugeot like this.

There is no frame number that I can find although I haven’t got all of the paint off yet. Dropouts are Simplex, BB is Stronglight as is the crank set and ‘competition’ head set.

The frame weighs approximately 1900gms, and the forks, stamped Vitus, weigh 800gms. The brakes are Mafac Criterium cantilever. I don’t know if Vitus forks were used by multiple frame builders? The top seat tube is marked ‘????? Butted’, I can only work out the word butted.

The two most interesting things about the bike are the rear brake cable routing and the front wheel. The rear brake cable goes inside the cross bar as shown in the pictures, I’ve seen this on pictures of some Vitus frames. The front wheel spokes are wired where they cross, I’ve never seen this before but maybe it’s for strengthening?

I’m not expecting the bike to be super rare or valuable, it’s just ‘interesting’. Any help identifying it would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Chris.

 

[Gtpulse]

I’d guess it is a Peugeot! They used a lot of Vitus tubing and forks, the rest of it sounds very French too.

The spokes are known as tied and soldered - lots of information out there on this. Supposed to make the wheel stiffer, does mean someone took some care over having those wheels built.

The internal cable routing of the back brake also it a nice feature, coupled with the nice components and what looks like a lot of drillium of those components it’s a nice machine. Could it be a cyclocross bike? The combination of cantilever brakes, strengthened wheels and drillium someone was looking for strong, light and mud clearance!

Sure someone more knowledgable will be along soon.

 

[M_Chavez]

It is quite interesting, indeed.
Perhaps a randonneuse frameset re-built with drillium parts for CX as suggested above?

Should make an excellent project.
Frame quite lightweight (what is it? a 55?) so probably a good type of vitus pipe.

 

[jim haseltine]

On the Peugeot stand at a cycle trade show in the mid-70s I saw a top range bike with tied&soldered wheels. I don't recall seeing a Peugeot (or any frame for that matter) from that era with internal cable routing though.

 

[Chris27]

Looking back at the information I had from the guy I bought the bike from he said he believed it had belonged to a Thierry Schneider. He believed Thierry is the father of a French tennis player but was a time trials rider in his own right. The plot thickens!