My '80s Peugeot

[3stonesteve]

This is my retro roadie, a Carbolite 103 tubed Peugeot circa 1984/5 according to the decal style. I Aquired it (rescued/liberated as you like) at the local "recycling centre" before it could be chucked in the scrap metal skip. I'm trying to identify the exact model, the detail parts are as follows:

Frame - Carbolite 103 (steel) 54cm
Wheels - 700c Rigida superchromix rims, Maillard hubs
Gears - Sachs Hurret shifters & mechs, Helicomatic 5 speed freewheel 14-24T
Chainset - Stronglight? alloy arms 42/52T rings with plastic chain guard
Brakes - Alloy calipers, Weinmann dual levers
Other - Alloy seatpost & stem, chromed handlebars, Leyotard pedals

Unfortunately the paper sticker showing the model details has come off (the glue remains tho). Any ideas on the model would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[El Juli]

I had one of those. Same frame in the same blue color. There was this one and the same in pearl white with blue decals. Mine had steel rims, rings and cranks though. Sold for 150 eur back then in Spain.
There was another version with the same frame but aluminium rims and cranks, sold for 180 eur.
It was my first new bike after a very old Orbea inherited from my cousin.
Nice bike.

 

[biggs682]

it looks very similat to a Premier model but hard to tell , loads of models with little differances in spec .

they make great dependable commuting bikes .

what are you going to do with it ?

 

[3stonesteve]

The plan is to use it!

I can't commute on it (too far - yet), but I work with a bunch of bike mad guys and we do quite a bit of mountain biking together. My aim is to fix this bike up and get some miles under its wheels to train and lose weight. Eventually I hope to do longer road rides on it, so its gonna get some upgrades (sorry purists), I'll try to be sympathetic but I have a limited budget and ebay is my friend at the moment!

Here are some more pics of it as it was rescued:

The period rear lamp is ripe for cracking with your heel!

Carbolite 103 label & original shifters

Original Sachs rear mech & Maillard helicomatic 5-speed freewheel

1st round of upgrades, NOS chrome front wheel and some new Kenda tyres & tubes from the LBS. The frame cleaned up really nicely as did most of the alloy bits, thanks Robbo for your help with that! Put about 50 miles on it in this condition, it rides really nicely, just a little heavy at 12.2KG :shock:

Steve.

 

[3stonesteve]

Next upgrade, partly sympathetic, partly not!

I'll admit I'm not the fittest (or lightest) of people, and I was struggling with the standard low gear of 42T/24T on the hills. So a plan was hatched...

Replace the crank for one with a more modern 39T small ring and replace the rear group with one carrying a larger 28T sprocket.

Now there comes the problem of the Maillard rear hub: helicomatic's don't upgrade easily, the special tools and clusters required are very hard to come by, plus the rim wasn't in the best condition, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy some new wheels to give me a normal freewheel/freehub on the back. The next problem was that the old hub was only 120mm wide so I'd need to spread the frame for anything newer.

I managed to find a pair of wheels on ebay, 125mm rear spacing with an ISO thread for up to a 7 speed freewheel. To keep it a bit sympathetic, the rims are shallow pattern alloy Weinmann AS23X's (the original brake levers are Weinmann so there's a bit of a connection) the hubs are Quando. I got hold of a SunRace (Sturmey Archer in old money) 7 speed freewheel with 13-28 teeth which went on the new hub nicely...

Unfortunately I got fed up trying to find a period looking chainset with a 39T small ring, so I opted for this rather sleek Shimano 2300 setup. I don't know if the BB runs a JIS or ISO taper, but the Shimano cranks seem to fit okay. Nice shiny new 7 speed chain from the LBS makes up the rest of the kit:

Pedals are currently from the spares box but the plan is to fit SPD's eventually. Anyway, here's the transformation, from this...

To this, mmm shiny...

Only had one shakedown run, but she rides even nicer now, I can climb hills (hurrah!), the brakes work better with the alloy rims and she's the best part of a kilo lighter!

Steve.

 

[pompy]

Bike looks great! Very subtle but useful updates!

 

[mavesyn]

Well done for saving it, from the dreaded scrap man...

 

[Spokesmann]

Looking great. If it were mine thought Id be looking at a Brooks in the saddle department as well as gum wall tyres.

 

[Ralph_the_Rohan]

Excellent job with applying a few sensible upgrades which I'm sure have improved the ride no end as well as ensuring another vintage machine stays on the streets.

I agree with Spokesman that the looks would be improved further by a set of gum walls, but that's obviously just a personal thing.

Keep up the good work!