Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Another Happy Bike Reunion!

Yesterday I got to reunite another owner with the bke of their younger days, and witness the smiles that come with that. This time it was a '72 or '73 Peugeot, a PR-10 model for those who are into Peugeots. Funny thing is, there's never any identifying label on their bikes... you just have to know what a PR-10 or PX-10 or PY-10 or whatever is and how it's equipped.

The bike was ridden a lot for 5 years, back when it was new, then life, as so often happens, took the owner away from riding for one reason or another. Now, thirty years later, he brought it to me to rejuvenate it so he can start riding again. Just the kind of project I love... first because of the happiness it brings to the owner, and second because I get to work on a kind of bike that just resonates with me... classic older road bikes.

That's the "after" picture to the left.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

VERY nice!

doc said...

What saddle is that?

Tim said...

The saddle is some model of Ideale, a French maker of tensioned leather saddles. They are no longer in business, as far as I know, leaving the folks at Brooks one of the last makers of such things.

bgusa said...

I'm the owner of the bike. Tim did a fine job. I was fortunate to find someone who gets a kick out of working on old french bikes. He's also very familiar with the issues there are in restoring those bikes.

Before I took the bike in I spent several weeks buying special replacement parts on ebay and from some online specialty stores.

The saddle is marked "IDEALE 80 Type-Record" It's in great shape considering that it is the original one. When I first got it I put lots of Neetsfoot oil on it. That's when I learned why bicycle shorts are traditionally black!