Should I build a fixie?

Axeman

I just purchased a 1970's 10spd Peugeot roadie from my local "recycle" shope
for very little money. The bike is in quite poor shape, but the frame looks
quite sound, and is painted in a nice 70's yellow color. It has Simplex
deraillers, Mapac brakes, Rigida wheels etc like most French stuff of that
era, but most of the components are either broken or very rusty.

I quite like the frame on this bike, so have been thinking of building it
into a fixed gear bike. This would be my first foray into fixed gear lunacy
(sorry). What would be the minimum parts i need to convert to a fixie, or
the cheapest way to do this? I know the French used some weird sizes on
their components, so I may have some trouble finding bottom bracket bearing
and the rest. Anyone, been there, done that?

Or should I just flogg the bike off on Ebay?

Axeman

David Springthorpe

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:53:26 +1100, "Axeman" <sashan(nospam)@alphalink.com.au>
wrote:

>I just purchased a 1970's 10spd Peugeot roadie from my local "recycle" shope
>for very little money. The bike is in quite poor shape, but the frame looks
>quite sound, and is painted in a nice 70's yellow color. It has Simplex
>deraillers, Mapac brakes, Rigida wheels etc like most French stuff of that
>era, but most of the components are either broken or very rusty.
>
>I quite like the frame on this bike, so have been thinking of building it
>into a fixed gear bike. This would be my first foray into fixed gear lunacy
>(sorry). What would be the minimum parts i need to convert to a fixie, or
>the cheapest way to do this? I know the French used some weird sizes on
>their components, so I may have some trouble finding bottom bracket bearing
>and the rest. Anyone, been there, done that?
>
>Or should I just flogg the bike off on Ebay?

If you live in the Chatswood area of Sydney, just leave it out for the council
cleanup and it will be gone in no time at all - I know someone who lives in
Chatswood who has collected at least 18 this way over the last couple of years.

Donga

On Nov 13, 9:53 am, "Axeman" <sashan(nospam)@alphalink.com.au> wrote:
> I just purchased a 1970's 10spd Peugeot roadie from my local "recycle" shope
> for very little money. The bike is in quite poor shape, but the frame looks
> quite sound, and is painted in a nice 70's yellow color. It has Simplex
> deraillers, Mapac brakes, Rigida wheels etc like most French stuff of that
> era, but most of the components are either broken or very rusty.
>
> I quite like the frame on this bike, so have been thinking of building it
> into a fixed gear bike. This would be my first foray into fixed gear lunacy
> (sorry). What would be the minimum parts i need to convert to a fixie, or
> the cheapest way to do this? I know the French used some weird sizes on
> their components, so I may have some trouble finding bottom bracket bearing
> and the rest. Anyone, been there, done that?
>
> Or should I just flogg the bike off on Ebay?
>
> Axeman

Ask the question on fixed.org.au and you'll get the lowdown and might
even find the bits you need.

Apart from the fun of the hunt and the project, riding a fixie is
great fun.

Donga

Boostland

"Donga" <idomybestworkonabike@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1194912768.763382.100950@k35g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> On Nov 13, 9:53 am, "Axeman" <sashan(nospam)@alphalink.com.au> wrote:
>> I just purchased a 1970's 10spd Peugeot roadie from my local "recycle"
>> shope
>> for very little money. The bike is in quite poor shape, but the frame
>> looks
>> quite sound, and is painted in a nice 70's yellow color. It has Simplex
>> deraillers, Mapac brakes, Rigida wheels etc like most French stuff of
>> that
>> era, but most of the components are either broken or very rusty.
>>
>> I quite like the frame on this bike, so have been thinking of building it
>> into a fixed gear bike. This would be my first foray into fixed gear
>> lunacy
>> (sorry). What would be the minimum parts i need to convert to a fixie, or
>> the cheapest way to do this? I know the French used some weird sizes on
>> their components, so I may have some trouble finding bottom bracket
>> bearing
>> and the rest. Anyone, been there, done that?
>>
>> Or should I just flogg the bike off on Ebay?
>>
>> Axeman
>
> Ask the question on fixed.org.au and you'll get the lowdown and might
> even find the bits you need.
>
> Apart from the fun of the hunt and the project, riding a fixie is
> great fun.
>
> Donga
>

Yes riding track bikes is a lot of fun, just look at the fun I am having in
these pics


< http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin..._ClarenceSt.JPG >

< http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin...&ShaneKelly.JPG >

<
http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin...lap_scratch.jpg >

DaveB

Boostland wrote:
> Yes riding track bikes is a lot of fun, just look at the fun I am having in
> these pics
>
>
> < http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin..._ClarenceSt.JPG >
>
> < http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin...&ShaneKelly.JPG >
>
> <
> http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin...lap_scratch.jpg >
>
>

Are they MTB shoes you're wearing?

DaveB

PeteSig

"DaveB" wrote:
> Boostland wrote:
>> Yes riding track bikes is a lot of fun, just look at the fun I am having
>> in these pics
>>
>>
>> < http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin..._ClarenceSt.JPG >
>>
>> < http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin...&ShaneKelly.JPG >
>>
>> <
>> http://users.g-node.com.au/boostlin...lap_scratch.jpg >
>
> Are they MTB shoes you're wearing?

Yes, they certainly are. Standard Shimano MT40 touring shoes. An odd setup
for track racing!
--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

Joel Mayes

On 2007-11-12, Axeman <sashan@alphalink.com.au> wrote:
> I just purchased a 1970's 10spd Peugeot roadie from my local "recycle" shope
> for very little money. The bike is in quite poor shape, but the frame looks
> quite sound, and is painted in a nice 70's yellow color. It has Simplex
> deraillers, Mapac brakes, Rigida wheels etc like most French stuff of that
> era, but most of the components are either broken or very rusty.

> I quite like the frame on this bike, so have been thinking of building it
> into a fixed gear bike. This would be my first foray into fixed gear lunacy
> (sorry). What would be the minimum parts i need to convert to a fixie, or
> the cheapest way to do this? I know the French used some weird sizes on
> their components, so I may have some trouble finding bottom bracket bearing
> and the rest. Anyone, been there, done that?

I've restored at least half a dozen old Peugeots in the last six months.
If the BB is dead you can get a YST bottom bracket which doesn't use the
threads in the shell, they're not high quality but OK for recreational
cycling.

The forks/headset has odd threading for the upper cone and locknut, but
these are the least likely parts of a headset to fail and the lower
sections can be replace indepenantly if they're worn out.

The forks probably require a 22.0 stem (standard is 22.2). Sheldon Brown
sugests using sandpaper to reduce a standard stem to fit. You should
replace the stem anyway if it is a AVA as they are know to fail (and
need odd sized bars too)

They rear wheel is probably french threaded too so it won't take a
trackcog.

Easist way to convert this to a fixie is to replace the rear wheel with
a proper track wheel (about 200ish new or ??? second hand).

These are quite nice frames to ride and are pretty stylish, personally
I'd ride it as a retro sorta bike, but if you really want to go fixed I
wouldn't be too offended :-P

If you do give the Simplex stuff back to the recycle place it pretty
hard to come across these days.

> Or should I just flogg the bike off on Ebay?

You probably wouldn't get much more then you paid at the recycle place.

> Axeman

Cheers

Joel

--
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