1975 Peugeot UO-8 White 25" (December 2011)

Make: Peugeot
Model: UO-8
Year:  1975
Obtained: July 2011
Found: Bike Works 
Paid: $35.00

In the spring of 2010 I was in the university district of Seattle and a fixed up old 10 speed caught my eye, as they tend to, upon closer inspection it turned out to be a 70's Peugeot UO-8 in white with red accents.  I was really taken with the look and filed it away in my brain for later use.  In July of 2011 at the same time I found the 74 Grand Prix that I have written about I also found a 1975 white Peugeot UO-8 -now I could do my own red on white rebuild!

It was the usual story, musty, dusty and dirty but with some funky Mafac "half hood" brake levers, Racer brakes, "Aztec" lug cut outs and a head badge that reminded me of the buttons on a cigarette machine from the late 60s, you know the ones that were in the lobby of every restaurant in the US at the time.

Anyway I was really looking forward to working on this French beauty but after the debacle with the cottered crank on the Grand Prix I decided I would leave this alone until I had a proper tool to address the cotters.  As a result I didn't get to working on this bike until November. (1974 Catalog shot below couldn't find a 75)

I had initially though this might be a keeper but like the Takara it was a 25 inch frame and just too big for me.  Finally I had the proper tool and the time in November to tackle this beauty; I removed the "all original" (and pretty useless after 35 years) cables, housing, brake pads, dry rotted tires and tubes. And then got to work cleaning and waxing the frame, rebuilding the main bearings and getting the bike back to road worthiness.  Peugeot bikes of this era had simplex derailleurs and shifters, usually the front derailleur fails due to the use of a plastic clamp but in the case of this UO-8 the FD was fine, it was rear that would not work properly.  That was really the only real issue I had with the bike and it was solved with a vintage Shimano Titlist in nice shape and of about the same era.

With my new Cotter press the cotters practically fell over themselves getting out of the crank so I could rebuild the bottom bracket and clean up the crankset.

With some gentle scrubbing and cleaning the rubber half hoods and lever protectors came out very nice.

And my vision of a white Peugeot UO-8 with red accents became a reality.

The red walled tires might have been a bit over the top but what the heck I liked the look and the bike sold fast to a nice tall young man at the UW.  A really good resource for old Peugeot info, especially dating them, is http://retropeugeot.com/.   By dating I mean figuring out when the bike was made, because taking a bike out on a date would be just wrong and odd....right? 

Little did I know that this purchase was only the first in what would be a long line of UO-8's for me.  Allez Allez!

Ride.Smile.Repeat.