1979 Peugeot "Sports" (UO-8) project

I recently went to my favorite used bike haunt, bike-works, seeking a serviceable 27" rear wheel.  I wanted a complete wheel-set for a early 70s  Motobecane Mirage Frame-set that I think I have enough spare parts to build up and sell.  When I looked closely at the rear wheel I had in the parts pile I realized that in addition to broken spokes and surface rust that the inside of the rim had rampant rust and a nasty looking hole that nominated the whole wheel for the recycle bin.

I am rentus maximus destroyer of tubes! 

Another item on the agenda was looking to see if there were any complete bike projects that I could turn around into a serviceable bike to sell.  I have a more than a few frame-sets and as mentioned think I can make a serviceable Motobecane but I was looking for something a bit more straightforward.  To that end a Peugeot Sports caught my eye.

Peugeot Sports "As is"

It was listed for the modest sum of $25 in "as is" condition, so after a quick inspection I snapped it up.  The "as is" part meant the following no; pedals, chain, front derailleur or front shifter.  I am pretty sure I can pick all those missing pieces out of the parts bin and/or I would have replaced them anyway so this was the equivalent of the "mechanics special".  One thing that puzzled me was that the decals, and use of the name "Sports", indicated to me that it was a late 70s or early 80s model and yet it had cottered cranks!? Had someone retrofitted this French steed in its 35 year lifetime?   A little research on http://www.retropeugeot.com/ confirmed the date, 1979, and the fact that the entry level Peugeots, AO-8 & UO-8, still came with cottered cranks into the twilight of the 70s.

1979 Catalog shot for the Sports

Something unique about this bike is that after all the Peugeots I have worked on this is my first black model, I've done white, blue and yellow but never black which seems odd as I would assume it was a pretty standard color.  I still intend to finish its flasher big brother the UO-10 aka "Course" before I start on the sports but thought I would share its "as is" condition before I get started on it.  I have a nice a set of low mileage specialized black walled tires that came with the course that I plan to use on this bike, not my usual choice but I am going to try and keeps costs down on this build.

I have a nice set of stem mounted Sun Tour power shifters to take the place of these beat up and incomplete Simplex shifters.

I also scavenged a Sun Tour front derailleur at bike works to replace the missing one which I assume was a simplex with a plastic body that failed as so many of them did.

hmm something seems to be missing....

I think, hope, every thing else can be either rehabbed/rebuilt or can be found in the parts bin.  I find it interesting to have two different Peugeot models from roughly the same year, while they both share the same Carbolite 103 frame-set they differ significantly in how they were outfitted.  I might have to do a post about how the two compare.

Peugeots proprietary 103 tubing- CroMo.

Now that some decent weather has come, temporarily, to the Northwest I hope to make some progress on the "course" and get it up on Craigslist and here of course.  Until next time ride.smile.repeat.