Peugeot 708

Re:

Here's some pictures. This is pretty close to the spec from 1992, including Modolo bars and stem (bit short for me but I may build it up just to try out – the beauty of these is easy to take on and off). Got a few excess parts but will either trade these or use on another build, depending on how I get on with it. The wheels are Sachs New Success hubs with Rigida DP18 rims and bladed spokes, beautifully smooth and they popped into the dropouts with satisfying ease. The front wheel has radial lacing, new to me, and the rear has radial on the NDS. Had to dig out my Roger Musson book to understand how these wheels were put together.

The brakes and front and rear derailleurs are marked R5 in obscure places: not sure whether this signifies anything or not. The bb is, unfortunately, only Shimano but also moves smoothly.

Will need to have long think to remember how to remove the freewheel – I recall these used to be physically tricky jobs, assisted by a vice, but all part of the joy of learning about the differences with bikes.

Hi, its coming together really nicely , well done and great find. I wonder if this was frame was intended for the U.S Subaru Montgomery team as Denis Roux was listed as riding for them in `92 and their jersey is similar yellow / blue . I wonder if the frame may have been built for / by Procycle the canadian company who were the license holder to produce Peugeot branded cycles for the US and Canada in the early 90`s which is why it is so unusual ( I note it doesnt have a chainstay bridge ? ) . Look forward to seeing this progress.

Re:

Thanks for the info, Marshall, good link to Subaru Montgomery.

Peugeot were producing other frames without a chainstay bridge for a while by this stage: I’ve a 653 Athena from 1990 without a chainstay bridge so don’t know whether this significant or not.

Got the LBS to cut the steerer tube. With unthreaded steerers (MTB A head set) have happily used normal plumber’s pipe cutter but didn’t want to risk this without more specialist tools. They enjoyed examining the frame, measured several times and cut twice – wise move. The headset is an unused Stronglight X14, not seen one of these before, with needle bearings. Not convinced these wear as well as conventional ball bearings but happy to use, probably using a fairly fluid grease.

The first ‘interesting’ aspect to this build is the chamfered bb shell. As I understand it, Mavic faced the bb shell at 45° for their Mavic 610 BB. Other Peugeot bikes I use have this chamfered BB shell and it hasn’t caused any difficulties, so will go ahead and fit a standard Shimano BB. Just to check, I used a ‘spare’ Peugeot frame and discovered doesn’t fit easily on the R side – odd, because I was sure was an English shell. Anyway, tried in the 708 and fitted virtually the whole way just with fingers: by eye I can’t see any issue with this butting up against the chamfered shell so will go ahead.

One of the delights of French bikes is the quirky nature of some of the components. So, for example, I found a Sachs FD clamp 28.6, still unopened in its bag, a perfect fit.

Will check the gear hanger for alignment. I once set off on a newly rebuilt Peugeot 753 and within 400 yds the rear mech swung into the spokes, shattering the mech and putting a terminal twist in the chain: these were brand new Ultegra components – I hadn’t done the simple check in my impatience, and I had the tool to check. Expensive mistake.

Decided not to use a frame saver. These components, from France, have clearly never seen a wet road in their life and with a low of 42 / 21 not sure I’ll be riding the Dales too often with this one.

All was going so well and then discovered my supply of cables and outers needs restocking. Here’s some photos as far as I got: the seatpost / saddle are just to help me get a sense of what it will look like and still thinking about what to do about the stem, so not finally positioned.

Re:

What a terrific project! Maybe we need a Peugeot retro bike ride out at some point. Looking forward to seeing the finished machine.

Re:

What an excellent idea - a Peugeot retro bike ride out somewhere! Which one to take?

New cables and outers arrived, set up and chain put on the bike. Found some old Look pedals in a drawer, obtained that elusive Miche Prima 27.2 seat post and toyed with exactly which saddle to put on. Think I'm going with a modern black leather saddle, prefer this to the old Turbos, but time to fiddle with. I'm slowly getting used to the splash handlebar tape. Bike now sitting on a turbo as I adjust and get to know how the brakes and gears work but impossible not to get on the bike and turn the pedals - all working well, feeling good.

Reminded me of how much I liked old freewheels and how you can build the range you need (big breaker bar made removal easy). These hubs are beautifully smooth (so much so that I bought another NOS pair on e-bay to build another pair of wheels); both front and rear derailleurs are slick and precise; the ergo levers need a little use to get working smoothly but some squirts of WD40 are freeing them up. I might stay with these slightly narrower bars than I usually ride and I'm leaving the Modolo Multilink stem on for now until I can get a longer one (this is 100, I need 120 or slightly longer). All this means that the cables can't be finally cut and trimmed just in case I find a longer stem, but getting closer.

Will try and get some photos tomorrow so people can see how its coming along.

Just found this build via the Winter project RBofTM, cracking bike!

Re:

So, went for the black outers then...I've used yellow - only once mind and then I had to think long and hard about it! Good result though. ( Forgive me if it's rude to post pics of my bike on your thread). Your Peugeot is a beauty - in a class of its own.

Re:

The 708 was finished the other year but, with one thing and another, I never updated the thread – now plenty of time on my hands and decided to show the finished bike.

So, a Peugeot 708 frame from 1993, never ridden or built up before. The serial number is not a factory one so may have been built by the Prestige workshop, particularly because I was told the frame came from an old team and has an ex-pro`s name on (more upthread).

The groupset is Sachs New Success from early 1990s, with a Miche seatpost and Modolo handlebars and stem. For anyone interested in more about Sachs New Success, this link provides some fascinating information: http://lecycleur.com/parts/history-of-s ... w-success/

The gearing will offer some challenges, although I can lower the inner ring down to 38. Everything works beautifully smoothly. Assembly was easy: everything very clean and square, all the threads went together effortlessly (bottom bracket went in virtually whole way by hand). All I need to do now is get it out on a ride and feature in today’s road ride!

Here’s the spec:

Frame: 58 cm: Reynolds 708 1993 1901 g
Forks: Reynolds 708 715 g
Headset: Stronglight X 14 needle bearing headset
Stem: Modolo Q
Handlebar: Modolo
Bar Tape: Splash
Brake levers / shifters Sachs 8 spd (made by Campagnolo)
Brake Calipers: Sachs New Horizon (made by Modolo)
Brake Pads: Sachs
Front Derailleur: Sachs New Horizon
Rear Derailleur: Sachs New Horizon (8 spd)
Freewheel: Sachs 8 spd 13 – 21
Chain: KMC 8 spd
Chainset: Sachs New Horizon (made by Thun)
Chainrings: no markings, 53 / 42 – look original
Bottom Bracket: Shimano
Pedals: Look
Rims: Rigida
Hubs: Sachs New Horizon
Hub Skewers: Sachs
Nipples: Inox
Spokes: Bladed
Tyres: Byte Fiandre
Saddle: Turbo Special
Seatpost: Miche Prima
Bottle Cage: Cannondale GT- 40
Weight: 11 kg / 21 lbs

Hope you like it!

Lovely frame and interesting story.

That frame is a thing of beauty, especially the forks.