Peugeot 653 Athena (Fully Finished 19th Aug)

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Fantastic !

Great to read the whole thread , must have taken you a while to source all the nos parts for it . Reminds me of my first proper bike , a 1991 purple and yellow Peugeot 531 with Shimano (the best IMO ) RX100 groupset . Saw a two tone blue 753 for sale a little while ago but managed to resist as my cave is already pretty full !

Mike

 

[jules_b]

Re:

Thread hijacked with OP's permission!

So Maca found the 753 version of this bike that he had when he was younger and sold this frame to me. I have finally completed building this up and took it for it's maiden ride today. I have three other period bikes which I have sweat, bled and cried over making as period as possible so I decided to not go down the NOS route with this as I was keen to have a bike that I can ride hard (and because NOS is an expensive route to go down )

Earlier this year I found a Colnago Superissimo in a skip! http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=294518 After the initial elation wore off I discovered that the frame had suffered a front impact and would be too much work for me to repair but it was laden with Campag gear and 3tt Handlebars and stem so this has all been restored and transferred to this build. Some of the equipment is scratched and used but all is usable and looks good. I managed to rescue

- Campag Record rear derailleur
- Campag Athena Headset
- Campag Chorus brakes
- Campag Athena Ergo gear levers
- Campag Chorus front mech
- Campag Veloce BB
- 3ttt Handlebars
- 3tt Stem

Sadly the crank's threads where buggered on the drive side so I rescued the non drive side and used a spare Campag Victory crank I had from another bike. I had the Rolls lying around.

I bought a Mavic MA wheelset with Stronglight hubs (came with 7 speed cassette and tyres), some yellow bar tape, Campag hoods and a new chain and I was good to go!!

Period correct people may complain about the Ergo gears but all my others have downtube shifters and I had these lying around so I decided why not.

The only thing left is to get a seatpost as I have a Campag Aero one but it does not fit. Oh and I will get some more racy tyres at some point...

 

[jules_b]

Re:

Quick update...got an aero seatpost and a Turbomatic saddle as found the Rolls surprisingly uncomfortable. Using this as my daily commute but take good care of it which hopefully shows from the pic.

Will eventually replace my headset and change my crankset to maybe an Athena one from the right period and my front tyre (thinking about a yellow one for the rear although not sure how much bright colour one bike can take!!!). I guess I am not going down an original route with this!

It does not take bumps and potholes very well though and not sure if that is down to my headset (which is less than perfect) or the geometry. On smooth roads it flies though and has a great ride

 

[foz]

That looks very very nice

One of my favourite colour schemes!

 

[Muddy paw]

I still love this bike since i first you build it from scratch and i'd give the yellow tyre a go as i think it will look a tad more retro and the main colour of the frame should still tone the yellow down a bit ..

 

[jules_b]

Re:

Thank you although please note that i am not the original owner who started this thread - i bought it off him when he upgraded to the 753 version (should have started a new thread to be clearer).

Just got and fitted my Athena crank on and will post photos at some point. to be honest I miss the Victory one I had as it looked a bit more unique but as it was 2 years older than the bike it was not quite period. Will get used to it I guess. And may give the yellow tyre a try and see how it looks.

 

[Muddy paw]

Oops! :facepalm: , that's me just jumping in with me big feet first again ! .
Well now i'm back on track regarding who owns this lovely machine i still reckon the yellow tyre choice will be a good idea and i'm looking forward to seeing some more pics with
the proper crank on ..

 

[jules_b]

Sadly it looks like i am going to sell this on! It is a shame as it is a lovely bicycle and i have been very indecisive about selling it. I have a better fitting Pug which means this is never used and has just been stored in my attic for the past year so the time has come to pass it on to someone who will hopefully use it - i have a hankering for an Italian bike to replace it. I will put an advert up in the next couple of days but if anyone is interested let me know (PM me).

Splitting the bicycle and just selling frame although can discuss parts if anyone is interested.

 

[Muddy paw]

Yes it is a shame to split this lovely bike and sell the frame but I understand as I use to have a pug many moons ago that was a tad small for me and I found it a little frustrating just leaving it unused in the shed because of that reason so eventually sold it on knowing that it would be used as it should which I was a lot happier about even though it was sad to see it go .

 

[jules_b]

I will post in classified this weekend. I had originally bought it as a frame only and it has a bit of a mish mash of parts on it which is why I am splitting. it is sad to let it go...