We’ve restored quite a few bikes over the years. This feature project post gives a more in depth showcase of another one of our favorites.
We purchased this 1975 Peugeot PX – 10 from the widow of the original owner back in 2016. The original bill of sale from Bills Bikes in Woodside was included with the sale. The bike had lived its entire life in Queens. By the time we acquired it, it was in pretty poor condition and a number of original parts had disappeared. We promised Robin, the seller we would restore it back to original.
Peugeot was one of the oldest, largest and longest running bicycle companies in France. They started in 1882 and continued for a century, ending production and selling name rights to a Canadian company in 1982 or so. During the American bicycle boom years in the early 1970s, millions of inexpensive Peugeot ten speeds were imported, many are still on the road today.
The PX 10 model was introduced in 1953 and remained Peugeot’s top of the line racing model for the next 25 years. Many a race was won on a PX 10 back in those days. This 1975 model features Reynolds 531 butted tubing throughout, Nervex professional lugs and all French components (included the not loved plastic simplex competition derailleurs). It also sports the unusually steep 74 degree headtube angle introduced that year.
Jack Trimble of Franklin Frame did his usual fantastic job repainting the frame to match the original.
In 2019, I had purchased some inventory from a old timer bike shop in Oyster Bay. The horde included new old stock versions of almost every part of the Peugeot. So we were able to restore the bike using mostly new components;
The Stronglight 105 crankset and bottom bracket
Stronglight headset, Ava stem
Simplex derailleurs, Atom freewheel,
Simplex bar end shifters, Mafac brake levers and Benotto handlebar tape
Rudi Mayr restored the Brooks Professional leather saddle.
We re-laced the original Normandy hubs with NOS Mavic Montheil tubular rims and Robergel butted spokes.
In the end, all the parts except the modern brake cables were factory correct; the bike was as good as the day it left the showroom in 1975.
Bill purchased the bike on Ebay in 2020 and lives nearby in Bayside, Queens. When he saw the original bill of sale, he noted that it was his handwriting!. he had grown up in Woodside and worked at Bill’s Bikes for several years in the mid 1970s. Apparently, he was the salesperson who sold the bike originally. “It’s a small world“
In the end, it came out not too shabby, No?