1: Home: Restoring an old bike

I have just undertaken my first (and maybe only) restoration of a road bike/bicycle. It is a 1980 Peugeot Racing/Road Bike as used by some of the top professional cyclists of the 1970s and 80s. In fact the winner of the 1975 and 1977 Tour de France rode one such bike. I had a specific motivation for undertaking the project, I had an interesting experience both in researching the parts to fit (chiefly due to competing standards for components of the era) and in sourcing those parts. I had an even more interesting experience restoring the frame and fitting the parts. I recorded in photos my progress, and now that it is done, I decided to publish the project in case someone finds it interesting.

In doing this website/blog I have combined two of the skills I have acquired from a misspent life (i.e. messing with bikes and working in a banking/IT career - websites etc). I have written it for a few different types of readers:

For those who are interested in the whole story, i.e. what makes a man, who already has 5 bikes, want to go and buy an old frame and restore it with parts usually bought on ebay (a not inexpensive option) so that he can have an extra bike. If you are one of those readers - just read the blog in sequence - chose the "Next" option at the bottom of each page. Continue until the pages get too detailed and/or boring.
For those who want to find out about restoring an old frame (especially if you are embarking on your first restoration project) and the sorts of problems that can arise (and some bits of advice - not all good) - skip to Section "4: The CFX10 Arrives from eBay" and read from there until you get bored. This is especially true if you are
1. Building it to use it, i.e. not for show, and
2. Using old period appropriate bits especially friction shifters.
For those who are only interested in the challenges and opportunities that are afforded by fitting a Velo Orange Threadless Bottom Bracket into a frame with damaged bottom bracket treads - skip to Section "8: The Velo Orange Threadless BB" and read that section.
For those who are interested in working with a French threaded and French standard frame (challenges and some workarounds) - skip to Section "4: The CFX10 Arrives from eBay" and read from there until you get bored.

I hope that this blog will provide some information and/or entertainment to all of its audience and that people find it useful. Any queries or request for more info - see my contact details on this website (bottom of most pages). I'll be happy to answer any questions that arise if I can.

This restoration project took about a year from the frame arriving to the initial test ride around the block. True, it was a Christmas present which arrived in September, so no real work could start for 3 months. Then my bike shed was a bit too cold for working in, after that we had the builders in so the shed was used for storage and the garden was like a building site. I did use these delays to research, source and buy parts, do some test paint touchups, etc. So the true work took about three months - and it was done at a very leisurely pace e.g. one day I fitted the brake cables (inners & outers, including cutting) and I decided I'd leave the gear cables until the following day - this pace allowed me research the correct and/or best routing and lengths for the cables and also how they routed within each component. I could have done the whole job in about 2 hours if I was bothered, but spread over two days it was more fun - and was done better.

Section 1: Home: Restoring an old bike