Introducing the Peugeot Record Du Monde Racing Bicycle.

Last week while searching the local metal scrapyard for a coaster brake axle I came across something I thought I would never want to own. A early eighties Peugeot racing bike was dumped on the side of a huge pile of metal junk. At first I moved it aside thinking what a shame someone would dump such thing. Surly there must be someone out there who would like to have such a piece of vintage cycling history? He or she could restore it, modify it, look at it or even ride the hell out of it. So after a quick inspection 10 euro changed hands and I had to cycle home pushing my new ride. (Luckily the tires were not completely flat)

At home, the first thing I did was removing the toe clips. I did not have the guts to try those contraptions out. I'm used to SPD and not some kind of mid-evil foot cage. Next came a bit of air for the tires and a saddle post adjustment. Then came the test ride..... 

And it was awful, but also fun in a weird kind of vintage way. Some lubrication and a few adjustments to the dérailleurs and the (horrible) brakes made things a bit better. But, being a mountain biker (XC) I will have a hard time adjusting to that low, narrow and strangely shaped handlebar. Not to speak of those small tires with no comfort what so ever. Living at the end of a dirt road I almost had to walk the bike to the asphalt. 

The test ride also revealed a problem. (besides the fact that it's slow, heavy and awkward to ride) The outer chain ring must have been bend when the bike was dumped. So now the chain is rubbing again the outer chain ring when when riding the inner chain ring. Since the chain rings are made from iron this can probably be fixed with a hammer. But to do that the crank needs to be removed. And when the crank is of I could just as well take out the bottom bracket and re-grease it. 30-35 years old grease can't really be performance enhancing. The same also applies to the hubs and the headset so a decision was made to take the bike completely apart and give it a good service.

Next the teardown. For now I leave you with some detail photos of the bike.

Atom hubs (With Rigida rims)

The horrible brakes (Weinmann). (caused by the steel Rigida rims?)

Simplex front dérailleur 

Simplex rear dérailleur

Simpex shifters (non indexed)

Atax stem

Hardly used 6 speed cassette that probably isn't a cassette.

Peugeot Logo

The address of a previous owner

Record Du Monde

ps. If Someone can determine the exact build year of the bike I would be interested in that. I've narrowed it down between 1979 and 1983 since that's the period they used the checker pattern decals.

Continue with the tear-down