How I spent my Labor Day... laboring...

Almost finished Peugeot by MiraHartford

To honor all the laborers of our nation, I decide to put my dad & friend Ryan (of blog Shifting Gears) to help finish the Peugeot bicycle. It was a great way to spend some hours getting frustrated outside in the backyard as one thing after another went awry while installing the brake handles, brake cables, derailleurs (front, then back!), then the chain, then... oh bloody hell! Full story after jump.

A little backstory: I received this 1970's Peugeot from a friend last summer and have been meaning to work on it so that I could have a quicker, lighter bike around when I just needed to race around town (instead of commuting & lugging stuff around). I spent a few months acquiring parts to 'restore it', such as new brakes, new derailleurs for the old ones were pretty beat up, and a few other odds & ends (thanks, eBay!). But it wasn't until this past June that I was able to roll up my sleeves and get down to it!

So, dismantling & cleaning commenced and it looked pretty good. It required new tires & tubes as the older ones were shot (new ones acquired at Newington Bicycle). With all the 'new' parts available, it was time to begin putting it all together. Took a while to get around to doing it, but the new Simplex rear derailleur worked just fine and fit into place, hence the rest would be easy enough. Right?

First problem we encountered were that the brake levers I purchased were a bit loose and wouldn't stay on (thanks to Ryan for correcting that little problem with a hack as he removed the holders from the old levers and rigged them up). Problem solved. Then came the brake cable itself: we didn't have cable cutters, just wire cutters. Difference? oh, just that the strands of wire that make up the cable come all loose when cutting with the regular clippers. As we were threading the cable, it ended up snagging and pulling off two to three, damaging the cable. *grumble grumble*

We finally got the brake cables done, although the new levers took a bit to get set up (long story). Nonetheless, with that issue set, let's move onto the final component, the front derailleur. My dad put it on the frame, ran the chain through and went to tighten the screws. The screw casings snapped in half! Frustration! Bah! Unfettered, I decided to to at least try out the bike to see what we have, brakes being the most important at this point. As I went to get on it, I nearly fell off starting it up: the rear tired had gotten tightened so much so that it was rubbing up on the frame (embarrassing). So, back to the yard, fix that, back to the front, hop on it again, peddle once and the rear derailleur falls off!

At this point, I was tired, annoyed, and just fed up! So ripped the rear derailleur off, cut the chain and shortened it to a single speed. Ryan suggested settling the chain on the larger peddle gear and the second gear on the hub. Reattached the chain, said a prayer to St. Albert Pope, took it to the street and hopped on. Didn't fall off, and rode it around the block. Alas, that was as far as I could manage it as the larger gear made it a bit of a sluggish ride. So, maiden voyage was sort of like Howard Hughes and his Spruce Goose.

It was an interesting experience just the same. Mostly, it was a bonding experience as my father and I worked on it. He's always been interested since he was a kid, and always had a few around. Because of our cultural differences - he being very old school European Catholic, me being new-wave American pop-culture bastard - we never had much to bond over. We didn't work on cars together (I still don't), I read lefty books, he reads Portuguese newspapers; I watch indie movies, he's happy to watch anything but. Nonetheless, bikes have always been an interesting connection for us. Now that this one is nearly finished, I'll have to find another bike to redo with him.

UPDATE: So, eager to at least have one thing finished this weekend, I adjusted the chain to the smaller crank gear and with Ryan's help, reset the tire to tighten the chain. It now rides much more smoothly, with less drag! The Peugeot is reborn!