Thursday, July 08, 2010

Mystery Bike Revealed - Peugeot Sante

Finally I've gotten around to putting some pictures up of my 'mystery' bike that I've been slowly, very slowly been plunking away on since last summer. The idea was to get it up and on the road fairly quickly, but all too soon time was slipping away and I resolved that this would be a winter project. Technically, it ended up a spring project, but, it's done.I'd been searching for some time to find a nice, decent quality steel frame road bike that actually fit me. 62cm frames aren't the most common in local classified ads. I was pretty much sure I wouldn't find anything decent and thought that if the desire to ride a fast, skinny tired road bike bit me that hard, I'd have to save up the pennies and buy a new one. Well, I found a great deal on a bike that had been spared from being placed out in the dumpster. The gent that I purchase the bike from didn't want to see the bike going to waste, but also wasn't really in a place where he needed another bike project. In the end, I got a sweet deal on it, and now, I've finally got a really nice steel frame road bike that fits.
The bike is a mid-late 80s Peugeot Sante. Made in France, with a Renolds 531P tubeset, nervex lugs and simplex drop outs. That 531 P says so much about this bike. One of the finer tubesets that you could build a bike with at the time.
This bicycle has such an amazing ride. Very aggressive in it's riding position, but the ride itself is smooth. The drive train is Shimano Sante, which was basically a limited edition Dura-Ace line commissioned for this frame. Pearlescent paint was a distinctive feature of the line. That and the special chain-ring bolts that were smooth on the outer side. The brakes are really impressive for their vintage, and after a re-build, the shifting is silky smooth. This bike never had many miles on it. The bio-pace chain rings are in excellent condition. It's pretty cool to have a bike this old, and be able to leave so much of the original hardware on it, without sacrificing performance.
I was thinking about painting the frame, but quite quickly kaiboshed that idea. Added some white tires and bar tape to keep in tune with the aesthetic of the components and paint.
Haven't logged too many miles on it yet, but that'll soon change. Going from the LHT, to this, I'm again amazed at how fast you can actually move under your own power. Skinny tired, go fast bikes are really something.

Cheers.

8 comments:

Pondero said...

Finally, but worth the wait. What I nice find! Two points of experience...(1) I had a bike with Biopace rings, but never really liked the feel of them, and (2) I test rode a lesser model Peugeot back about that time and loved its "springy" and "lively" feel, but for some reason didn't buy it. Sometimes I wish I would have.

Very cool bike. I hope you enjoy it.

Easton Heights Blogger said...

much better condition than I expected, nice.
just a couple points; the Sante group wasn't just for THAT bike, it was a regular group like all the others. lots of the Japanese mfgrs at the time had a sante bike in their lineup.
Sante derailluers and shifters were compatable w/ dura ace, but not the rest of shimano's stuff, so if you ever needed new shifters for instance, ultegra or 105 won't work.
lastly, on your bar wrapping, you generally want to start wrapping from the bottom up. the way you have it, the edges will start to push down and get real ugly, curling back and exposing the handlebar. if you start at the bottom and tape it at the finish it stays in place.

LvilleTex said...

really nice. be curious how you ride with the Biopace. I have a '90 Cannondale road with biopace. Like you, maybe I just look into culling the herd b/c I haven't ridden it in ages.

Different Q entirely. What kind of front bag do you have on the Karate Monkey? I'm needing a camera bag. Thanks and happy simplicity.

Vik said...

Nice work...have fun! Don't worry about the bar tape...I find white tape needs frequent replacing to stay respectable so just re-wrap from the bottom next time round.

coastkid said...

jerome i have a 87/88 peugot triathlon in my garage loft...you may have seen it posted...looks alot like yours!,its 501 tubing,GT cranks,105 gears...just needs a chain which i robbed for a other bike service..it rides like new...my big brother bought it new and raced it here for heriot watt university in the late 90s...

Doug said...

That's a real gem of a find. Looks great! Enjoy the ride.

Jerome said...

Chris, yeah, this bike certainly has a 'springy' feel to it. The frame has mucho-flexo. In fact, I can see it flex when I look down and hammer. Kind of weird, but the other side is a super smooth ride. This wouldn't be a bike for hard sprinting, but for fast cruise in the county, yes.

EHB: Thanks for the clarity and info. Much appreciated. The reason I opted to wrap that way this time was because that's how the bike was wrapped when I got it, and wanted to give it a try. The reason the end has already come unraveled is cause I crashed this bike already. After being hit by a car. The only damage at all was the saddle, bar tape and pedals. I walked away fine so all's good.

Tex69, I've had Biopace for years and always had at least one bike with them on. Right now I've got them on my xtracycle. I've even had SS bikes set up with them before. I can't say I really notice a huge difference ridding with them. On the front is just a cheap ($10?) Axiom top tube bag. There are tons out there from lots of manufacturers. For a P&S camera, it's great. I leave my camera case unzipped and I can pull out my camera quickly, even while riding, but it's still safe and secure when it's put away.

This is a fun bike, and I'm looking forward to getting it out on a day long road ride. Maybe a spin up in the mountains.

Cheers.

todoran said...

Hi Jerome.

Very nice Peugeot. I have a 59cm Peugeot as my first roadbike about 2 months ago. I love it so far. I too was thinking about painting it, but I think I will keep it with the natural patina for a while. If I do paint it I will powder coat it in a pear white (if they have pearl white powder coat) to keep it close to original. Does your Peugeot have a 24mm seat post like mine? Trying to find a new one is pretty expensive because they are so rare.