1978 Peugeot Super Competition PXN10LE

I've mentioned it here a couple of times in passing, but I recently acquired a "grail" bike - the bike that you always want, but will probably never find. In my case, it was one of the most popular bikes out there, but the prices were what would preclude me from buying one.

But I found one. I have done blog posts about my other "hobo bike" before. To be fair, I didn't buy either one of these bikes from an actual bindle carrying hobo. First the Raleigh, International and now the Peugeot Super Competition were both very fine collectible bicycles being used as basic transportation by people who were working hard to make their way.

I found the Peugeot outside of a convenience store in my neighborhood. After taking a quick peek at it, I went into the store and asked whose it was. One of the shortest not little people persons I have ever seen raised his hand and claimed it. I know a little Spanish, so I had a talk with him and discovered that he had picked the bike out of a dumpster, and that he was more than willing to give it  up - because it rode like shit for him. I wasn't surprised, because it is a tall frame (58cm) and as I said, he was very short.

This is how the bike was set up when I found it.

The guy was riding this bike with the bars flipped up, a broken jockey wheel on the Simplex rear derailleur, and with zero brakes. The pads were herd as rocks, and were not adjusted correctly. At best, they slowed the bike down (but there was still lots of praying involved).

I paid the man the hundred bucks he asked for, and then went on my way. Over the next few days I did a complete tune up, and replaced the broken jockey wheel with one from a Suntour derailleur. I wanted to wrap the bars with black cotton tape, but had a hard time finding any tape anywhere here in Dallas. I ended up using a dark blue, which I like a lot. Luckily, the store that had the tape (Transit Bikes) also had some replacement hoods for the brakes. I'm looking for some NOS Mafac hoods, but it may be a while before I find them. 

When I was in high school, my first "real" bike was a Peugeot - not a Super Competition like this one, but still a nice bike. I rode it for many years, and loved it, but had to sell it when I was in the Navy and stuck at home on leave without money to get back to my ship. I had always regretted selling, because I loved it. Finding this bike closes that loop for me. 

After completing the tune up, I brought the bike up to the office, where it hangs now so I can thoretically ride it at lunchtime. It's built of Reynolds 531, including the fork. The crankset is a Stronglight with black drillium rings, the brakes are Mafac with drillium levers - just a beautiful bike. I had to find an Ideale saddle for it to replace the comfort POS that was on it. It's not the proper Ideale 2001, but it's my preferred Brooks style. 

ATAX Alloy Stem 

Stronglight Drillum 

Simplex. 

I replaced the old red cable housing with yellow, but now that I keep looking at it, I think I need to go with orange to match the downtube logo.

I'm also going to replace the current blackwall tires with some gumwalls so things look right, and then I think I'll be done with it.

This bike has already inspired me to get back in the saddle, and to clean up my garage in order to try to enjoy my hobby again.

It also inspired me to fire the blog back up, tho I have not much to say, so thank you?


I am contacting Southwest Frameworks today, and will run the bike over there probably early next week. When that happens, I will take lots of photos.


As they say in France, Adios until next time, mon ami.

This is my favorite piece of art in the office. 

No, I Did Not Die.

When I last left you, I was riding my Univega home from the office in order to bring my Peugeot Super Competition up to hang on my wall. I am still trying to find the time to get the bike over to Southwest Frameworks so that they can match the paint. However, it is indeed up at my office, as evinced by the photos below.

As I said before, this is my latest acquisition, a 1978 Peugeot Super Competition. I did actually ride this bike up to the office, but I chose not to ride the Univega all the way home. Apparently the rear wheel needs truing, as no matter what I did, every revolution found the pads rubbing the rear wheel. I decided to wait until Saturday, when I rode the Super Competition up here, and just took the train home with the Univega. 

The ride up on the old bike was pretty good - I mostly ride these downtube shifted bikes around the many trails in Plano; this was the first time I tried to ride one in traffic. The ride was  mostly uneventful except for one incident in Richardson on Greenville Avenue, where some old knobhead in a BMW decided to try and scare me. Two lanes available, and this guy in his seven series thought it would be a good idea to pull up behind me and buzz me and honk at me as he passed. Obviously I lived, but I don't understand why he thought that was a necessary or useful thing. He could have just gotten in the completely empty lane next to me and not been slowed down a bit. People like that are one of the reasons that Dallas is called one of the worst cities for cyclists. 

Once I got home with the Univega, I decided that it was time to clean my garage in order to work on my bikes. I did a bunch of mechanic work on a company vehicle last summer, and my garage was much worse for wear as a result - it had gotten super disorganized, and the only way was a complete redo. So off I went. 

This was in the first stages - I had removed much crap. 

 As you can see, I have another project lined up I want to get started on as well; my 1901 Oldsmobile. 

In the course of cleaning up the garage, I got sidelined by another project I have been sitting on for many years; my grandfather's old air compressor. 

Ford CH-1000 Air Compressor

My grandfather had hard wired this in his garage, and when my grandmother died a few years ago, I inherited it - and then proceeded to let it sit for a long, long time. I took a sideline to the garage cleanout and spent some time wiring a new whip in so I could plug the thing in and use it. After some time and study of the original manual (which shows that grandpa purchased this a week after I turned ten) I fired it up for the first time in 15 years.  (Grandpa passed away New Years Eve 1999). 

If you found my blog because you are looking for info on this compressor, I will copy the manual if you need it. 

So, without further ado, here is the sound of a Ford CH1000 air compressor that has not run in 15 years. 

I'm pretty proud of myself for making that work. I'll be back soon. 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Obviously, I can't write about everything I've done for the past 3+ years, but I can share some neat stuff I saw while I was on vacation with my family this summer.

We went to Washington DC, which to me means

That's right - the charcuterie at RFD Washington. This was as tasty as it looks, with some Vermont Duck, Washington Salami, cheese, and etc. 

Until this trip I had never been to DC, and that trip was truly the other part of getting me back into cycling; at rush hour, the bikes were weaving in and out of traffic, and it reminded me how much fun bikes were. I didn't really see any "good" bikes chained up in DC the way I did in Ft Collins Colorado last summer. This VanMoof was chained up in Ft Collins on a random Thursday night. 

I didn't see much of that in Washington DC, but I did see bikes everywhere - and people riding them. I guess those bikes fanned the embers of my former bike obsession. I even took photos of some of the bikes in the Smithsonian.

This Tiffany bicycle was incredible. This was in the Museum of American History.

Or this very rare Wright Brothers built bicycle in the Air and Space Museum.

You don't know how badly I wanted to straighten those cranks out. 

So even though I still wasn't riding in June, I wanted to. Sort of. Even though I knew it would hurt, I could feel the ache in my legs, telling me to spin some pedals. I would wait a while longer to actually make it happen, but I was starting to feel that ember glow again. 

Bad news though - it's still unsure if I am dead after my Friday ride - I actually wrote and scheduled this post at the same time I scheduled my pre-ride post. That means that I could still be deceased from my Friday ride, but because I am relentlessly efficient and wrote this in advance, you will have to wait to see if I never show up again. 

I'm Riding Home on Friday Afternoon

Woah, woah - strike up the band. I'm going to ride home this afternoon. Last time I posted a photo of my Univega in the office, set up in the trainer. It's here because I have storage issues, of a sort; I have a lot of bikes. As of this writing, here are the bikes in my garage, some of which I have pictures of; 

1968 (?) Falcon San Remo Single Speed

1968 Schwinn Twinn single Speed

1973 Raliegh International

1974 Schwinn Suburban

1978 Peugeot Super Competition

1986 (?) Ross Mount Whitney with a Nu-Vinci CVT hub

1986 (?) Suteki Mixte (My wife's) 

1992 Univega Ultraleggera

1999 GT Force

2010 Dahon internally geared 8 speed folder

Plus my daughter's two bicycles, and my tools, and my 1901 Oldsmobile Replica. 

As I said before, I took on a car hobby as I fell out of bikes; cars move under their own power and I can be relatively lazy. 

Back to the beginning of this entry though - Friday, I am riding my Univega Home. I posted my Peugeot snag on Bikeforums, and one of the members contacted me to see if I could get my bike to Southwest Frameworks here in Dallas so they could match the color, as he is restoring the same model.  I talked to David from Southwest today, and we are going to hook up next week so he can take a color match. In the meantime, I need to get my Peugeot up here, and take the Univega home. I hate to haul bikes on the back of my car, because it is hell on my paint, so I'm going to ride the Univega home and then ride the Peugeot up here on Saturday. David is going to come here and take me and the bike to his shop one day in the next couple of weeks. I've met David before at some of the "retro picnics" he throws, and I am looking forward to seeing some of the bikes he is working on in his shop. I will report back here with plenty of photos. 

I'm writing this entry in advance of my ride, so if it is published and I never show up again, there is a good chance that I expired on my ride home, or just got lazy and gave up cycling again. Or maybe just gave up blogging. Or went blind. Actually, I guess you can't jump to any conclusions if I never show up agian, because there are many things that could happen to me that could prevent me from making my next entry. 

Cold comfort, indeed. Let's hope I make another entry soon. 

Indoor Training

It's awful. Every year, I pull out my trainer (a 1 UP USA sent to me by the company for review - which you can read here) and set the bike up, pretending I'm going to ride it. There was a time when I did so, when I was at my lightest, in my best shape. It was all of one season, for maybe six weeks.

I actually brought my trainer up to the office, again pretending that I was going to do some riding at lunchtime, but as of yet, I have managed all of five minutes. Maybe ten minutes, but that's being generous.

Why is it so hard to ride inside? When I got my bikes out, cleaned them up, and did some longer rides of labor day weekend, I was able to knock out 25 miles without being too beat, even after a 3+ year break.

I plan to get some real riding in this weekend, and I guess I will take the Univega off of the trainer - and actually put my gear on and go for a lunchtime ride instead of trying to sweat it out in my office. There is a path at the end of the street my office is on that runs quite a ways, so 30 min won't be too bad. I'm hoping to work back up to commuting soon. Since I stopped commuting, the cycling landscape around Dallas has changed considerably, and I may have a much more direct route to the office, which would be a really good thing. This Saturday I plan to do a mock route to both see how much time it will take me, and what the best, most direct route is. I love riding paths, and I believe Richardson has built a few more paths along my route so I don't have to ride so far out of the way anymore. I used to have to cross 75 twice during my ride (both on dedicated paths) but it put my miles out of my way - I will report next week with the new route findings, and regale you with tales of adventure.

Where The Hell Has The Time Gone?

So here we are. The second post in nearly four years, thank you very much.

It's good to be relatively back. Both on two wheels and on the bloggiverse, here.

I guess we should do some catch up, you and I. What have I been up to? Lots. I have been working hard over at my Pro  gig, taversing the USA in the hot rod milk truck my brother and I put together. We do a lot of classic auto insurance, and we go to lots of classic car shows, so we thought it'd be best to do it in something supercool.

This photo was taken on our first trip in the truck - this was in the New Mexico mountains. It was an amazing drive, and at the time of writing this we have driven our DIVCO Lightning to California, Colorado many times, Kansas, Missouri, and all over Texas. As we have been doing that, we have been building a team to make our company great. Frankly, that's been the hardest part. I stopped riding because I hurt my hand a couple of years ago, and the habit of riding fell to the wayside. I did hang a bike in my office to remind me what I was supposed to do, but all of my bikes just hung in the garage gathering dust.

It also got hard to find good bikes worth repairing on craigslist - everything was going for way too much money - nothing was $50-75 anymore, and those that were were just cheapie mountain bikes from Wal Mart - disposable goods, never meant to be kept for a long time. So things got dark in the garage, and I moved on to cars, as you see above.

Then I found my Peugeot, and everything in me came alive again. I had flirted with the idea of selling some bikes for a while, as I have way too many. After the Peugeot purchase, I sold a bike to a friend who contacted me looking for something good, as he was going to a car free lifestyle. I dug around in my stock and decided to sell him Hubbard's Schwinn World Voyaguer. I love the bike, but with the acquisition of the Peugeot, it didn't make sense to have that many drop bar 1970's roadies. Plus, I knew Brandon would take care of it and appreciate it. So on down the road it went.

I have, since finding the Peugeot, actually gone on some rides - lots of path rides, as I am in a great city with many miles of paths very close. I even got out my GT Roadie, my old commuter, and took it for a 20 mile spin. I forgot how good it rode.

So I'm back, in a way - I have made some grandiose plans for 2017, but I'm going to keep those under my hat for now, but unlike my Tour de BBQ days, I don't have to raise money to do it.

As they say on the street, I'm "back in the cut" - see you soon.

We Peek Out Our Head

Should I start up again? I have started riding again, not because I want to get back in shape, but because I found this. Much like my Raliegh International, I found this bike under someone who was just using it for transportation - I have heard them called "hobo bikes" before.

This is a 1978 Peugeot Super Competition. When I was a kid, my first "real" bike was a Peugeot - not a Super Competition, a lower model. It was "real" enough that it had downtube shifters, though, and I rode it all over Rowlett and Garland. When I got into old bikes, I put a Peugeot on my list - and to find this one was incredible, especially considering the condition it's in. I had to tune it and clean the hell out of it, but it's beautiful and rides wonderfully - though the fat old engine pushing it doesn't help.

I know that I will at least do another post about the bike, but I dont' know when. I am in the process of liquidating some of my old collection, because I love this bike so much (and my garage is full of dusty bikes.

I will be back - probably not regularly, but I will try to post again. I lost my way a few years ago, and have literally not ridden much more than a few miles for the past couple of (3!) years. It's good to see you again, and hopefully, I can regain your trust as a mediocre bike blogger.

Bikecharge Installation And Review

I was recently riding my bicycle, listening to Howard Stern and using my speedo to track how slowly I was moving, and I saw this.

Now, the last thing I want to see is that I have a low battery, because it means no tunes and no tracking for the rest of the ride. (It also means that Mrs. The Plano Cyclist can't call me and ask when I will be home, so it's a bit of a mixed bag.) When I saw the notification, I mentally kicked myself, because I had a dynamo system sitting on my workbench, waiting to be installed on the bloggipede.

Even though it was waiting patiently, it took another incident to get me to install the Bikecharge. I had received a notice about a recall on my Light and Motion 180 for a circuit board problem; the light I had was in a batch that had problems with the light turning off unexpectedly. "Pshaw", I said, "this is a great light, and I don't think it will be a problem." And it wasn't - until one night at about 6:45. Once you are used to having plenty of light, it is hard to adjust to having none. I usually carry a blinky in my bag, but on the night the lights went out in Plano I didn't have it with me, of course. It was a dark ride home, and the whole time I was thinking about that Bikecharge dynamo, just sitting on the PC workbench.


Having been given two reasons to install the Bikecharge, I went ahead and did it. I had been avoiding installing the unit because I read the instructions, and I had to replace one of the hub nuts with an included narrower nut. That may sound funny from a guy who has no problem stretching a frame, but hubs are my one stopper. Despite having plenty of tools and abilities, I hate dealing with them. It is a weird hang up I have, and one that I suspect is actually slowing down the tandem rebuild.

Despite having to deal with my irrational hub mental block, the install was a snap - remove the wheel, replace the outer nut with the thinner nut (simple) and then put your wheel back on. I use a nutted front hub on the bloggipede, so once it was tightened, I did some adjusting and got everything pointed the right way. Install took all of ten minutes, and I wish I had scheduled the staff photographer that day, because it was impossible for me to do it and take photos at the same time.

Remote on/off switch

Once the unit was installed, I connected the remote "on" switch and strung it up to the handlebars. This part took longer than the actual generator installation, to be honest.

USB Plug

After that, I installed the USB cable, strung it up, and was done. The Bikecharge comes with little clips to facilitate the stringing of the wires, and I have no worries that the wires are going anywhere.

After the installation, it was time to test this baby out. The wide silver part gathers up the generated energy via the little tab shown below. Here it is engaged.

And disengaged - there is a slider so that when you don't need juice/don't want the drag on your wheel, you can reverse the tab and disengage the generator. I'm sure some of your ears perked up when I said "drag", so I will address it directly.

Yes, there is some drag. I haven't got a way to measure, but there is a perceptible amount of drag on the front wheel with this system. I have an older bike with a bottle type generator light system, and I will say that it drags much more than the Bikecharge. I don't know how the Bikecharge drag compares to a generator hub, because I don't have one. It doesn't matter, because to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs. You can't generate power without some drag.

Rear of unit, with taillight and usb and control wires. 

And does this thing generate power! I am impressed by the amount of light that it puts out. I have been spoiled by the Urban 180 light output; I would say that the Bikecharge puts out almost as much. It's certainly brighter than every other light I have tried, and a ton brighter than the bottle generator light. One of the nicer features of the Bikecharge is that it stores a small amount of energy, so that when you are stopped the light stays on. That way I don't suddenly disappear when I stop moving. The USB charge feature works very well, and I was able to recharge my half full iPhone on an hour ride, while still using the Bikebrain app and listening to Harry Nilsson.

The Bikecharge is $99, and a great investment for a commuter. Pair it with a phone mount on your handlebars, and you are all set to enjoy the day on two wheels from dawn until dusk.

***
All of the above was written when I originally installed the light in February - and I have ridden in extensively since then. Sadly, the tiny little screws in the engagement tab worked themselves out after a few rides, rendering the Bikecharge useless. I have contacted the company to see if they can send me replacement screws, so I can continue to test it. I'm sure they will, and I assume that my unit was an outlier. I will let you all know what kind of response I get from the company.

Frankly, I've Been Putting This Off For A While

I know I said that I was taking some time off in February to write some "posts" for this "blog", but then real life intruded and I became busy; we moved office space, we hired someone else, and I just got flat out too busy. That's not an excuse, because I hate excuses. Rather, it's just me being honest with you all, and asking you to forgive me. I really should have looked back on the past few years of log posts and noticed that I do have a pretty big production drop off in the beginning of the year, when things start to pick up at work. Remember, I do have a real job, and the piper must be paid. It can't all be cotton candy and vintage bicycles.

If you are curious about what it is I have been doing, you can feel free to read some of my "work" blogs HERE, HERE, and HERE. Oddly enough, in my work life I cater to automobile fetishists, but in my real life I could care less about most cars. Unless they are trying to squash me, in which case I care a great deal.

I'm not going to come back here and make great pronouncements about how many posts I'm going to do, and what about. Instead I am going to tell you where today finds me. When we left off, I said I was going to be losing weight and weighing myself on the regular. That was a lie (though I didn't know it at the time), and as most people do, I lost the weight loss momentum about the time I stopped writing new stuff back in February. I am about the same weight as when I stopped, but I am not the same shape. If you remember, the desire for weight loss was brought on my the purchase of a bunch of pants that were just a little too small for me - but I am wearing a pair now, as I type this. I have been working out, and I have been riding, but I haven't kept track of eating. I will make this pronouncement; I will not bother you with my weight loss goals again. If you want to see that, go to my friend Jared's blog, The Chili's Diet. He is busy with an interesting undertaking, and his blog is worth a perusal.

I do have a couple of things coming up; I had some products that I was sent for review that never got published. I do owe them a few articles, and I'm writing them now. I have also acquired an incredible bike in a trade with Hubbard, and that is going to prompt an article about it, as well as what three of the bikes I have represent. It might be the most interesting article this year, or it might be an incredible bust; with me you never know.

Look for some stuff here over the next few weeks as I begin to fill my funnel again. I had a habit of early morning writing, but I fell out of it, especially since it had become real work having to write product reviews.
I am early morning writing again, and that should bring something in here sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading (and presumably coming back), and if you enjoy this, you can again look forward to being entertained(?) by my writing again. In the meantime, keep the rubber side down, and your eyes on the horizon.

Getting There

Soon. 

I Can't Find My Way Home

Just a Quickie. Man, I Can't even Stay Away Right.

The words are flowing from me like a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives, so you guys can look forward to some real content on March 5. Today I popped in to tell you that since I've made Hubbard an internationally recognized person, the "mainstream alternative" press has jumped on the bandwagon and he has been profiled by the Lakewood Advocate.  (and I'm sure in the paper, if they still print such archaic things).

Read all about him here.

I'm sure he will show up on Channel 5 soon, and then you will see a profile of "The New Cyclist" on CNN that has Hubbard front and center - after that, I'm guessing he ends up on BBC and RT.

Remember - you heard about him here first.

That guy behind him looks scared. 

Monday Check in, Mea Culpa, and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Funny, now I have two with the same title.

I have been letting the cobwebs pile up on this here corner of the web, so I'm going to paint the net with my words once again, letting my ideas flow acrost the tips of your brain stem, tickling your fancy.

The weight loss still goes well, but after the flu I had a lingering cough that made me feel like a resident of London in the 1840's. I didn't do much of anything other than work my abs by  making sure to tighten them a little extra at each cough - to feel the burn. I also broke my finger at the same time, so typing became a big hassle, as did riding. I am finally back to normal (albeit with a slightly hooked ring finger) so there you have my life story already, jeez.

I weighed in this morning.

Feet

I am still losing, (in most aspects...) and have re-implemented my implementation of a fitness plan as of this morning. I fully expect to be down another few pounds by Monday of next week - but here is where the big announcement comes in.

There will be no blog here until March 5. 


I have to take a small break in order to create content. This is a busy period for me at work and I really need to put some focus there, especially at my work blog. In order to do that, I need some time to write. At the same time, I will be writing for here. I have a few reviews that I still need to put down on pixel, and I have a ton of pictures I need to attach to some words - writing for this place helps me here, so it's going to work out well for everyone in the end if I stop trying to put things together on the fly and focus my energies.

Sadly though, it does mean that I will not be putting anything up for a while. This place (or lately the lack of content here) has become stressful to me, and I need to find a way to integrate writing for my blog into my regular spring and summer work schedule.

In the meantime, you can keep track of me by checking back here. I will continue to track my weight via Livestrong, so you can see where my reinvigorated regimen is getting me.

Try the LIVESTRONG.COM calorie counter to start your weight loss journey.

I will see you all in a fortnight.

If you can't wait to read about someone losing weight, go check out my buddy Jared's blog - he is eating at Chili's every day in an effort to lose weight. Read all about it here.

The Amazing Return of the Friday Linkdump series!

Howdy everyone. Today's linkdump is all specific posts that I enjoy from blogs I read regularly.

Dave Moulton's Blog - "Simpler Times"

You know how much honking would go on now? 

I quite often think I was born in the wrong time. This post is full of photos taken of the streets of Dublin Ireland in 1961. Any time before 1973 seems super exotic to me. Dave also talks about the way cyclists interact with traffic, then and now.

Biking In Dallas - "Wheels that Heal"

You can almost smell the hippies. 

Toni, the organizer of the Wheels That Heal benefit, wrote about the results of the party. I get a shoutout.


Pedestrian! Two points! "A Little Katy Trail Etiquette"

On your left! 

The title is pretty self explanatory. After a weekend ride down the Katy with Hubbard, I second a lot of her thoughts here. Plano trails are pretty deserted compared to the Katy.

3 Speed Touring In Japan "Return To Sado part 7"

Narrow streets of a historic Japanese village. 

I love Japan, and plan to do a bicycle tour of the country when I make a little money (click those ads, folks!). Don is the mechanic and manager of a bicycle shop in Japan, and this post has some photos from a historic town he visited on a bicycle tour of the coast - I chose part 7, but really you should look at each part.

Fuji Otaku "The Phoenix Project - Nitto M12 Front Rack".

The Phoenix Project

This guy is building an awesome bike from selling some nice parts on eBay. I chose this entry because of his rating system, but the whole series is worth a look - this guy has mad skills, both literary and mechanical, and a $4k old bike. This, like the bloggipede, is an example of the value and versatility of a quality old bicycle frame.

See you next week with more fresh content. Thankfully I finished my licensing stuff, and will not have that extra pull on my oh so valuable time.