For years after gigs I would drive my favorite intern home so his dad wouldn’t need to go out in the middle of the night, and when he was getting rid of a couple old bikes from his basement he asked if I wanted them. Without seeing them I said yes, but what I ended up getting was way better than I expected – two awesome Peugeots, neither in rideable condition but both stunning frames worthy of getting back on the road.
On the red one, the frame and fork were the only things worth salvaging, but I saved the components in the hope that I can build one complete period correct bike on the other frame using parts from each (which I haven’t gotten around to yet, maybe this summer).
I knew I wanted to build this frame up as a fixed gear bicycle for around town, and I picked the red frame over the white one because the white one is a bit nicer with braze-on downtube shifters rather than the objectively worse stem shifters on the red frame. I removed the shift levers from the stem, because we won’t be needing those anymore!
The most intimidating part of this build was starting; there’s no documentation on the frame and the information I could find online to help was scattered and incomplete. Best I can tell, this bike is from somewhere around 1982.
Here are pictures of the finished build, but please read on if you care at all about the process and components. I’ve been riding this for a few weeks now and having so much fun. In a completely unexpected way, it feels like a completely new experience from the thousands of hours I’ve spent riding bikes. It’s hard to explain the sensation of pushing the pedals forward on a bike, and then suddenly they’re pushing you along right back.
I started the build with wheels, swapping out the original 27″ wheels for a more modern 700C wheelset. I bought a new set of Mavic rims laced to Origin 8 flip-flop hubs for a couple hundred bucks. The silver hubs, rims, and spokes look exceptional. The rear spacing on the frame was a bit wide for the 120mm hub and the fork was too narrow, but both were close enough that putting on the wheel bent things into place while keeping everything perfectly true.
With wheels in place, I was able to measure how much additional reach I needed for brake calipers and continue on with the build. I ended up swapping the original cantilever brakes for caliper brakes, and the Tektro R559 fit the bill perfectly – only on the front, no need for a rear brake with the fixed gearing. On that note, I should specify that I did in fact put a brake on this bike, because 1) this is my first fixie and 2) I’m not a psycho. I put on a short flat bar lever to keep the cockpit looking clean.
I had some random Continental GP Urban tires kicking around the garage, and I was shocked that these fit at 700x35mm with plenty of room to spare. I could definitely fit at least 38-40c tires on the front with the long reach brake caliper, and in the rear where no brake is fitted I could probably get close to or past 50c. Did someone say tracklocross?
In addition to modernizing the brakes, I swapped the loose bearing bottom bracket for a new cartridge one – luckily, the frame had an English threaded BB. I ended up going with a silver crankset, chainring, cog, and chain to fit the vintage aesthetic. Outside of the Shimano BB, everything in the drivetrain is Retrogression brand, which is where I sourced a lot of the components for this project. SPD M540 pedals with silver bodies and axles completed the look.
After a bit of research and testing gear ratios on my other bikes, I went with 48-17. This has worked perfectly for me, with the top end high enough that I’m comfortable on flats and not in too much pain going downhill, but still with the low end easy enough for me to climb 8-10% grades without too much trouble. I don’t think I could go higher in hilly New England, but I also certainly wouldn’t want to go lower.
To finish off the build, I picked up some Fizik bar tape in Honey to really double down on the vintage look and feel, and paired this with a cheapo $25 Amazon saddle that matches nearly perfectly and is shockingly not too uncomfortable.
I lied, there’s one final thing that went into this build – the front rack. I’ve wanted a pizza rack on a bike for years, partially for niche functionality but mostly just for vain aesthetics. This bike is purely a vanity project anyway; I have bikes that are far more functional. In this same spirit, I opted to not put a rear rack or fenders on the bike, locking this in as my dry weather commuter. I also haven’t put a bottle cage on as of press time, but we’ll see if that changes once summer comes around.
With all these components in hand, the build itself didn’t take long at all. I didn’t list loose headset bearings, rim tape, brake cables and housing, and other miscellaneous needs for the build, but there really wasn’t too much extra needed. Not needing to run cables for shifting or spend time indexing shifting cut down a ton on the build time. After less than five hours of work, I went from a frame and fork to a rideable bike.
This project was my first time working on a vintage (pre-2000) bike, and I learned a lot throughout the process. I also understand the fixed gear hype now, and am glad to have one in my stable. It’s common knowledge that red bikes are faster. For a while now this has been my most ridden bike by quite a bit, and I expect that to continue.