Re: [CR]1973: $120 for a UO-8 and $200.00 for a PX-10?

<rabbitman@mindspring.com> Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2001 1:36 PM Subject: Re: [CR]1973: $120 for a UO-8 and $200.00 for a PX-10?

> I put together many a U08 and A0-8. While these bikes have little nostalgic
> appeal to me, Peugeot had one thing going for it and that was a sense of
> quality control. I am not saying that the bikes were great, but they were
> consistently good, which was a pleasent surprise in the bike boom days. At
> that time almost every sub $150 dollar bike was a lottery for the
> conscientious mechanic when you opened the box. For example, the Italian
> bike favorite was the chainline from hell, 25% of the Motobecanes had forks
> bent in shipping (or otherwise), Raleighs had component changes from the
> catalog or forgot to braze a joint every now and then, Schwinns required
> assembling and taping the bars and the wheels were often atrociously built
> (or better put, merely laced).
>
> By contrast Peugeots were highly assembled out of the box. They were also
> shrink wrapped. Many of the adjustments were pretty close and I suspect
> some dealers passed them on to customers with no more than 10 minutes of
> assembly time. I don't remember too many frame defects either, although I
> was pretty young and hadn't developed as critical an eye at that time.
> Anyway, I thought I'd pass on this hidden virtue of the Peugeots when new.
>
> Joe
>
> At 11:55 AM 6/24/01 -0400, Jerry & Liz Moos wrote:
> >Gee, Garth, my first ten-speed was also a UO-8, and I remember it
> relatively foundly. The frame and rims were heavier than on a top model,
> but the bike was much lighter and livlier than the Huffys and Murrays of
> the time, or the Schwinn Varsity. The Simplex Prestige derailleurs did
> leave a lot to be desired, but once I repaced mine with Shimano Titlist
> (and SunTour ratchet shifters), the bike was a pleasure to ride. I always
> thought Simplex made a big mistake with this rear derailleur, when the
> Simplex Criterium found on the PX-10, which was also part pastic and looked
> the same as the Prestige to the novice, actually shifted better than a
> Campy NR thanks to a proper forged cage lacked by the Prestige and a
> spring-loaded upper pivot lacked by the Campy. The Simplex Criterium
> shifters were also much better, forged alloy and less prone to slipping
> than Campy. Had Simplex made all their plastic derailleurs like the ones
> on the PX-10, the French bicycle industry might be alive and well today.
> One has to remember that plastics were a glamorous high-tech material at
> the time, but mistakes were made in its application, just as mistakes were
> made in the early applications of aluminum, titanium and carbon fibre to
> bicycle frames and components.
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Jerry Moos
> >
> >garth libre wrote:
> >
> >> Please don't tell me it's true. In 1972, I paid $120.00 for a Peugeot
> and another on this list paid less than $200.00 for a PX-10 at the tail end
> of 1971! My $120.00 bought me a virtually unusable piece of crap. When the
> Central Park junky stoled it from me, two weeks after I bought it, part of
> me was glad. Mafac racer brakes: ok they stopped. Heavy steel unbutted
> frame: heavy and not much of an improvement over my early sixties Dunelt.
> (Rudge like). Seat: bad bad bad. Rims: heavy steel and not an improvement
> over anything. Derailleurs (front and back): the worst that could possibly
> be made.... More horrible shifting is not possible if they were designed by
> a cadre of retarded preteens. Somedays it was faster to just get off the
> bike and help the chain on to the next cog with a stick. The plastic metal
> shiffters: when you used them the metal part separated and sometimes
> pinched your thumb skin. Now let's discuss the PX-10 for less than double
> the price. A totally respectable piece of machinary that brought joy to
> many and fueled the dreams of all us less fortunate who were caught by the
> ten speed bug during the 70's bike boom. What bothers me most is that other
> companies like Atala and even Schwinn were putting out out decent bikes for
> the same that a U0-8 cost. I only bought the Peugeot because it was my
> first 10 speed and I didn't know better. Two years later, I saw Nishikis
> and Gitanes and Motebecanes and of course Atalas that let people travel all
> over the east coast metropolis for the same $120.00 I spent cursing plastic
> derailleurs. An early 70's UO-8 was more a mistake than the wiretapping of
> the Watergate. Was any other bike as badly made and designed, for the same
> money? Garth