Of course, each of us has our own approach to the business of restoring bikes, and what you do depends a lot on what you want to get out of the process. Some people want to get a concours-quality show bike, others (like me) are in it primarily for the project, not the results. Some people view themselves as collectors, and adopt a full collector mentality, with great concern for "patina" and such things. Others don't. Depends where you fit in this spectrum.
Here's the way I look at it:
Very few bikes are really historically significant. If you had one of the few that are, you might have a real problem figuring out how to approach a restoration. The guys restoring Bach's harpsichord (which you can see partially restored in the museum of the Berlin Philharmonic) have to be excruciatingly careful. A Peugeot PX-10 sure as hell ain't Bach's harpsichord. It's a very common, although very nice, older bike. So, you can do what you want. Even in the worst case, if you muck it up completely, you and the world around you haven't lost a whole lot.
To me, the real value in old bikes is what they say about our history, technology, culture, and ourselves. I receive lessons in these things every time I look at my old Carlton. The hand-cut lugs and carefully detailed frame artwork, combined with quality 531 tubing, remind me that craftsmanship once was genuinely valued by both customers and manufacturers, and it wasn't always essential to produce a product for the absolute minimum cost. (At the same time, the crappy rear dropouts remind me of a time when England couldn't quite get it's corporate act together!) The rugged construction shows that people really expected to use a bike, in contrast with the underbuilt pieces of mechanical navel lint of today, which are really just toys, not working machines. A comparison to later bikes shows a lot about how a technology evolves.
I try to restore a bike in a way that preserves these aspects of its existence. The idea is to preserve the essentials, but not sweat the nonessential details. If the color isn't one of the original options, or the artwork isn't exactly the same as the original, it really doesn't matter. I try to get the correct parts, but I may use nonoriginal parts that are of the era, or may not have appeared on the type of bike I'm restoring.
Finally, the bike has to be rideable in a practical manner. No museum pieces here! This constrains what I can do. For example, I just won't mess with tubular tires, so even if a bike should have them, I get simple, box-channel 27" or 700C rims instead. These at least look plausible for the bike's period. Conversely, I won't use modern rims, because they just don't fit esthetically, and it's obvious at a glance.
So, in summary, figure out how you want to approach this job, and don't let anyone tell you it's not right.
Steve Maas Long Beach, CA
PS: Sorry I can't recommend parts. I'm not a French bike expert, and I have firm plans to stay that way. The CR site has plenty on PX-10s, though. Also, see Sheldon Brown's site.
Morgan Fletcher wrote:
> I recently bought this on ebay for $88:
>
> http://www.birfield.com/
>
> The seller is the same guy who recently sold a pair of cranks to the Tokyo
> Dentist for US$787.
>
> I am a newbie to oldbie bikes. I'd like to build this up with correct
> parts, if possible. I am also on a very limited budget. :)
>
> How should I build it up? Do any of you have appropriate parts for it you'd
> sell me?
>
> Can period decals be had? I sure would like to re-paint it, do a poor-man's
> resto via a painter like Ed Litton. My friend Bob tells me it's a no-no,
> that the incredibly shot paint and decals must be left intact. Tell me he's
> wrong.
>
> Well, I think he's wrong.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Morgan Fletcher
> Oakland, CA
> _______________________________________________
>
> .