I've been marvelling at the pristine condition of Yanko's Peugeot..a real tribute to the owner. In the mid-70s I became a Peugeot retailer, and sales did very well thanks to Bernard Thevenet's two wins in the Tour de France, and for quite a period the wall so the sgop were awash with team photos, jerseys etc etc..and I really loved that slight retro look of theblack and white chequerboard effect on the frame transfers.
However as I remember, all that changed in 1978 when Peugeot launched their new gentler look. Gone was the stark black and white and in came the subtle tone of pearl white..the chequerboard was a shadow of its former slef..and even the shadow faded towards the bottom of the seat panel transfer. As for the outstanding black lettering on the down tube this was replied by a curious orange...the whole effect was, in my opinion, to emasculate the Peugeot look.
in fond memeory of those days I have since put together a small collection of Peugeot team bikes and now have a Regis Delepine's 1978 Reynolds 753-tubed bike, Jean-Louis Danguillaume's 1978 531SL-tubed machine.. and most recently Jacques Bossis' 1979 531 SL-tubed frame.
All three frames share the same pearl white spray job with the orange decals. It is for this reason that I wonder whether Yanko's bike can really be a 1978 model. Compare it with Thevenet's 1977 frame and you have identical looking frames..1978s were totally different.
Nice as these Peugeots are, I must confess that they look a little "industrial" when compared with the 1981 Motobecane team bike that used to belong to the team leader Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke that I have just bought. There's some beautiful finishing to the long point lugs and the fork and stay-ends.. well worthy of an artist-craftsman.
Norris Lockley...Settle Uk