I have been looking for a 26" cheap rigid steel bike for 2 months. Anything in my area is either too big or rusted to hell.
I'll be using it for a bit of commuting and indoor trainer til the spring. Then it's long road trips (paved) and multi day bike packing (paved + gravel). I could always sell and buy something new in the spring. I only have room for one bike.
This beauty just popped up. mid-80s Peugeot Urban Express. Bit heavy, mangalloy not chromoly, and I'd need a bar adapter if I want a frame bag. But also, it's a bike that fits me and is available which is about where my standards are at this point.
I have seen the coolest dropbar modernized conversion of this bike posted here once which was drool-worthy.
So, totally inappropriate choice? Could this be used for bikepacking potentially?
by KineticChain
5 Comments
Go for it! The only thing with some older Peugeot’s were some weird parts standards, not sure if that was still an issue with this era of bikes though.
Check if the crank set is FC-MC12, if it is, it’s been recalled.
This is a great bike to learn bike maintenance on.
I believe in that year it was still produced with French Standards…. ie French threaded BB, 22mm handlebars, 25mm steerer/headset, etc.
Not a dealbreaker, but means it will be a PITA if you need to replace anything
Go for it!!!🤙🏼
Not sure there’s any functional difference between a chromium or manganese alloy. Any ride quality differences will be basically indiscernible.
In fact, arguably manganese alloy tubes have more cred. Although it’s standard now, cromo used to be the cheap option compared to more exotic alloys like 531.
But anyway, most of that kind of difference is just marketing smoke and mirrors. It’s more down to tubing thickness, butting, geometry of the frame.