Peugeot custom?? bikes from Dealers back in the day

[willcee]

Conversation yesterday with a knowledgeable veteran cycle club N Ireland active area organiser person, a friend, who said he had just bought a Custom made Peugeot bike although it wasnt to hand, he had pics on his phone, I said that in my fairly wide experience I hadn't ever heard about Custom stuff from that maker ....
Norris Lockley also a friend and very experienced Francophile, said they didn't make their Team bikes and said he had been at the Chaps place in Paris where they were built, and knew him well.. Norris did tell me that many of the French builders used flat sheet and rolled the tubes of 531, I showed such a fork on a 531 older model to another chap just a few weeks back..
531 custom to me means frame sizing different.. longer heads, shorter top tubes.. shorter or longer chain stays ..different brase ons for different kit, ...to others it could be as simple as a better groupset or different colours, different bars, wheels , tyres, saddles etc etc.. anyone on here able to give us a bigger picture as i cannot raise Lockley on the blower.. will

[gaz]

IIRC there was a review by CJ in Cycletouring (late 80s) of some budget(?) tourers, including one from Peugeot. It had 531 main tubes, possibly rear triangle but the fork was made from rolled and seamed tubing to keep the price down.

531 "Designer Select" was an approved Reynolds sticker for frame builders assembling frames from a variety of tubesets from the 531 range rather than a single tubeset throughout e.g. 531ST, 531C.

[peetee]

Some of this info might be correct. However, 531 never has been formed from flat sheet. Part of its strength advantage (at the time) was due to it being formed from a steel block that was pierced and drawn into a tube.
531 was available as a custom build, even before ‘Designer Select’ was marketed as an option with specific decals. Builders were supplied with a hand-typed sheets showing the tubes available listing their length, diameter and gauge. I was given a copy of these sheets when I designed my mountain bike.
531 was used in other applications such as motorcycles and custom racing cars and the range of tubing far exceeded what was used in their standard bicycle tube sets.

[willcee]

..re last..Norris, himself a skilled sought after framemaker, told me thats how the French builders did their tubes, and having taken a few French 531 frames back to bare steel i could see the joint on the underside of top tubes, again i 'm hazy on exact specs, however afaik the tube itself was developed for light aircraft manufacture as far back as the 40's, its competition... Accels & Pollock had similar birthing, imv was a better tube and again having ridden a few built with that tubing was for me a better riding frame for any big bloke.. and better for protection from the dreaded tinworm.. I stripped a seat stay on an early Double Blue which needed some paint due to a poorly brased joint at the rear brake bridge, it had let go, we redid it and shot some colour and when you're rubbing it down to a bare finish the steel quality becomes evident..W

[Barrowman]

I used to have a Peugeot ,(secondhand job) with all it's transfers intact (a PR10 perhaps?) it had a classic looking 531 Transfer but it was written (printed) in French. Seen a couple of these, Nervex Professional Lugs and Simplex Forged ends if memory serves. Mostly white with a bit of black cheqor paintwork .
But I believe these were an 'off the shelf' job and not a custom build.
Mine confused me slightly, the seat pin was 26.8 rather than an expected 27 or 27.2, my tame cycle mechanic who worked in a local lightweight outlet said Peugeot had a bit of form for having the seat tubes upside down which is what caused this anomaly ,he reckoned.

[willcee]

yes , Norris told me that was an issue with many builders wrong seatpin size and i asked him why they didn't use a reamer and take it out to 27 0r 27.2.. cost and time involved and who was paying for that , he retorted.!! the French 531 decal was always on the down tube just above any gear levers...a mate has one of those white PR10'S his has black lugs but no chrome stays like the px10 race ones had..W

[scottg]

Pug had a race shop, that also sold to the public.
Not custom, but very much nicer than the factory bike.


http://classiclightweights.net/france/p ... geot-py10/