Don, welcome, always great to have another fellow Francophile on the list. In regards to the headsets, one issue was that the old Stronglights had a different crown race diameter than Campy, even the French threaded Campy, as Campy did not vary the crown race diameter according to the steerer thread. Can't remember exactly what the respective diameters were without consulting my Sutherland's however. Know what you mean about QC, though. I've encountered more than one French bike with the steerer cut too short to allow adequate thread engagement by the locknut when a centerpull brake hanger was added to the stack height (and the toothed washer meant you couldn't replace the washer with the hanger). I also had a French bike supplied with English threaded cranks but French threaded pedals.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
don andersen wrote:
> Hello all, I am new to the list(due to my laziness) but not new to alot of
> you who have been posting. The Family and I have recently moved to
> Columbia, MD from Ithaca, NY. I have a passion for Classic French
> Production Lightweights. I buy, sell, trade, collect and restore most
> bicyles French. Why, I don't know. I might have even done a little
> business with some of you. I also have a soft spot for Paramounts and
> MASI's. Though I do not know much about the latter, I am learning alot from
> the list and Larry Brown from Mt. Airy Cycles. I raced as a junior at the
> Lehigh County Velodrome in the early 80's and have been a diehard "roadie"
> for 22 years. I still race and ride on a daily basis. Since the move, I
> have put my hobby(except for riding) on the backburner. I simply do not
> have the room yet. I brought along one of my PX10's, my HERON and a cross
> bike. The riding here is great. I don't miss swerving into traffic to
> avoid potholes.
> On the recently discussed topic of "Inoxydable", this was an
> "anti-corrosion" treatment that Peugeot did to the inside of their pipes.
> And it worked. I found an old PX10, left in a barn, that was a victim of a
> leaky roof. At first glance I thought that it was a "goner". After
> stripping it down and removing the seat post, I discovered that the exterior
> was the only thing pitted. I sanded it down and had it painted Sherwin
> Williams antique white, applied with a paint brush to really make it
> authentic. I ride it to this day.
> On another topic discussed-headsets. I purchased a Stronglight
> Competition U4(?) from Grant Handley to replace a badly indexing model on my
> '66 PX10. When trying to replace the unit I discovered that the fork crown
> race slopped around on the seat. Upon further inspection, by myself and by
> local master Glenn Swan, we also noticed that the seat had not been turned
> down as originally suspected. The crown seat was of another dimension(exact
> measurments are escaping me as my notes are in storage up North). We ended
> up turning down the race, on a lathe, just enough to get rid of the dimples.
> Yet still using the rest of the headset. Curious as hell, I slid the
> unused race over another period PX10 fork to discover it fit perfectly.
> Note that both steerer tubes fit 22.0 stems. This furthered my belief that
> most of the manufacturers' QC steps were overlooked for productions sake.
> This was also expressed to me from an east coast importer of Peugeot's who
> actually visited the factory in the 60's and 70's.
> And yes, the Nervex BB shells were all stamped along with the lug sets
> themsleves. Recent "Rivendell Readers" have been doing lug articles worth
> reading. Note, I recently saw a production 21" Peugeot PX10 with the full
> Nervex Pro compliment. It was really cool.
> I look forward to the chit chat.
>
> Don Andersen
> Columbia, MD
>
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