Re: [CR] hunting for a f. derailleur for my px-10LE

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2002)

Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:31:11 -0600
Thread-Topic: Re: [CR] hunting for a f. derailleur for my px-10LE
Thread-Index: AcpuHv3E+LBw4KwhSzernkKrBGXnOg==
From: "John Hurley" <JHurley@jdabrams.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Cc: davidsea2009@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [CR] hunting for a f. derailleur for my px-10LE


I can't get to flickr right now, so I haven't seen the photos of you PX-10LE. However, I will venture a few comments.

First, as an authoritative source for identifying models and components, I like a catalog. Catalogs are not infallible, but at this point, what else can you rely on? At the very least they provide an objective starting point. The problem is finding a series of catalogs for the years just before, during, and after your model came out. You also have to be reasonably sure which market your bike was originally intended for. If it was USA, then you need USA catalogs, because European catalogs for the same year will show a somewhat different product line. Some inferences can be drawn from European catalogs, but you will probably not find an exact match if your bike was exported to USA.

I have the catalog pages for the 1977 and 1978 USA PX-10LE from retropeugeot.com. There were almost no changes between these two years, in fact, the same photo was used in both catalogs, if I am not mistaken. The only difference was Lyotard pedals for 1977 vs. Atom for 1978. This same bike was road-tested in Bicycling Magazine by Gary Fisher in December 1977. The test bike matched the catalog specs almost perfectly. The front derailleur cage of the test bike had cutouts, whereas the catalog photo bike did not.

My own bike was equipped exactly as shown in the catalog for 1977, but I requested the dealer change out the wheels and the saddle before I took delivery. The crankset is Stronglight 99, which may not look like a racing crankset, but that didn't stop the catalog writers from advertising the bike as "a truly fine racing machine". The saddle was an Ideale 2001 on a Simplex seat post, steel with aluminum head. The lugs were Nervex, but in a simpler Italian-style design. The rear derailleur was listed as a Simplex SX410SP alloy, which resembled the SLJ, but had a delrin back plate, rather than alloy all the way. The front derailleur was Simplex LJA200 Criterium, a delrin/steel model. Shifters were Criteriums.

If you went for the next higher model in 1977, the top-end PY10E, you got Stronglight 105 cranks, Ideale 2002 saddle, and the gold SLJ ensemble with retrofriction shifters. A few other upgrades were also listed.

My front derailleur eventually broke at the delrin hinge, and I replaced it with an SJA 102, an all-metal design that matches the rear derailleur better than the original LJA200.

John Hurley
Austin, Texas, USA