Esteemed CR'ers:
Moved by all the Francophilia to be found here, and overcoming my fears of Strange French Parts thanks to your sage advice, I suddenly find myself in possession of a 1982 Peugeot, which I purchased from the original owner near Frankfurt for a modest sum last week. He is looking for the original receipt but believes he paid over 1,000 DM back then, which would have been a tidy sum. I am trying to figure out exactly what kind of model it is and have been going through period catalogues online and believe it to be a PXN10 as the componentry is essentially the same as found on this model in the Dutch catalogue of that year. Looking at US and French catalogues, I noticed some differences in the equipment but this bike has a frame as well as fully-chromed fork made from Reynolds 531, whereas the PKN10 has a half-chromed fork and the main tubes only are 531. The lovely sea-green colour only appears on a model even further down the range, the PFN10, so I do not know what to make of this. Peugeot lore is very, very confusing.
Here is the page from the Dutch catalogue: http://i419.photobucket.com/
As equipped, the bike has Weinmann 605 brakes, Mafac levers, a SR Laprade seatpost, Simplex SLA drivetrain, Maillard hubs and what appears to be a great big 28 tooth freewheel, Rigida rims, 3T bars, a clearly-wrong Bianchi stem, Stronglight 106 crankset and Lyotard pedals. The saddle appears to be either a Gallet or San Marco. The bike came with the Peugeot-branded matching Zefal frame pump, a handlebar bag with a pair of unused Michelin Bibsport 700x20 tires with extra tubes, all tied together with a Christophe toe strap, a nice chrome stand and even a French "hairnet" helmet that looks unused, and will remain so.
Besides overhauling hubs and headset, cleaning and lubrication (and probably replacing the slightly crunchy tires and the annoying stem), it looks good to go. I owned a Gitane from this period but it was the second-lowest in the range and this would have been an aspirational bike in comparison, I think. I have read that the PX series are the most wanted of the Peugeots. O Esteemed CR'ers--do I have one? Did Peugeot use different components for different countries? I have a period-style black-and-white Peugeot jersey but need to know if this is indeed a superior bike! I am sorely tempted to use this for l'Eroica with that 28 tooth cog.
As an aside, when I drove to pick the bike up, I discovered the vendor lived only a few minutes away from Klein Auheim, where my Bauer track bike was constructed nearly 50 years ago!
Now fully equipped with Italian, British, French, German and American classic steel bikes,
Leslie Reissner
Dusseldorf, Germany