Peugeot Aneto – progress and challenges so far

Time for an update on the Aneto project. I’ve now got most of the parts and am hoping to get the bike built up over the next few days. I’ve had a few frustrating challenges and learned a lot over the past few weeks, but it’s also been fun and I cannot wait to get out for a ride. The front wheel is currently getting trued at the local shop, hence not in the photo below.

The first thing I did was to cold set the rear drop outs to fit the new 126mm OLD rear wheel. Rather than go for the 2-by-4-on-a-chair method that Sheldon recommends, I used a threaded bar and some nuts to gradually widen the dropouts in a more controlled manner. It was pretty scary actually as I had to spread them past 150mm to get the frame to remain spread. At first I was pretty nervous, only spreading them to 130mm, then 135mm, then 140mm, but when I removed the homemade tool from the frame it would sprang right back to 121mm.

After spreading the dropouts I checked and corrected their alignment.

After the rear dropouts I moved onto the forks, and this is where I’ve had the most problems. Originally I thought that the ones I had on my old racing bike would fit fine, but unfortunately the steerer tube was about 5mm too short, so I found some Reynolds 531 forks on eBay. They’re not the ideal colour and the paint is quite chipped and flakey, but as I’m planning to get the frame re-sprayed sometime, it’s not too much of an issue.

The next problem was when it came to fitting the forks. I’d successfully pressed the Campagnolo Record headset cups into the frame and set the lower race onto the fork crown (see picture above). But when I tried screwing the top race onto the steerer tube, it was incredibly hard to turn . I’m well aware of the risk of cross threading, so was very careful and had a closer look. The threads were covered in flecks of paint and while they looked good to my untrained eye, the local bike shop later told me that they were a bit worn and had a build up of dirt. For a tenner I got the thread re-tapped, which solved the problem. Unfortunately, when I got home I then discovered that the thread did not cover enough of the steerer tube, so I couldn’t get the headset closed. It was literally too short by about 2mm! So I had to go back to the shop (again) and get them to tap an extra 10mm of new threads. I decided to get the steerer cut to the correct length too.

Anyway, here are a few of the parts I’ve invested in and cleaned up.

CTA bar & stem – this is the same set from the original build. I contacted the guy I bought the frame off and he had kept a few of the original parts for spares. I’ve polished it with Peek polish, and it’s come up pretty well, but I want to get some fine grade sand paper to take the marks out of the top of the stem and get it to a mirror shine.

Brake levers – Campagnolo Chorus 1993. Got these on eBay and they’re in fantastic condition and are going to look great.

Wheels – A bit of an indulgent purchase given the Aneto isn’t top of the range, these are italian FIR rims with Campagnolo Record hubs. The front wheel had a slight bump in the rim but the local bike shop manage to get it pretty straight. The hubs spin well and the bearings seem to be in good condition with no pitting. I’m going to try and give the hub body a bit of a polish to give it some sparkle.

The rear wheel also came with the Everest 6 speed freewheel, which is 13-15-17-19-21-23. I’ve bought a KMC chain to go with it, but am a bit nervous about how well it’ll shift. I’ve seen a couple of videos from the Park Tools blog where they had to try 4 or 5 different chains on an old freewheel to find the one that shifted the best.

Rear derailleur – Sachs Huret Rival. Fairly scratched, but I took it apart and gave it a good clean and I’m sure it’ll do a good job. As with the bar and stem, this is an original part from 1988.

 

I’ve also had to buy all the small things that you don’t think about at first: cables, bar tape, a new chain, a new bolt for the derailleur, etc. Hopefully in my next post I’ll be able to share some pictures of the bike with you.

No.1 – Peugeot Aneto 1988

So here it is, the first candidate for restoration. I found it on Gumtree, went to see the frame that evening and after a quick check for major problems I bought it on the spot.

The photo from Gumtree

This frame is a Peugeot Aneto. Using some detective skills and mainly the Peugeot catalogues on the Cycles Peugeot website, I’ve figured out it’s the 1988 version, only two years younger than me.

My immediate plan is to move the parts from a previous project bike, an old British Eagle, onto this Aneto frame. And in the medium- to long-term I want to get it resprayed, with new decals and upgrade some of the old parts.

But before I get there, I’ve already faced a few challenges:

1. There’s no fork. I probably shouldn’t have been so hasty to buy it, as it seems to be a bit of a minefield finding forks that fit. I’m nervous about buying vintage forks on eBay as I can’t inspect the threads.  However I’ve measured the steerer on the forks on my British Eagle and they should fit fine. (I know these threads are good as I fitted the forks new back in 2011, along with a new headset).
2. There’s no seatpost. Another annoyance that I really should have thought about before buying it. I didn’t have the right tools to measure the interior diameter of the seat tube, so I had to buy some digital calipers to figure out what size seatpost to buy. Turns out it’s 25.8mm. Seatpost purchased. (I’ve since realised that I should have just gone to a bike shop where they have their seatpost measuring tool, but the calipers have come in useful anyway).
3. The rear dropout is 121mm. Not necessarily an annoyance, but it does mean that the wheel from the British Eagle won’t go on it, unless I cold set the frame. To be honest, I probably will end up cold setting the frame to 126mm to allow me to put in some nicer wheels.

My plan over the next few weeks is to cold set the rear dropouts to 126mm and re-align them; buy new rear wheel to fit new sized dropouts; replace the dropout screws (which are bent and rusty); buy a new saddle; and finally move the remaining parts from my British Eagle onto this frame.

I’ll post an update in the next few days which will hopefully show some good progress.