Peugeot UO10

 

Peugeot UO10

    I love steel frame bikes.

    There is an old saying in the cycling community: 'steel is real', and it's absolutely true.  In an age of ultra-light carbon (aka plastic) road bikes there is nothing quite like the ride and hardiness of a steel frame bicycle.  They also look better.

    I found this particular model, a Peugeot UO10, sitting outside somebody's house with their rubbish.  I couldn't bring myself to let this beautiful machine die such an undignified death, so I put it in the back of my Land Rover and took it home.  A few weeks of wrenching and I had her back on the road.

    Mostly, I use this bike for the morning espresso run in my village.  When they were making bikes, Peugeot was notoriously French when it came to serial numbers, so it is impossible to date with any real certainty. However, based on the running gear and alloy wheels, I would say she was welded together in the mid to late 1970s.  

    I shouldn't have to say this, but an espresso does taste better when you traveled to the coffee shop on a vintage bike.