I have to admit, I wasn’t for sure if I should post this next bike.  I was afraid it was a little too far off topic, and I didn’t want to give people the impression that I’ll post just anything!  But, after much deliberation, I decided that despite its lack of oh…several “speeds”, I would go ahead and post it.  This is a pretty old, pretty crappy Peugeot sent in by Marc P, and it’s pretty dang cool.  Marc’s looking for some more info it, any historians have something to enlighten us all?

Hi,
Not exactly a ten speed, ..more like a one speed. I think this is older and crappier than my Gran Sport
if that is even possible. I found it in Zurich (Switz) along with a WW2 swiss army bike in an abandoned/disused factory.
It’s a late 1930’s to early 1940’s Peugeot ‘randonneur’ or ‘tourer’ type bike. Not sure of the model name.
It’s probably written on there somewhere under a thick layer grime.

The bike had it’s original rear tire but there was literally no rubber left on it and it was all just strings/threading
but it still held air so I have kept the inner tube, but changed the tire so as to be able to ride it. They are
Hutchinson ‘Globetrotter Balloon’ tires, and are 26 by 1½.

The bike was obviously modified a long time ago.
The generator should be on the back – there’s an attachment for it on the frame. The one on the front is super
old though, by the looks of it. It seems there was a second, much later modification when the Huret shifter
and pulley on the top tube and the seatpost were changed. Probably in the 1970’s .
There must have been another shifter previously. Which brings me to the next mystery. The derailleur seems
more like just a tensioner, but there would be no point to this, and that wouldn’t explain the top tube
having a place to attach a shifter welded to it. Furthermore, there is nowhere on the derailleur to attach
a cable. One person suggested there is something missing from the derailleur, but if that were the case
none of this can explain why there is only one gear on the wheel. The wheels look as old as the bike
but I suppose they could have also been switched a long time ago when the dynamo was moved/changed.
After quite a bit of scrubbing I found ‘Simplex’ written on the derailleur. Chainring looks to be Simplex too based
on what I have seenin old catalogues. Anybody have any ideas? It remains an unsolved mystery for now.

Fenders, chainguard, brake levers and lights are duralium/aluminium.
The fenderlight says ‘Radios Brevete, S.G.D.G, Nº18’ on it. Generator says ‘R.O.B’, and the round part that
makes contact with the tire is all rubbery and squidgy. The brakes say ‘Bebolux Bte S.G.D.G’ and they work
well ..not seized or anything. I haven’t seen ones like these before.
One pedal says ‘TANK’ on each side and must be orig, and the other is a later 10 speed pedal.

There is a metal badge attached to the headtube partially covering the peugeot badge.
These badges are commonly found on older bikes, certainly in Europe, and they have something to do with
religion and saints usually, sort of like lucky charms. However this one seems to be more like somebody’s
name, and perhaps a town where they lived. It reads ‘A.Binder’ and then underneath ‘MOOSCH’.
Another oddity worthy of mention on this bike is the little hole with a cap, behind the headtube, on the downtube.
I thought it was an access point to oil the steer tube until I wiped it clean. The cap says: ‘Wieman antivol’.
‘Antivol’ being french for ‘anti theft’, so I assume there was once a mechanism of some sort that goes in there and
locks the steering. Steering locks seem to be common with older bikes but, again, I never saw one like this before.

This bike is so dirty you can’t really touch it without getting dirty yourself. The crank is a bit loose. Chain skips
a bit when pedaling harder, and there are alot of rattling sounds I have yet to deal with. The hubs are a tiny bit
loose too. But it basically works and it is suprisingly light for such an old bike.
The handlebars are attached to the stem, and cannot be adjusted.
I like the way it looks as it is, ….shame about having to change the rear tire because they really give
the look of the bike a certain je ne sais quoi.. I’ll have to find another tire. Not easy furthermore, I would need to find a used one if I
want it to match the front. Otherwise it’ll have to be a set of replica’s. The saddle leather needs to be replaced.
Too many rips. Whatever brand the top leather part is, is attached to the chassis of a Swiss army bike
saddle with springs from yet another newer saddle. The original colour of this bike was a sort of Beige, with
dark maroon and very light beige pinstripes. But, lets face it, it looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since
the second world war, which I suppose is amplified by the fact that it was the color of dirt when it was new anyway.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.
I thought I would include all the text/writing I found on the bike, and a good description
of it in the hopes that somebody might have some information about it. I’ve asked a few people who are well
versed in these sorts of bikes and nobody has come up with an explanation for the drivetrain mechanism,
nor does anybody know what the steer tube locking part would have looked like.

Marc.P

Thanks Marc