le ros boeuf racer commuter

http://i44.tinypic.com/23hnaef.jpg

So commuting in on my single speed merckx isnt really ideal now that the weather is getting wetter. I wanted something with mudguards but also something classic and geared. Anyway this popped up and i though, voila!

Picked her up to day, gave her a good wash and worked out what i need to convert it into a solid commuter, capable of 45-50km a day.

First things first, that god awful seat has to go. Knowing nothing about french frames, this i can assume will be hard. Is it a standard size or some obscure one? Then new bars, stem and levers (want to hide the cables, more campagnolo aero style)

From looking at http://cyclespeugeot.com/HeadBadges.html it's from the 70's. Ill be heading down to brick lane bikes to tomorrow to see what bits they have, but any experience from people on here who know more about these, would be greatly appreciated

Decathalon will almost certainly have the correct size seatpost for yea, any saddle will do as long as it fits.
It looks really really nice as it is, I'd just service it, clean it up and retape the bars. Non-aero levers look boss on older bikes. It's cheap and cheerful bike, no point throwing money at it just for the sake of it...
my 2p.
Oh, and brick lane bikes is an overpriced shithole.

Blb also won't have any parts you need for a bike like this, just pricey baubles. Vintage Bike Cave in archway is where you need to go.

ta for the link to Vintage, will be giving them a call first thing.

Your other source is Retro Bikes and also jumbles. There is one, I think , coming up at Muswell Hill later this month.

Beware that french bikes of a certain period have bearings and threads that you might struggle to find now.

Metric ball bearings are easy to get off ebay at least. Freshtripe.co.uk stock sealed bearing bottom brackets, so you're sorted there.
I'd maybe swap out the bars for porteurs if it's a commuter but change nothing else that doesn't need it..
edit: freshtripe also have french threaded headsets on the off chance yours is fucked.

Sounds like you are north of Bricklane, got to Hackney Peddler http://www.thehackneypeddler.co.uk/

They will sort you.

A peugeot was my first adult size bike,
this one is not bottom of the range,
the chromed bits were for medium to high end bikes.

And she's done, ready to brave 200km+ a week commuting and what ever London's roads throw at her. Big props have to go to Takeshi at Vintage Cycle Cave, who stripped and turned this from a lumpy French Baguette into a more streamlined pan au chocolat

this won't win any awards for porn, but it's a functional winter trainer and to be honest, I have a soft spot for awkward French frames. Some tweaking to be done on the fit (hence stem height etc)