[No, I’m not talking about me.]
Today I went to go ride my bike. Alas, I couldn’t: the rear tire was popped off the rim. So I found a nearby shop open on Sunday, confirmed they had reasonably good ratings on yelp, and went over there. It turns out that the tire was fine, but the tube inside was blown, and the wheel itself was bent slightly. So I got a new alloy wheel and new tubes in front and back. This uncovered other problems, such as the rear brakes requiring adjustment due to the new wheel being slightly wider, which led to tension problems due to the old cable. We eventually got things working, but I need to bring the bike back in for new brake pads and cables (the pads are worn, and not gripping the wheel as good as they should).
That’s all in way of background. This is an old bike: a 1970’s era Peugeot 10-speed (originally from Bikecology in Santa Monica—my guess is a 1974 or 1975 UO-8, as illustrated here) with friction gearing. The front derailleur is long broken, and the manufacturer (Simplex) is long out of business. I’d like to replace it, but I’m having trouble figuring out what to search for. Is anyone familiar enough with old bikes to help me figure out the best search terms?
As an aside: The bike was expensive when we got it, and the quality has shown in it’s lasting so long: this was my bike from high school days!
