During the early days of the pandemic, I acquired a trashed vintage Peugeot UO-9 "Super Sport". I was looking to learn about bike restoration and maintenance, and so this bike provided the perfect canvas.

Initially the bike was in pretty rough shape. There was some surface rust, and the paint was discolored and chipped. Luckily, most of the original components were still functional.

The bike before restoration.

The first step was to remove the components and clean up the frame. I knew I wanted to repaint the bike, so I began the annoying task of stripping the original paint and sanding it. Really I should have just had it sandblasted, but I felt compelled to do everything myself. This part was by far the most time consuming.

Removing the original paint.

The bike didn't come with its original wheels, so I purchased a new set with a wider range. Unfortunately, the new wheels were too wide for the original frame, so I had to increase the spacing of the dropouts ("cold setting"). I did this by using a threaded rod with bolts that I used to (very) slowly bend the frame outwards.

Making room for the new wheels.

The next challenge I discovered was that the quill stem was frozen, meaning I couldn't remove the fork from the frame. This also ended up being extremely difficult to resolve. My first approach was to try applying penetrating oil daily for a week, but I didn't have any luck. Next, I tried heating the stem using a blowtorch to try and get it to expand and break the rust, as well as hammering the top of the stem to try and break the rust free. Again, no luck.

Finally, what ended up working was dissolving the stem (aluminum) in acid (lye crystals). I had to be super careful with this step to avoid inhaling the fumes or accidentally getting the acid on my skin.

Dissolving the stem in acid.

With the stem removed, I was now free to finish cleaning up the frame. This part was really satisfying as the polished steel began to shine through. At this point I also cleaned and polished the original components.

Polishing the frame.

The next step was to paint the bike. I used a spray primer, base coat, and clear coat to paint it a glossy pebble-white colour. It turned out nicely, but if I was to do this again I would have it professionally powder coated instead since the spray paint was very prone to chipping.

Painting the bike.

The final step was putting the bike back together. This was relatively straightforward, with the exception of applying the decals which I took care to position perfectly.

The final result had me pretty jazzed!