Just this morning I found a Peugeot in the trash at the side of the road. No pictures, but this much info I have determined: 56 cm lugged steel frame (black lugs), decal on seat tube: "Tube Special Allege Peugeot", decal on downtube: "Inoxydable". Cottered cranks. Color: Green with chrome fork ends. Brakes: Mafac "Racer", Wheels: Rigida steel 700c, high flange hubs. 7 digit serial number on riveted plate under BB, no model designation. Cog set: 14-17-19-21-24, 44 tooth inner chain ring. Los Angeles bicycle license sticker expired July 1976, probably a five-year license. Every imaginable accessory: fenders, generator and lights, side stand, luggage rack, bell.

What model? Year? Comments?

Thanks. .

decal on downtube: "Inoxydable"

Very interesting. "Inoxydable" means "stainless" in French. Does anyone know if Peugeot ever made a stainless frame?

Perhaps a U-08 from the early seventies. I used to see zillions of bicycles like yours during my college days. Nothing special, but one of the quality inexpensive bikes of the pre-Nishiki/Centurion era. Enjoy!

I don't believe Peugeot ever made a stainless steel production frame. But they did run some of their tubing through a less-than-perfect treatment that was supposed to prevent rust. The sticker "Inoxydable" referred to that.

"Stainless Steel" in the materials-science sense of the word is "Acier Inoxydable." I'm sure Peugeot marketing hoped that customers would make that small mental leap from "Inoxydable" to "Acier Inoxydable."

Well, the extras were probably added later. The plate on the BB would mean it's older, probably 30+ years old, but even back then, cottered cranks were a sign of a low-end machine. If it were say a late 50's-early 60's version, the good ones would still have a cottered crank, but all that advertizing hyperbole wouldn't be there. In all, it was a $10 bike, at best.

Any "ten speed" in the USA would not have been introduced until sometime after circa 1960.

First "ten speed" in the US was a Schwinn Continental. And then we started seeing European imports.

Steel frame, lugged w/ cottered cranks would be a low end Peugeot. Normandy or Huret hubs with "wing nuts" -- high flange, 27" X 1.25."

Huret bars/stem ???

Simplex or Huret derailliers.

I can't remember the saddle, but it was French, leather, and not very good quality.

This bike looked like a "racing/road bike" but was intended for tourists and kids who wanted a "European road bike."

Can't for the life of me remember the brakes. But center-pull? Mafac?

They sold for about $60 to $80 back in 1960's. A fair piece of $$$ when a Schwinn Typhoon was running $39.95.

For sure it's a significant bike historically, because it's one of the first European imports into the US that had a derailleur and ten speeds / dropped bars -- rather than the "English Bike" which was 26" X 1.375" tires and a Sturmey Archer three-speed hub, Cushioned/spring suspended saddle, fenders, and tourist "moustache" bars.

Americans had never seen a "racing bike" (road bike) until Schwinn introduced the Continental in about 1962.