My last reports on the renovation of my Puch Princess mixte were back in March: new bars with correct period brake levers, new Brooks saddle, removal of rear rack, new MKS touring pedals with classic French toe clips.
Unfortunately, my experiences with the brake levers were not entirely successful. I like to ride on the hoods, which wasn't the fashion back in the days of so-called non-aero levers. They're just not comfortable on the hands or wrists over a period of time. They had to go.
But the bars are nice, so I've kept them and fitted the plain Tektro brake levers that I had left over from my Cross Check (which had bar end shifters).
The gear levers are unchanged - stem mounted friction shifters.
Over the summer I also began to think about extending the 5-speed gear range. I kept an eye on Ebay until I spotted a double crankset of exactly the same make, model/range and vintage as the original crankset: Simplex S001 T, Prestige, 1970s era, made in France.
A matching set of shift levers were included. This all came from a seller in Hungary who seems to have a lot of Puch bicycle and parts come through his hands -- I suppose not surprising considering Puch was for a long time a well-established bicycle manufacturer in neighbouring Austria.
We encountered a few surprises and setbacks in fitting the new crankset --
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| A crack in the housing! Jubilee Clip to the rescue. |
But it seems to work --
And as of today, Lorelei is officially a 10-speed!
I took her out for a couple of short spins in the wintry sunshine and am really pleased with how smooth the shifting is.
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