The Restoration Corner
Some things are never truly lost.
They just wait to be found again.
I was ten years old when I
got my first grown-up bike—a brand new French 10-speed my father bought
for me for my birthday. That bike carried me through my teens, becoming an
extension of my freedom, a machine that made the world feel bigger.
Years passed, and though the bike
itself was gone, the feeling of riding one just like it never left.
But I didn’t just want to relive
that experience. I wanted to up it a notch.
A
Tribute to a Classic
The Peugeot PX-10 was an
icon—a staple of the Tour de France in the ’60s and ’70s, a bike that
had once dominated the roads with its elegance and performance. I wanted to
ride one a—not a replica, but the real thing.
Yet sourcing one from France, sight
unseen, felt like the wrong approach. Instead, I set out to do something
different:
I would build one myself.
The problem? Up to that point, I
could barely change a bike tire on my own.
Learning
the Craft
I started with a Peugeot PX-10 frame,
found locally, and hunted down vintage components piece by
piece—sourcing them from across the internet, learning the intricacies of
restoration as I went.
I stripped, cleaned, polished,
assembled, and fine-tuned until the
bike was reborn—not just as a machine, but as a connection to a past era of
cycling.
More
Than a Restoration
What began as a project turned into a
rediscovery—of craftsmanship, of mechanical simplicity, of the joy of
bringing something back to life with my own hands.
Rather than leaving the original paint scratched and worn, I chose a
different approach. One careful brushstroke at a time, I meticulously touched
up every imperfection, allowing each coat to dry before wet sanding and
repeating the process. It was a slow, deliberate effort—not meant to erase the
bike’s history, but to refine it while preserving its character.
The result? Not flawless, but far better than neglecting the wear and tear in the name of “originality.” Under the right light, the work blends in seamlessly; in others, it subtly reveals the patience behind it.
Some people collect the past. Others choose to ride it.
