Vintage Bicycles - Peugeot - Freschi - Eroica Bicycles

Short info about Peugeot

• Country: France
• Founder: Jean Pequignot Peugeot
• Foundation Year: 1882
• Website: www.peugeot.com

Information about Peugeot

Peugeot is one of the big veterans when it comes to vintage bicycles. Jean Pequignot Peugeot was a Frenchman who built watermills. He also made steel works and in 1882 he made the first bicycle, a handmade high-wheeler. The Peugeot steel work became very useful. During the first world war they produced 63 000 bicycles per year and 10 000 plane engines! Peugeot was keen to draw attention to their classic racing bicycles and as a result they started to sponsor riders. In 1896 Paul Bourillon became world sprint champion in Copenhagen on a Peugeot bike. In 1905 Peugeot got their first Tour de France winner: Louis Trousselier.

Peugeot's cycling success

In the following years Peugeot won the Tour de France a total of ten times, a record no other team has beaten. Peugeot and their rival Mercier wanted to stay in the Tour game, but in the mid 1980s it became very expensive. Pascal Simon and the Peugeot factory team's hunt for the yellow shirt was over. The Peugeot classic racing bicycles were not solely Peugeot manufacture. The frames often came from small, independent craftsmen. But whilst most other teams used the popular and well-known Campagnolo series from Italy, Peugeot preferred classic French parts. The standard were Stronglight crank sets, Simplex dérailleurs, and Mafac brakes.

Peugeot's vintage bicycles

Peugeot made many lines of vintage bicycles, but one of the most popular ones is the PX-10. It was ridden by Tom Simpson, Eddy Merkx and Bernard Thevent. The PX-10 was in production from 1953 to 1990, but when the PX-10 was introduced in 1975, it took over for the PX as the most popular racing bicycle from Peugeot. 

Short info about Freschi

• Country: Italy
• Founder: Emiliano Freschi

Information about Freschi

Freschi is a vintage frame manufacturer from Milan, Italy. He worked as chief engineer and builder for Pogliaghi before starting his own business. The frames which Freschi manufactured remain very rare and people continue to search for these classic bicycle frames.