On March 17th we lost our dear sister and sister-in-law Janet after her heroic fight against ovarian cancer which began in August 2007. About 15 years ago she gave us her old traditional Peugeot ladies bike and it languished in the back of the workshop unused until the Fall of 2010. When we say traditional we mean that it was a "mixte" style of frame with Huret 10 speed gearing, a TA Peugeot-branded crankset, Mafac centerpull brakes and very nondescript wheels.
One Saturday, during a lunch break, we hauled it out, took a photo and sent it to daughter Laura who is studying in Oxford. Laura was a regular cyclist until the age of 13 or so when other interests began to take priority. While in Bermuda for a brief holiday in August she had made noises about perhaps getting a bike for transport and some fitness while at university and had, indeed, purchased a very inexpensive townie bike when she returned there. To cut a long story short, she was intrigued by the thought of riding a refurbished version of her aunt's old Peugeot and over the next few months we stripped, re-designed (a number of times) and refinished the bike and it was presented to her at Christmas. The idea was to preserve the traditional look of the classic French ladies sport bike while thoroughly modernizing the components and keeping the machine light but sturdy enough to carry moderate amounts of shopping, etc, while in use in Oxford. Here's a shot of where we started:
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