When Stronglight/Simplex Was in Flower


Top Bike in the Tour de France

by OWEN MULHOLLAND

One interesting sidelight to Bernard Thevenet's recent win in the Tour de France was that it was the first win for nonCampagnolo equipment since the last Frenchman won, Roger Pingeon in 1967. I find this a bit amusing from an American standpoint. So many people here insist on paying the exorbitant prices for Campagnolo's admittedly superb accessories when other items are available which do the job just as well and for considerably less money.
On several occasions I had the opportunity to inspect Thevenet's equipment quite intimately, and its "normality" is almost shocking. His Peugeot is truly a Peugeot, not a Masi dressed up in team colors like Merckx used to ride when he was in the checkered Peugeot jersey. Neither Thevenet nor either of his two mechanics knew the angles of the frame; the fact that it feels right is all the Tour winner is concerned about. It is virtually a stock Peugeot PY10, the new model introduced several years ago to replace the PX10, which had fender clearances and mounts. This model is more in keeping with modern thinking: upright design, reasonably close clearances, fairly straight fork, etc. Still, it is immediately French when one looks at it-no mistaking this for a Masi or Colnago. The finish was no better on this bike than on the standard Peugeot, i.e. durable, but less than what one expects in a top bike. One can hardly doubt, however, that special care was spent in putting it together. Absolutely nothing was brazed on, a real drawback that I will get to when discussing the front derailleur.
    Starting from top to bottom, the first item one comes to is the saddle, in this case an Ideale 2002. It has a plastic, sponge, smooth leather combination rather like its Unicanitor predecessors. It seems perfectly shaped, and the tension is a bit stiffer than in the Italian version, something that I think is a plus. At any rate, the Peugeot Directeur Sportif Manrice de Meur said that none of his men had any saddle boil problems, which is testimony enough.
    Merckx, for instance, has generally given up plastic saddles and gone back to leather since his painful saddle boil problem in 1972. He's one of just a very few who still prefer the leather saddle.
    The seat post is Simplex, and like Campagnolo and various other ones on the market, it incorporates a no-slip design.
    The only Italian items on the bike were the bars and stem, both Cinelli. Thevenet prefers the Giro bend while Delisle uses Cinelli-Cinelli. Most of the others used Championne du Mondo, easily the most popular handlebar in the Tour.
    Brakes were the new Mafac "Competition," which depart from previous Mafac designs in slight but important ways. The levers at last have a fully encompassing hood rather like Weinmann or Universal. Also, like Universal, they have screw adjustments to take up cable slack and, also like Universal, they vibrate loose again after a few miles of riding. The now-popular wheel guides have been adopted by Mafac for this model, but most importantly, the 2002 model has shorter arms for the closer clearances of modern bikes. In terms Of stopping power, I think Mafac is still the best brake available; I'm glad to see they finally have a model that is designed along more up-to-date lines than the "Tiger" and old "Competition." Like the derailleurs, the Peugeot team anodized the brakes a gold color -eye-catching, but rather unnecessary. Thevenet's riding was quite eye-catching enough.
     The derailleurs were, as one might expect, the latest creation of Lucien Juy, the guiding force in the Simplex company. This model is called the Prestige Extra Leger. Their action is the nicest yet, very crisp and positive. Bit by bit, they're returning to metal after a long love affair with plastic.
    These derailleurs are the last word in perfection except for two bits of poor design. With the front derailleur, the cable attaches to the front part of the upper moving arm. So close is the mount to the seat tube that the cable must pass underneath the bottom bracket and up between the chain stays. The Peugeots have no cable housing, and inevitably, a hole will be cut in the bottom bracket shell. Other teams using the same derailleur did use a cable housing to prevent that wear, but it all seems rather unnecessary. Compare it to the very sanitary Campagnolo system that allows for a simple layout of cable guides, which have the option of being either bolted or brazed onto the frame.
    My other complaint is that the shift levers are held on by screws that need a screwdriver for adjustment. Years ago Simplex abandoned this system for the very good reason that changes in adjustment during a race are sometimes necessary. Having to stop and haul out a screwdriver to do the job is ridiculous when a simple wing nut-type handle can allow the same adjustment to be made much more quickly and easily.
    Cranks were the long-proven Stronglight 93s, still the lightest unit around, though over 10 years old now. Thevenet's were completely uncut, undrilled or altered from stock in any way.
    Pedals, hubs and freewheels were all by Maillard, their very light 700 series. The mechanics put new freewheels on every day, however, as the cogs wear out quickly. No one can deny, though, that the Maillard is the lightest item on the market. The pedals are copies of Campagnolo, and one can hardly do better for a model. The hubs didn't seem to be up to the same standards. A surprising amount of roughness could be felt in the wheels that I spun. Perhaps I'm being too fussy-I don't recall any of the Peugeot squad going very slowly!
    Three mechanics worked on these bikes every day, before and after every stage. They replaced brake cables very frequently, just on principle, and even changed the tape on Thevenet's bike every day! So meticulous were they that I can only conclude that my standards regarding rolling roughness are unnecessarily elevated.
    Rims were Super Champions, Competition model, often red label on the back and the lighter blue label on the front. They were mounted with beautifully aged Clement 250-gram silk tires; for Thevenet, new ones every day. I asked one mechanic if this wasn't rather expensive and he chuckled, "Yeah, they're more expensive than the tires on that team van over there." Virtually every team used these famous tires, no matter what tire supposedly co-sponsored them. GAN-Mercier was the big exception, and their loyalty to Hutchinson resulted in a disproportionate number of flats. Still, $30 tires or not, I was amazed at the frequency of punctures. Even on the well-paved roads it seemed hardly more than a mile between flats. That is, no doubt, an exaggerated impression, but the expense in tires alone is appalling. Wonder what they do with the old ones ... ?
    That, then, is the Peugeot racing bike-a very straightforward machine designed to be acceptable for every purpose. Even for the time trials Thevenet used his standard machine with the same tires and rims. He proved, once again, that in the end no gimmick can replace the legs.