Lx25 – Peugeot Ruche

Nuno came to us with a Peugeot bicycle in very bad condition, which belonged to his grandfather.
The truth is that we tried to refuse the restoration, because we thought it was in very bad condition, but after some insistence we accepted the challenge to resurrect this beauty.The first challenge was to try to understand which Peugeot model it was. We couldn’t find anything exactly the same, there was always some detail that was different from the Peugeot’s old catalogs. We later found out that it is a Peugeot Ruche.
RUCHE was a bicycle brand that was absorbed by Peugeot in the early 1930s. This is an unusual model and was probably manufactured between 1947-1952.

The identification was made possible by comparing the head tube lug, that has a “cutout” that is not found in any Peugeot’s catalog, but that was characteristic of the Ruche bicycles.
Everything else is very similar to the 50s Peugeot, with rear rack and aluminum rear case.

There is no Peugeot exactly the same but one can be said that the models PC40 or PH50 of 1952 are very similar.

As for the restoration itself, as Peugeot parts are very specific, it is not possible to simply exchange them for other “similar” and new ones. Almost all parts had to be recovered, cleaned and chromed.
The exception was the wheels that were really in very bad condition, and one or another component that had already been replaced by national parts over the years by Grandfather, and were no longer originals of the bicycle. Like the chain ring, the saddle or the optical group.

It was a challenge, and a very time-consuming process (also due to the pandemic we experienced during this year), but in the end it paid off with a result very close to what it would have been originally. And Nuno was very pleased with the (almost unlikely) recovery of the family bicycle.

Restoration Peugeot Ruche Bicycle

This is the summary of the few new components:

• Leather Grips (link)
• Brooks England leather saddle (link)
• Union Classic Pedals (link)
• Wheels and tires
• Chain Ring
• Lighting Classic optical group with dynamo
• Lateral kickstand (link)
• Velo Orange Green Derailleur Cable Kits

Learn more about our Restoration Process.

Some items from our store used in this restoration