Puch Promenade Shopper Bike Restoration.

  Today has been the first time since I bought the Promenade a few weeks ago I’ve had time to give it a ride, I pumped up the completely knackered tyres and went for a quick spin down to the church and back. The gears work, the chain is quite new, the ride is smooth, the brakes are horrible and so is the saddle, but the dynamo and lights work! Not bad for a 45 year old bike. Today the work began…but what shall I do with it?  Puch Promenade Puch Promenade Frame Box of Bits.  Read about my Dawes Kingpin here: https://daweskingpinbike.blogspot.com/

More work on the Puch Promenade, in fact it is almost finished. I have been a bit lax with the updates on this blog, which I expect no one reads. No matter it acts as a diary for me. Below are a couple of photos when I received the bike, note the black painted handlebars. Paint had also spilled onto other parts of bike, which was a pain to remove.  Before Refurbishment  Before Refurbishment  Below are some photos of the bike as it stand now after a full nut and bolt refurbishment including some photos of the bike in bits.  All the chrome has been cleaned, de-rusted and polished, including the racks which were time consuming. I swapped over the handlebar and stem from another donor ( the green one mentioned elsewhere on this blog)  Puch which was in better condition. I bought a new Spa Cycles ( NIDD) leather saddle which is very like a Brooks B17.  New tyres are also fitted.  After Refurbishment  Hard to find Puch branded handle bar grips with refl...

  The handlebars on the red Puch Promenade were covered in thick balk paint, probably Hammarite, I was hoping that the chrome underneath would be ok...it was not.  The paint was covering up a lot of rust, it took me over two hours to remove the paint to reveal the mess of the chrome and to realise that I will probably have to replace the handle bars. This is shame because the chrome on the rest of the bike, the wheels, the carriers etc was in much better condition.  The wheels were in much better condition than they ought to be considering the condition of the handlebars and only required a good clean and polish. The front wheel had a bearing service, a clean of the hub, new ball bearings and new grease. The rear wheel Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub is in nice condition, runs smoothly so I left it alone.  Read about my Dawes Kingpin here: https://daweskingpinbike.blogspot.com/

Next on the cleaning agenda was the chain set and cranks and stem, these were in quite nice condition, just little surface rust and only needed a polish.  Before Cleaning After Cleaning Read about my Dawes Kingpin here: https://daweskingpinbike.blogspot.com/

   I had the opportunity to buy another Puch Promenade Just got home from collecting the Puch Promenade that I bought on the bay of e. It’s in pretty good condition, just needs a clean and a service and it’s good to go. The grips have their reflectors intact, the chrome is grubby but sound, the tyres look in good nick too. For some reason the gear lever is on the left, so I’ll swap that over. Hub date is 9/80 if you’re interested. My plans are to swap over any parts from this bike over to the red Promenade if they are in better condition, the handle bars from this green bike will certainly be swapped over. This bike has the rather nice red reflectors in the grips intact. they often get lost or damaged over the years.  For some reason the previous owner has the Sturmey Archer gear lever on the left of the bars. Read about my Dawes Kingpin here: https://daweskingpinbike.blogspot.com/

   I have started to clean, de-rust and polish the Puch Promenade mudguards and carriers. I use wire wool, steel wool, GT85 and Autosol polish and a lot of elbow grease to clean up the parts.  Before and after photo. showing the unique detailing on the mudguards.  The black paint that had dribbled on to the front mudguard when the previous owner had painted the handlebars. It was a fiddle to remove.  These rubber trims from the chrome ESGE / Pletscher carries were filthy, I used hot water and CIF to clean them, and then more hot water to soften them to put them back on the carriers.  Before cleaning After cleaning. Before and after cleaning of carrier nuts and bolts. I clamped them into a vice and cleaned with a brass rotary brush on a drill. 

I t is time for another project, I thought I would buy a folding Kingpin, found one on Facebook marketplace had look, rode it, made an offer. Got turned down so I walked away. C’est la vie, keep looking.  Then up popped on ebay a Puch Promenade, one of the many young pretenders to the Dawes Kingpin,  arguably one of the better ones, certainly in my opinion at first glance - the most interesting looking of them all, and there are many from the 1960’s to the 1980’s to choose from.  The Promenade in question was on a buy it now for £30.00, so I clicked the button and bought it. Then I realised it was 120 miles away. Oh well, it’s an afternoon out.  So, here’s some photos of it, no work done on it yet, but there’s plenty to keep me busy, not least of which is discovering what is under the black paint on the handlebars and replacing the tyres.  Nice front basket.  Love the colour, should pop when it’s polished.  Interesting detail on the mudguards  Rea...