PEUGEOT SUPER SPORT - INTRODUCTION

The Peugeot Super Sport was the middle model in the Canadian made Peugeot entry level line-up.  Its lesser siblings, the Club and Sport, could easily be mistaken for the Super Sport since frame set, color and art selection were nearly identical.  The untrained eye, would see only a different decal, on the top tube, indicating actual model.  Other differences did present themselves, but only randomly.  For example, some Super Sport frame sets were built with a longer and more elegant lug set.  However, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for this sort of difference.  But there were a number of other improvements, for lack of a better word.

As mentioned, the Peugeot Super Sport was an entry level model, but one that was entering a carefully intended transition.  The Peugeot Club was, pure and simple, entry level.  The Sport offered a few minor componentry improvement but it was the Super Sport that began a transition.  The Super Sport was the first, of the entry level line-up, to seek weight reduction, however small it turned out to be.

The Super Sport, in some ways, was a bicycle of transition.  Though mostly entry level, some concessions did target competition notions.  Gone were the steel crank rings, being replaced with attractive alloy ones, that finally completed the truly beautiful Peugeot crank set.  Gone, also, were the heavy and ugly steel pedals, being replaced with alloy quill design, better suited for cages and straps use.  And gone was the pant leg protector ring fitted to lower level bikes.  The "Super Sport" was certainly capable of recreational performance, but its appearance did suggest sport capability, for the rider interested in getting into competition.

The Super Sport was the first in the model line to include chrome plating, as part of the frame/fork set.  The blades, on the Tange forks, another upgrade in itself, were now plated, adding, considerably, to the beauty of the bicycle.  Funny how a little bit of chrome will do that.  Fish like it too.  And, in keeping with the bright and shiny thought, the SS was the first to offer pin striping around the lug work.  Once again, not all frame set featured this cosmetic appointment.  Paint striping is a small cosmetic concessions, but important enough to distinguish the bicycle from it lessers.

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