Manufacturing date
One of the first questions that comes up for any vintage bicycle is certainly its age. For our Peugeot TM 8 the color scheme, orange lettering, checkerboard graphics and 'record du monde' decals give a hint, as does the equipment which can be compared to catalog images. Yet one of the best ways is certainly to look for original parts bearing a date of manufacture.
Captain's bottom bracket: 12 79, Stronglight, Marque Deposée: December 1979. |
Atom drum brake stamped 2 - 0 for February 1980. |
here. A frame size is absent here, but the TM 8 was only built in 56 (captain)/ 52 (stocker), so this makes sense. The character to the right of the T could be a 1 or a misprinted M for TM8. For other models however, the mixed version is known to have a 1 in front of the model number... But ususally the 1 on the paper stickers looked different with shorter top dash and a foot/serif. And for the tandem, the homme/homme version had the designation TH8. As for the serial number I have no idea on how to decode it and whther it contains information about the manufacturing date.
Price / value
If we take 1980 as the year the bicycle was purchased, its price according to a list found here was 3340 French Francs. The good reference to gauge its value might be a PX10 at 2980 FRF, and a PY10 for 4690 FRF. If this is to be taken as a measure of its quality, today a good Tandem is often rather more than twice as expensive than a good racing bike.
Prices in French Francs as of 1980. The TM8 cost 3340 Francs, and sits in between the PX10 and PY10. |