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Maybe I'm alone on here, but I've thought this bike was kind of cool from the beginning, even before I owned it.

It started out black, with steel rims, a mattress saddle, and in decent condition. It belonged to a neighbor when I lived on 12th street. He was a model, and at the time appeared in seemingly every Banana Republic ad. That must have been strange for him.

Anyway, like many people who would own this bike at one time or another, he objected to locking his bike properly, and once when he was gone for a few weeks thieves stole the wheels and seat. When he returned he threw the remainder in the trash and I became the new owner.

I had some wheels from when Tesi left his bike locked outside for 6 months, and everything but the wheels and frame were stripped. I think they would have snipped the spokes and stolen the hubs in another week. So I put the wheels on the frame, found a seat and seatpost somewhere, and called it a bike.

It was a bit small for me, so I gave it to Tesi for a while. He locked it outside for a few more months (just as he had done with the bike I got the wheels from), lost the key, had to break the lock and in doing so gave the downtube a dent.

Tesi gave it to Jason, who hated it and insisted I come pick it up. Apparently some experts at a bike store had told him that the frame was damaged beyond repair.

Greg tried to use it for about 6 months, but nobody thought it was as cool as I do, so it ended up back in my possession. I seem to remember that it needed a new freewheel, and some different experts at a different bike store told him that could not be fixed.

Rusty, strange, yet functional. I rode it as a commuter in the fall of 2007, through the winter and spring.

This was a rough time for me. I had come down with an extremely painful, bilateral case of tendinitis of the Achilles tendons. This left me unable to walk or stand without canes or crutches. I was, however, able to ride a bicycle with a low enough gear, pushing the pedals with my mid-foot instead of my toe.

The Peugeot became my crutch, and like Molloy, I strapped my actual crutches or canes to the bike and made my way around Brooklyn on this thing.

A new life:

I sold the wheels at the Bike Jumble in the summer of 2010. The cranks were shot - worn teeth and non-removable chainrings.

In the summer of 2010, I chopped the rear triangle off of the frame, lengthened the chainstays by about 2 feet, and constructed a brazed-on rack for hauling boxes and small people.

Some technical details: (pre chopping and lengthening)

• 20.5"/52 cm seat tube;
• 31.5" / 80 cm stand-over height;
• top tube 23.75" / 60.5 cm.

The long-tail is currently in semi-retirement, awaiting the next step in its evolution.

Maybe I'm alone on here, but I've thought this bike was kind of cool from the beginning, even before I owned it.

It started out black, with steel rims, a mattress saddle, and in decent condition. It belonged to a neighbor when I lived on 12th street. He was a model, and at the time appeared in seemingly every Banana Republic ad. That must have been strange for him.

Anyway, like many people who would own this bike at one time or another, he objected to locking his bike properly, and once when he was gone for a few weeks thieves stole the wheels and seat. When he returned he threw the remainder in the trash and I became the new owner.

I had some wheels from when Tesi left his bike locked outside for 6 months, and everything but the wheels and frame were stripped. I think they would have snipped the spokes and stolen the hubs in another week. So I put the wheels on the frame, found a seat and seatpost somewhere, and called it a bike.

It was a bit small for me, so I gave it to Tesi for a while. He locked it outside for a few more months (just as he had done with the bike I got the wheels from), lost the key, had to break the lock and in doing so gave the downtube a dent.

Tesi gave it to Jason, who hated it and insisted I come pick it up. Apparently some experts at a bike store had told him that the frame was damaged beyond repair.

Greg tried to use it for about 6 months, but nobody thought it was as cool as I do, so it ended up back in my possession. I seem to remember that it needed a new freewheel, and some different experts at a different bike store told him that could not be fixed.

Rusty, strange, yet functional. I rode it as a commuter in the fall of 2007, through the winter and spring.

This was a rough time for me. I had come down with an extremely painful, bilateral case of tendinitis of the Achilles tendons. This left me unable to walk or stand without canes or crutches. I was, however, able to ride a bicycle with a low enough gear, pushing the pedals with my mid-foot instead of my toe.

The Peugeot became my crutch, and like Molloy, I strapped my actual crutches or canes to the bike and made my way around Brooklyn on this thing.

A new life:

I sold the wheels at the Bike Jumble in the summer of 2010. The cranks were shot - worn teeth and non-removable chainrings.

In the summer of 2010, I chopped the rear triangle off of the frame, lengthened the chainstays by about 2 feet, and constructed a brazed-on rack for hauling boxes and small people.

Some technical details: (pre chopping and lengthening)

• 20.5"/52 cm seat tube;
• 31.5" / 80 cm stand-over height;
• top tube 23.75" / 60.5 cm.

The long-tail is currently in semi-retirement, awaiting the next step in its evolution.