Griffon G80 (Peugot P108)

[Peter B]

Hello

This is my first posting on the forum.

I have just bought a 1928 Griffon G80 which is to all intenets and purposes a Peugot P108 with differnt badges etc.
I have found a few websites which deal with the machine in its Peugot form, but as you would expect they are French language sites.
With my basic command of French I can just about get the gist of what is being said I am missing out on the detail.
Is there anyone on this forum that owns a G80 or P108 who can help out with basic information and some techicl pints
Thanks for any assistance

Peter

[mini-me]

As a fan of french bikes, and I have had a few, why do people who cannot speak french buy french bikes and expect to find workshop info in english?

They were never imported into england, so no need.
No offence intended, just  a straight question, as this problem has surfaced on here more than once.

I may have some info for you, I dig it out if I still have it, but, amazingly, its all in french!!

[Peter B]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I bought the bike because of my love of vintage motorcycles and French automobile engineering of the 20's and 30's.
I can't recall asking for a manual in English.
I have manuals in French and I can just about read them but sometimes it is nice to have things confirmed by other enthusiasts.
Thanks for your views but this will be my one and only post I will stick with the French forums at least they are pleased that some from the UK has an interest in their historic vehicles
Please don't bother searching for old documents I will manage with those I have

[cardan]

Hi Peter,

My French is OK, and I'm happy to help with translation if you have specific questions from the info you have.

There are also online translators that will translate entire web pages, but they sometimes get a bit flakey when technical stuff is involved. In the pre-internet days I remember reading a motorcycle book/article in French that described the springs as "ressorts à boudin". With no knowledge of the word boudin I went to the dictionary and came up with "sausage". Sausage springs? At least from that day I still remember the term for "coil springs"!!

Cheers

Leon

[cardan]

The P108 was new to the Peugeot catalogue in 1928. Here are the 1928 and 1929 catalogue extracts. Sorry that the 1928 image is pretty ratty.

Leon

[cardan]

Peter,

Of interest might be the valve and ignition timing information at the bottom of the 1929 catalogue entry:

Inlet opens 0.5 degrees before top dead centre, closes 13mm after BDC
Exhaust opens 17.2mm before BDC, closes 3.3 degrees after TDC
Ignition: 0mm fully retarded, 8mm BTDC fully advanced

Cheers

Leon

[cardan]

Not appreciated, mini-me. I don't see any problem with either of Peter's posts, and I hope he returns to the forum.

Leon

[mini-me]

I didn't see any problem with his post either, nor with mine.
what is unclear about....

No offence intended, just a straight question, as this problem has surfaced on here more than once.

?

he comes here asking for the benefit of others knowledge ,then throws a paddy when he doesn't like the answer???

I offered help, he doesn't like it. If he is competant to talk on french sites, why is he here?

I have come across a guy exactly like this before on other bike sites, asks a question, does not like the answer he gets, so throws a sulk and thats it.
If this is not the same guy, he's got a twin.


This problem with french bikes is on the up, since the french are unloading their now unuseable bikes [ due to their horrendous difficulty in  registering bikes wiithout a carte grise] onto speculative UK antique dealers,  who sell them to punters who can't afford prices of even mediocre brit bikes, many of those punters are amazed that they cannot get a manual or spares in this country.

But this guy says he doesn't have that problem?  so I baffled, and too old to pussyfoot around shrinking violets who need to grow up.

I'm willing enough to help the snowflakes,  I have fair experience with french bikes, owned about 6, dealt in a few more, but damned if I'll change their nappies.

god almighty he can't even spell Peugeot, and ill bet he pronounces it Pew Got

[Rex]

I think I know that bloke too...
I was tempted into a Monet Goyon ALS3 1936 some years back. Pretty little thing but amateurish and out-dated by the British bike standards of the time. The French have a different concept of the meaning of "classic bikes" and looking at the standards of the engineering and restoration (as I do every summer)  it's easy to become slightly contemptuous of our Gallic cousins and their workmanship.
Then again Adolf's world tour and France's penury in the 1940s/50s/early 1960s meant that everything was used well past it's sell-by, and that shows today with the absolutely spunked piles-o-shite on offer at Kempton etc.
"Oh but they're so French, so Art Deco, so, so, so utterly knackered. Mugs, buy at your peril!
Apart from that, anything in French shouldn't really be a problem as Google Translate works well if a little long-winded.

[mini-me]

I think I know that bloke too...

I'm sure you do, we both used to post on at least one same forum.

Rex, apart from the mediocre stuff the French were quite innovative in the 1930s, unit construction, big brakes, enclosed heads etc, quite a few four cylinder efforts too.
Their metallurgy let them down in some areas but mostly Govt anti bike legislation suffocated big bikes. I quite like extremes of the art deco style in bikes and cars, which is a matter of taste agreed.

I have a long glossary of technical terms in french-english which I'll be happy to send via PM to anyone that wants a copy, apart from........ .
Having spent quite some time in the company of french vintage clubs, my technical french is better than my normal, so I was told.

France is still a great country for ridng old bikes in,[well, up until a couple years ago that is]

I am staggered at the prices of the total crap on offer at Kempton and so on. One reason you never see a decent vintage bike there is simply because the French are not daft enough to sell off the good stuff.
Old tat bought in by the van load by antique dealers looking to pay their rent.

[Ricolala]

Hello, i also own a griffon g80
Hat someone technical Data or service Manuals for this bike?
I dont now the Year of Produktion, but i have the frame and engine number.
Can someone decode the griffon frame or engine number?
Are  the frame numbers similar to  peugeot p108?
Thanks
Ricolala

[mini-me]

Old sins cast long shadows.

There is quite a big Peugeot club in France, google translate is very good with french.

http://www.petochonsdulion.net/

[john.k]

I once knew a Frenchman who had happened onto a 1927 KSS Velo,free............He asked me the usual questions about how to restore it ,etc.........He returned about a month later with the bits.........he had the whole bike hot dip galvanized..........Chrome is so costly,he said.

[mini-me]

I can believe that, having seen a 'museum' in the middle of France. Here it would have been called a breakers yard.

[Rex]

It seems to me that even top French resto's have things like hex head screws, Nylocs and self-tappers on them. A well-known mid-Thirties V-twin in the Normandy region is beautiful, though the full colour air-brushed mural of some sort of Viking theme on the tank rather spoils it in my opinion. 
 Maybe it's just French pragmatism again...