A publicity card from 1975 showing Peugeot-BP-Michelin team rider Regis Ovion. And while this publicity card officially dates from 1975, in fact, the details of the Peugeot PY-10 bicycle seen here are consistent with specifications used from May of 1974 through only the earliest months of calendar year 1975. The all new PY-10 model had made its public debut at the Grand Prix du Midi-Libri held in May of 1974. Although it retained a chrome finish along its rear stays and lower front fork in common with its predecessor the venerable PX-10, the earliest of these new bikes were painted in a hue of metallic silver and typically equipped with a full complement of distinctively colored components including a gold anodized Simplex SLJ AV 326 front derailleur, a gold anodized Simplex SLJ AR 615 rear derailleur, gold anodized Simplex SLJ retro-friction shifters, and gold anodized MAFAC Competition calipers with wheel guides. Of particular note in this photograph are two distinct differences with respect to equipment normally found on Peugeot-BP-Michelin team bikes from this era. First of all, Regis had a distinct distaste for riding on bare MAFAC half hoods as found on their model 121 brake levers, and so early on in his professional career he adopted the practice of having his handlebar tape wrapped around the entire body of those levers. However, by late 1972 he had begun pairing Universal model 61 levers having full gum hoods with his MAFAC center-pull brake calipers - a practice which he continued until the entire team switched over to MAFAC 529 and later 429 perforated racing levers commencing relatively early on in the 1975 race season. Also in evidence in this photograph, although not nearly as obvious, is his preference to ride Campagnolo Record hubs as opposed to those Atom / Normandy / Maillard offerings which were the norm for all other riders on the team.
