VonCarlos

1974 Alex SiNGER and I in Bavaria, West Germany, 1983.
The Singer as set up for touring; just a few days into the tour.
West Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland and England over four months.
Still have this SiNGER !

southpawboston

Fantastic!

jamesj

I always love seeing that voyageur! It's truly beautiful!!!
I want to build up the VOYAGEUR SP I just bought similar to the way you have yours...

AZORCH

This is my latest entry in the foray, 1971 Raleigh International. Basically I've just cleaned up for the moment, but I'll decide over the winter how I'll ultimately configure things. (i.e., rear rack needs to be leveled, lose the 1 1/8 tires for wider, appropriate mudguards, etc.) I'll keep the touring configuration for some multi-day riding in June after my students turn into pumpkins for the summer.












It's a bit like traveling by luxury liner, smooth ride and long elegant turns without feeling sluggish. I can see why so many people used these for full bore touring back in the day.

dvsjes28

1982 Trek 613. Not exactly good for touring but gets the job done on overnights

Ciufalon

Well, I did build up the Koga World Traveller a few weeks ago and thought I'd add it to this thread. It is a 1993, so maybe not all that vintage, but it is lugged steel and not so common to find any more. I just used spare parts I had around and it turned out to be perfect. Shifts smooth, rides silent, etc. I have a matching third bottle cage and a front rack will be added. Just have to decide whether to use the Nitto Big Front Rack I have, use an original Koga front rack, or wait until I can afford to get a front and rear set of Tubus racks. I also plan to get a set of decals at some point to fix the damaged top tube decals. Anyway, a couple pics.

Drillium Dude 

Hmmm, did I just discover this thread or did I not have a touring bike at the time I might have discovered it and I've since forgotten? Or is it just old age creeping up on me? Who cares?



I've got a bike for this thread: circa '71 Mondia Special, restored from a terribly-rattlecanned and pitted mess to this:



Stripped down:



I have it out here with me in DG and she's taken everything I can throw at her - and then some. Fairly inexpensively built/refinished, this was the best all-around bike to get me through this next year here.

DD

rjhammett

Here is a 1984 or so Motobecane Grand Touring bike I owned for less than a week. It was one of 2 bikes I sold yesterday. I bought it for $20, invested $3 into it and sold it for a lot more. It was in near perfect condition. If it was a little bigger I probably would have kept it.

candid

I just bought this Bridgestone. Now I'm repainting it. Hope I will finish restoration soon.

3alarmer 

...........I just resurrected this one. It had apparently come to grief somewhere early
in its life from a rather severe impact to the rear wheel. I usually just toss stuff that
badly tweaked, but I thought I'd attempt to salvage it rather than find new wheelset.

Certainly relacing a Helicomatic rear to a new rim is a non starter.

Anyway, after several hours of cursing and punding and flexing over a sawhorse, which
also involved a Vernier caliper and a very big cross peen hammer and a flat end drift,
the wheel was again relatively usable and tensioned evenly enough that I can at least
ride it around town. Touring on it would be foolhardy, I think.


After a first ride, I can honestly say I am very impressed, and this seems to live up to the
hype and adulation you hear about these bicycles as touring machines.

The gearing is just about perfect for me, and it was a pleasure to work on this bike, given
the various well chosen components. I need to go someplace now.

cobrabyte

[QUOTE=3alarmer;1601539[/QUOTE]

very nice!

azgreg

DD that Mondia is gorgeous!

ricohman

I have the same panniers. When I saw yours I had to dig mine out and have a look!

The Golden Boy 

From what I've read and what I've experienced with my 620 and 736- the 720 would be more like a 1972 Cadillac- a smooth and elegant cruiser- but while the outrageous wheelbase length combined with the 531 fork and stays contribute to a plush ride, the same characteristics also make for a very flexy bike- especially under load.

That being said, I think a 720/728 would make a gloriously adorable all-arounder.

redcaymatt

That is a great looking bike!

3alarmer 

..........tough audience.

Johnonaschwinn

Late 1980's KLEIN It has two water bottle braze ons one under the down tube and one on top of the down tube. Braze ons for fenders. It has Shimano Tri color dated 88. I ride it everyday to work. I love this bike and want another KLEIN

Vonruden

I use this one for Bar Touring.

The Golden Boy 

I just realized, you've got double rack/fender mounts on your front and rear dropouts- apparently that feature was gone in 1985.

rjhammett

Here are some pictures of a 1983 Trek 620 that I got last weekend for free. I sold a mountain bike that I had picked up the week before from Goodwill to a guy that lives 4-5 blocks from me. He said he had an old Trek in his garage I could have if I wanted. I stopped over the next day and picked it up.

I did the full rebuild, packed all bearings, trued the wheels, cleaned the derailleurs, brake calipers and adjusted all of them. I swapped the bars for rando bars, replaced the dt shifters with barcons, put on aero brake levers, swapped the 27" wheels for 700c wheels and replaced the old saddle with a Brooks B17. All those parts I had on hand. All I had to buy were new brake and shifter cables/housing and new bar tape. I have about $30 total into it.

KAH

Ive got an 84(i think) here is what she has.

djkashuba 

Being the master wheel builder you are what would you lace up for this machine?

-D

The Golden Boy 

That's really interesting- you always know that components can be swapped and replaced- and even the catalog states they can use different components than what's specified- but to change a specification on the frame- that's interesting.

What's really cool about your bike (that I can see) is the chainstay bridge. I have an 85 620- the chainstay bridge is cast into the bottom bracket shell/lug/casting. That means it's really far forward- it makes mounting a rear fender a bit of a challenge- and that chainstay brace is much more farther forward than it needs to be for it to be a "brace" with even the largest wheel/tire combo it anticipated.

Let's see some more pictures!!!

3alarmer 

........probably, if nothing comes up used in good shape (unlikely given the unrelenting 27 inchness of it all),
I'll grab up a decent Campy or Dura Ace hubset at the Bike Kitchen, order me up some of them swell Alex Adventurer
rims in the 27" size, drilled appropriately, get some DT straights in the 14g, and make some relatively bombproof
wheels that a person could go out of town on without worrying about ending up in Seldom Seen, WV for a week
or two waiting for new wheels to be delivered.

I can tell you that repairing the original you see on there was quite the challenge..............

candid

Mine 1982 Bridgstone MONOX.