clasher

This is my first year randonneuring. I've done 2 200k and a 300k on my 'retro-roadie' that I put a triple on. I need to get off these schwalbe tires and onto something more comfortable. I'm going to see if I can get 28mm tires in this frame. It's an easy riding machine for me. I should invest in another generator hub and light set for it but I dunno. The bags are dill pickle (I also have a matching large saddlebag) and I need to get a frame pump with a hose and a better way of mounting it. Thankfully I've been without a flat this year with 3400km in the bag.



I DNF'd a 400 and then finished a 400K and then I DNF'd on a 600k on my miyata 1000. It's worked like a champ even in some decent rainstorms I didn't have any problems. I don't have any recent pictures of my 1000 but it was pretty much stock. I've unfortunately done something to my Achilles tendon or calf muscle so I'm off the bike for a while until that heals up. I'll try and snag a picture of the miyata tomorrow, I don't have a single one of it in rando-mode. Imagine that bike with some silver berthoud fenders, 32mm tires on open pro rims with 9 speed downtube shifting and a shimano dynohub with b&m lights. I put the cambium on there and haven't had any serious saddle issues so that's been a relief.


I have some nice old French bikes I would like to try a 200k on my px-10, I think it would be a blast and I have ordered a triplizer from red clover so I give myself some lower gears. It's currently got challenge 27mm tubulars on it so it rides nice but there's a big tear on the rear tire so I have to replace that before I try any big rides on it. I have another pair of high-flange campagnolo hubs so I might build them up around clinchers so I have a backup wheelset.

vintagerando

Here is my ride.

ThermionicScott 

Nice work this year, @clasher! I didn't even attempt a 600k in my first brevet season and here you are, tackling one after having some setbacks. If nothing else, this sport is about problem solving.

clasher

At the start of the season PBP was a dream... good thing they run them every 4 years. There's one more 600 this year on our calender and if I'm healed up I'm going to have a crack at it, I made great time on the first half of the one I tried before I decided to bail. Our local scene has a couple of vintage bikes on the longer rides and I think I saw one or two 650B machines. Most folks seem to run road bikes or road oriented custom bikes. A few titanium ones out there. There was a velo mobile (faired recumbent) on a 400K I did. Seems to me that any kind of bike can be ridden for brevets. I've seen all kinds of people riding brevets too, so that's neat. I've enjoyed all the rides with Randonneurs Ontario that I've done. I do want to try for a 1200 sometime but I think it will be before the next PBP, our club is putting one on 2017 that looks like fantastic route.

I've had good times on the longer rides and I'm lucky that I have enough free time that I could also ride a few perms or whatever but I want to focus more on learning how to do these rides faster, I'm definitely among the slower riders and it'd be nice to finish a 300 in daylight next year.

TimmyT 

Yes. Get off the Schwalbe's. Unfortunately, they are tires. I am lazy, so I leave tires on as long as possible. You might be the same.

Do you want a longer pump or just one mounted better? I have the lezyne hp: Lezyne - Engineered Design - Products - Hand Pumps - High Pressure - Micro Floor Drive HP/HPG . It's a great little pump. I bought a few extra plastic mounts on ebay (the roswheel ones work) and some velcro straps b/c the extra lezyne mounts are overpriced (imo).

clasher

Ya, I've tried the panaracer paselas but I think both sizes I used were TG so they felt a lot like the schwalbes. I've been waiting for the duranos to wear out but they just won't. I'm probably gonna shell out for the compass stampede pass for the miyata soon, I'm running kojaks and they measure out to 32mm and seem problem-free but not quite as comfy as I hoped the bigger tires would be. They only have ~1000km on them so who knows if I will change them this season or not.

MZilliox

Here is how she finished up. she rides so sweet, been doing lots of miles, and will do a century and 200k this fall.

MZilliox

good luck, I hope to make it in 2019! My current favorite 28mm is the gravelking by panaracer. much nicer than pasela in terms of weight and feel. traction on gravel is great. road speed and feel are wonderful. i don't notice a compromise just yet. we will see how durability is. at 40-45 per, I'm loving that too.

clasher

Here's the miyata all ready for some rides. The berthoud fenders are a bit tight with 32mm tires under them. I've started the switch to clipless and it's been going well so far. No hotspots on a 115km last week. The pedals are wellgo magnesium ones.

I saw a few different versions of the gravel king; are you using the ones with the file tread? They seem hard to find for a decent price shipped to Canada but I'll check if my LBS can order them, he has some other panaracer tires in stock.

icepick_trotsky 

Both that Meile and the Miyata have pump pegs on the head tube. Put 'em to use!

bear_a_bug 

Hello there,

Here is the latest incarnation of my Fuji S12-S LTD.



Currently running 52/37 up front with a 13-28 7-speed freewheel in the rear.



Front VO Constructeur Rack with new Rando-bag built here in Chicago by Treetop. Great bag, great price and great experience working with David. The construction is similar to a Berthoud bag, with a front pocket, two rear pockets, side pockets, and a top flap opening towards the rider.

Took it out for a test-ride 100k over the weekend in N. Illinois / S. Wisconsin and got absolutely dumped on by a massive rainstorm. Interior remained fairly dry (little moisture on the bottom).

Hid out in a barn for 20 minutes during the Tornado Alert, then was picked up by an old man and driven the last 10 miles or so back to the train station while the heavy rain continued.



Looking forward to more Summer rides and less rain.

Steamer

So why is it that most of the bikes I see on actual brevets and perms don't have fat tires and huge handlebar bags?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with those choices. They are good ones. But threads like this suggest there is a particular type of bike you should use for rando and that is absurd. Wrong. And absurd. And wrong.

Rocky Gravol

This is my Rando bike.
1980 Moto Grand Touring.
Just road it on the Seattle to Portland 206 mile Classic.
140 miles day one, 66 miles day two.

Most people threw their gear on the truck,
but I wanted to ride self supported.

Had everything I might need, with the exception of a stove, and sleeping bag.






This year they let us ride through Joint Base Lewis McCord.

ThermionicScott 

For sure. Probably a healthy dose of selection bias going on, here in the C&V forum.

The same kind of thing goes on in the Commuting forum: there's an idee fixe that a "proper" commuting bike has racks, fenders, upright handlebars, etc, and newbies get it in their heads that the bike they have won't cut it.

southpawboston

Sorry if I missed this from two months ago! I've set up a webstore, and the link is in my sig...

gomango

Good question for sure.

I haven't seen that many either.

Most of the guys I know are riding everything but the classic styled rando bikes.

My son's Della Santa is closest to what we see every Saturday with the group.

[IMG]DSCN6670 by gomango1849, on Flickr[/IMG]

Gravel is another story though.

MZilliox

The bike is fantastic and the bags are outstanding... taking orders yet???? I'll take 2!

vqstaphbeard

Why thank you! And unfortunately not taking orders yet. I have been putting off making myself front low riders for months now; i can't seem to find the time.

The frame has since been sold. Here is a photo of it's last iteration:

3speedslow

Vqstaphbeard,

Elegant example of the Schwinn marque !

Can I ask you to share how the crankset behaved with the 52-36 chainrings ? I have that same set up on my Dawes Galaxy rebuild and wonder if chain drop will be an issue. Which front DR did you use ? Triple, double, narrow cage or wide ?

Thanks !

vqstaphbeard

Sorry for the late reply, I hadn't seen yours.

The chainrings are 48/28 with a Dura-Ace 7401 FD. The shifting never gave me any problems as long as I didn't shift under force or cross chain due to the short cage RD.

I'm actually still running that crankset/chainring combination on my current build, although I am planning on getting a 44-46 large ring.

ThermionicScott 

Here's a more recent shot of my bike. I had replaced the Gerry Burgess rando bars with Nitto B115's in order to gain more comfortable positions on the top of the bar. Since the B115's have 10mm more reach, I swapped to a 10mm shorter stem (80mm) to keep most of the hand positions in the same place. I also moved the levers up a little, and swapped on a fresh set of Col de la Vie 650A tires. Not sure if the VO mudflaps were in place for my last picture, but they definitely helped on the rainy rides:



<handwringing alert>
After PBP, I'm kind of at a crossroads with this bike. I can't shake the feeling that it is harder to propel than my other road bikes, so I hardly ride it apart from brevets. I don't think it's from bearing drag or riding position, since I know how to adjust bearings, and my riding position doesn't vary that much from bike to bike: that the bars are higher on this bike than my Eros just means that I spend more time in the drops, not that I'm significantly more upright.

That leaves weight and rolling resistance from the tires. When the bike is fully loaded with lights and spare batteries, a representative amount of food, and full water bottles, it tips the scales at 35 lbs. (The fully-clothed rider adds about 155 lbs on top, FWIW.) On one hand, that's much lighter than the 47-lb single-speed used by Charles Terront to win the first PBP in 71 hrs, but not very svelte by modern standards. Without the handlebar bag, lights, fenders, pump, and water bottles, the weight comes down to ~25 lbs. The frame (double-butted chromoly main tubes with mangalloy stays) didn't feel particularly heavy by itself, but I would imagine there is some "opportunity" in the components. Perhaps a mild "weight weenie" effort will be the next chapter in this bike's build thread.

Oh, and tires. I feel like I've found the best pressures for these tires, 40 psi in front and 50 psi in rear. More just seems to make the ride harder, without making it feel significantly faster. And they certainly feel nicer on bumpy roads than my 700x28s do on other bikes. But I'm pretty sure by this point that I'm working harder than I should for that comfort, and that I'd be better served if I bit the bullet and redid the bike with lighter and faster 650B tires. Once my finances recover a little from this trip, that will be the other half of my bike update.

Also, I might swap to Tektro R559 caliper brakes and more-comfy aero brake levers. We'll see.

Bikedued

I had a Shogun Touring bike like that. I checked literally everything. Once I started riding in a higher cadence and lower gear, it helped some. In my normal speed/gear range, my legs were getting worn out. Never found the cause.,,,,BD

trailmix

I totally agree. I have only seen one "proper" rando bike on a brevet and i think he dnf'd because his 584 conversion didn't go so well and he was always stopping to fiddle with it.

Barrettscv 

I see a mixture of shifters displayed here. What would the classic French Randonneur bike from the 1970's use, Bar-end or downtube shifters?

Bandera

Glancing through "The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles" I don't see a single example of barcons on any of the post WWII bikes, DT and even TT mounts only pictured.

No reason to not do as you please, the Period Correct Police would require the miserable Simplex barcons if you go that route however......

-Bandera