seely

Excellent! Think I'll give them ago -- appreciate the info. The Michelins are just poor quality, heavy, and "dead" feeling... wouldn't mind something to liven up the bike a bit and make it feel a little more sporty.

Oldpeddaller

Some beautiful conversions in this post. Here's mine - still unfinished, but not much left to do now once the weather improves - the pink bar tape is now history BTW! Deore seems like good kit, works well and was taken from a free donor bike originally.

prairiepedaler

Slightly older thread, but I'm feeling comfortable here.

ExpertTools

I think the use of an old mtb as a touring bike is certainly one way to go. But just because you want to carry a pack, does not mean you need fat tires and a heavy bike. I did extensive touring in my youth using fist a Peugeot PX10 and later on a Raleigh professional. I used very heavy packs, and standard gearing, (52/38 x 12-23...but I was really fit back then.) I rode in the Alps with this gearing, but I wasn't going up L'Alpe D'Huez either. No braze-ons are essential, as you can always attach racks or bottles with a wraparound metal band.


I think a vintage all-Campy machine would make an excellent basis for a tourer, but a lot depends on your fitness level vs. the available gearing. One nice feature of an old Campy Record bike is that they are so well made, that they are completely reliable; very important for unsupported touring. If you want to tour on dirt or gravel trails, one of the MTB conversions makes more sense. If you want to go in mountainous areas, then getting a wider range of gearing becomes essential if you're not super fit.

tricky 

One of my favorite threads is https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...nversions.html and is definitely relevant to this one.

noglider 

It's funny that you should revive this thread exactly two years after it was last updated.

gugie 

Sloping top tubes and high rise stems offset this. A lot of modern touring bikes are made like this.

Edit: I really have to check the OP dates on these threads...

prairiepedaler

Indeed! I was also on the grassy knoll too

prairiepedaler

Yes, this is what I was going to do. Old steel mountain bike frames don't get hipster love like a SWPL brand such as Surly, or steel 10 speed road bikes as fixie-converts. An old steel mountain frame on 26" wheels might clash with their freshly waxed beards and gay porn pompadours. OSMB's have no social status nor bragging rights, are plentiful and will likely never come into vogue.

For those of us less hip, just wanting reliable cheap transport, an old mountie is fine.

Salamandrine 

I agree with your general sentiments. Old school touring bikes were just a tad more beefy than a racing bike. BITD, though I dutifully built some heavy duty 27" wheels, I found that they were overkill and that my Fiamme red (tubular) training wheels were more than sufficient for loaded touring.

I think the trend has been to overbuild touring bikes enough so that a 250# dude with 50# load can ride it within normal parameters. I don't know if this is because people have gotten fatter, or it has become fashionable to carry a heavy load, or some other reason. In my view a LHT or whatever basically is a mountain bike, or at least a hybrid. I guess that's fine if you can use the extra strength and don't mind going a little slower.

Given that, converting an MTB to a touring bike makes perfect sense, especially if you plan on getting away from traffic and hitting the gravel. That's more or less what I'm doing with my Riv Clem. I figure it will be a good fire road explorer.

USAZorro

For some reason, I mind it less when a converted MTB handles a bit like a truck, than I do when a purpose-designed touring bike does. Might be all in my head, but I do think that the LHT I had, and tried hard to love for 15 or so months, is an improvement on a converted MTB only by virtue of having a couple thoughtful braze-ons.

tricky 

Yesterday at Free Range Cycles here in Seattle I test rode a Surly Straggler and a Soma Double Cross back-to-back and the Surly was definitely truck-like compared to the more lively Soma. I feel like all Surlys are like that though. They have never really been on my list, but I was being sucked in by the almost celeste-like color of the Straggler. One ride and it's back off my list.

mstateglfr 

I wouldnt call a 700c LHT a mountain bike. Perhaps the 26" wheel version is similar to some 80s mtbs when the chainatays were long, but with the exception of the first 15% of the mountain bike's existence, mountain bikes havent had those long chainstays and slack geometry.

Anyways, i wouldnt call a Fuji Touring, Novara Randonee (coop adv1?), Trek 520, Jamis Aurora, etc mountain bikes or hybrids. They are, to me at least, very clearly drop bar touring bikes. They dont resemble current mountain bikes or mountain bikes from 30 years ago.

Everyone is different when it comes to how much gear they carry, but if anything, gear is lighter than ever and people carry less than before since bikepacking has become a niche touring category where less is carried and UL gear is coveted.

Salamandrine 

Oh I was just being dramatic. They aren't literally mountain bikes, but they have taken a big step in that direction, IMHO obviously. The LHT and other modern touring bikes are more heavily built than (higher end) touring bikes of the 70s and 80s.

Camping gear is lighter for sure. But it seems to me that the trend is for people to carry more stuff, though everyone has their preferences.

Another possibility is that more people are touring on unpaved roads to get away from the traffic, which there certainly is more of now than when I first tried touring in the 80s.

TenGrainBread 

My '93 Trek 930 touring conversion in its first dirt-drop iteration:


Then in it's flat bar touring iteration:


The main problem with the drop bar iteration was that it was too stretched out for me. The top tubes on these 90s mountain bikes are very long.
The flat bar build (VO Porteurs with a shorter and higher stem) was ok but not enough hand positions on the porteurs.
The next iteration will be drop bar again, but with the higher, shorter stem and some randonneur bars with less reach.

Salamandrine 

That's a IMO cool Trek MTB conversion. Keep us updated as you get it dialed in.

I'd think the first drop bar version had too much drop to the bars in relation to the seat. Personally I'd try to get them up to near level with the bars, perhaps an inch down. Gravel grinding is made difficult by excessively deep drop, especially on steep downhills on single track. But it sounds like you've already figured that out.

Those porteur bars seem to be based on old frenchie city bike bars. I used to have some. Not sure long distance was within the design intent. I'm wondering how albatross bars are going to work out as a gravel tourer for my Clem. Seems like they may have a few more positions.

DIMcyclist

The Shogun Prairie Breakers & esp. the '84 - '86 Raleighs are both excellent choices (long stays/ wheelbase; full touring braze-ons; premium tubesets), but with regard to some of the Treks that have been mentioned here, I'd suggest that older is better, and that the 800/ 820/ 830 are better in this role than the 9X0 bikes because the 800-series have longer chainstays. They may heavier & not be as pretty, but they're probably more functional as touring frames (and cheaper).

I should also point out that Surly's LHT is pretty much a dead ringer for Trek's '84/'85 830/850/870 (the 870 is exceedingly rare, btw).

Edit: attached, my 650b Trek 820.

ExpertTools

I think it all depends on where you want to ride. If you're staying on the road, tubulars or 25/28mm clinchers are fine, even with a heavy pack. If you're planning on gravel, the idea of a converted mountain bike makes a lot of sense, as I would want a minimum of 35mm tires, and that could be really tight if not impossible on an old steel pro road bike. If you want to ride in hilly terrain, a wide gear set would be critical. If you're planning on climbing mountains with a pack on, I'd get a triple. Another factor is whether you plan to go alone or with a group; if you're in a group, only every other rider needs to carry a tent, and only one person needs to carry pots and pans, camp stove, utensils etc.


Also, while I see most of these conversions with fenders, I NEVER had these in my touring days. Bottom line, you're going to need rain gear anyway. And really high end, good quality rain gear at that. Rain gear that's fully waterproof, yet still allows some breathing, (this will NOT be cheap.) So if it is wet, you put on the rain gear anyway. When you ride with panniers, they block most spray from the back wheel anyway, and the down tube blocks most spray from the front. A good reason you also need high end paniers; they MUST be fully waterproof, the worst thing is having your packed clothes all wet.


I do have a vintage MTB that I've converted to a hybrid type bike, and it would probably make a good tourer. But it's a titanium frame with all XTR components with narrow tires; so pretty close in weight to what high end steel road bike would be; but still a little heavier. I bought this because the paved trails around here are really bumpy, and I wanted a softer ride than my road bike. I just bought a second wheelset so I can do a quick swap to ride singletrack or gravel trails. It would NOT be cheap to build a tourer at this weight or component quality level from an old MTB. I just think one would get a lot more for the money and end up with a lighter bike if one started with an old pro steel bike.