Originally Posted by
Catnap
At its heart, a randonneur bicycle is really a sport tourer; in-between a touring bike and a road bike. They will have racks for panniers, but intended for lighter loads than a full-on heavy tourer a.k.a a "campeur". While I think the concept goes back to the early 1900's, the design reached an apex in the 1940's - 60's when the famous French "constructeurs" like Rene Herse, Alex Singer, etc. built custom randonneurs where nearly every component was handmade for an individual bike. The style saw a revival in Japan during the 70's and 80's, with notable brands being Toei, Cherubim, and Watanabe. And now another revival is in full swing with American builders like Boxdog, Pereira, Velo Orange, Rivendell, etc.
I think the appeal of the randonneur aesthetic is that you get the classy look and utility of a touring bike with the livelier ride of a road bike.
Here's a couple famous examples of randonneur bikes that have inspired me:
Great pics.! Great bikes, too....
I don't think Rivendell has much of anything to do with randonneuring, though. I will give you that Grant has been influenced by Jan Heine somewhat, but Grant tries to create a (rather silly, imo) unique niche of 'country bikes' whatever the f that is.
Only relatively recently have his bikes moved towards greater brake reach, bigger tires, 650b, etc. and none of them features integrated racks and lighting, or light-gauge non-oversized tubing, or level top tubes, etc., which are all keys to a 'true' randonneuse, imho. People throw the slang term 'rando.' around way too much, fwiw.
I would agree that a Sportif is very similar to a 'Sport Tourer,' but not a randonneuse, imo. And I like Sportifs, as I come from a weight-weenie tubular-tired 'racing bike' background, and don't ride up the Cascade mountain range in four inches of fresh snow, or try to ride 500 miles in 24 hours, so I really don't 'need' a bike with killer lighting and 'all-road' tires with wide fenders. I think they are awesome, I just don't need or want one (unless it is a free Herse or Singer - then I will gladly agree to steward one of those through its next few decades!).