Originally Posted by
dddd
Touring bikes without the long chainstays, and preferably lighter for today's popular and more-sporting Fondo-type events.
Depending on the era being referenced by "used to", that might be in line with what Maelochs was saying. Some of those 1970s sport tourers were pretty close to what endurance road bikes are today.
Like, I've got one of
these. Chainstays aren't crazy short, but full-length fenders are a pretty tight fit. Granny gear of about 32 inches, very similar to what you get with the 34-28 on a lot of endurance road bikes now. It's a couple pounds heavier than the similar-tier racing bikes of its model year, but those were running tubulars and had comparatively extremely narrow gearing.