Originally Posted by
Andy_K
to me, it starts with a bike that's comfortable, relaxed gearing, and a front handlebar bag. To be honest, that last part is mostly a visual part of my rando dream bike idea, but it's also very convenient. It became a part of the rando image for a reason.
Well, im not so sure about this one. I’d call it a key physical aspect, not just visual, for a few reasons. As far as I know front bags have been a part of randonneuring since the 1930s due to needing to reach for the basic necessities and sustenance on such incredibly long rides without stopping. Now, when it comes to mounting a front rack for said bag, frame features are key. The racks are situated at the front and as close to the fender as possible for handling reasons. Most bikes won’t allow this without a custom rack. Having canti posts or mid fork eyelets is a start, but if you look at the classic randos they mostly all have small braze ons closer to the brakes meant specifically for optimal front rack positioning. When using cantilever posts or mid fork eyelets and a non custom rack you may get close to optimal positioning but not great. If I was building a “dream” rando rig I think details like this would be important to me.