Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Since Italy evidently didn't have much of a tradition of other kinds of sport bike riding whereas France did, the terms for loaded-touring bikes tend to be borrowed directly from French. "Randonneur" comes to mind (also known as "audax" in Great Britain).
France had different names born in the early 90s:
Velo de course (Italian strada)= Road bike; very similar stuff as what Fignon rode on sealed surfaces
VTT for Velo tous terrains (All terrain bike) = Mountain Bike
And something rarely use these days: VTC for velo tous chemins (All path bike or in italian pista). In the UK it would be a by way and I believe in the US it is a dirt road.... basically for gravel use. These bikes were VTTs will lighter thinner wheels running cyclocross type tyres... basically, between cyclocross bike and MTB; does it remind you of a new type bikes that became very popular in the last 10 years?
Oh and before that, in the 60's, France had "demi course", drop bar with easier gearing, vertical and horizontal brake lever and wider slick tyres rather the "boyau" set up