The perfect bike for these times
 

Since the lifting of the lockdown, even the drivers here in rural Yucatan have forgotten how to be courteous. That fact caused my routes to migrate off of the secondary roads and onto tertiary and quaternary (unpaved). I have become quite fond of off road riding. While researching whether the tube set was suitable, I found that not only is it suitable, but also the particular frame will take 42mm tires!
A 1980 Trek 414, made of Ishiwata 022. It is currently shod with a 27mm Open Pavè on the rear and a 32mm Kenda ?? cross tire on the front. So far that combination works well for a mix of pavement and non-pavement.
And I thought I always have been and always would be a pure roadie. Ha!

Traffic is not as bad here in Iowa as in Mexico but I've been moving more and more to gravel and rougher stuff to ride. I'm fixing up a 1979 Trek 510 with 700 x 35c tires for that kind of riding. I'm impressed that your 1980 Trek 414 can take a 42c tire.

So you know what they say, pics or it didn't happen. Besides who wouldn't like seeing a bit of bike porn from the Yucatan? Andale.

Take heart, you still are. It's still a road bike, and still on roads. You've just stretched the definition some. Lot of that going on in this "new normal".

Sounds like an excellent adaptation, but +1 above, pics are hereby requested and required.

Hmmm, I sense a shift to gravel bike... before you know it you’re going to be looking for “gravel specific” bikes and then carbon starts to look interesting and before you know it you’re thinking about 12 speeds and you don’t have a Suntour Perfect FW on or a front derailleur, you have a frame bag, your saddle looks like it has a *****, and there are these shiny discs attached to your hubs!

Just be careful... it’s a slippery slope. Just do a 650b conversion on your Trek and you’ll be fine... trust me.

I'm feeling the call to go off road more and more. One of my roadbike riding routes ends at a dirt trail leading into a big wooded area. Drives me nuts. I need an fat tired bike.

[QUOTE=seedsbelize;21615488the particular frame will take 42mm tires[/QUOTE]
You sure about that? Color me highly skeptical. Nevertheless, you should maximize what ever you can fit in there, it sure makes a big difference on rougher roads.

Hah, listen to this warning.

I sold most of my "c&v" bikes and ended up with a Yeti SB5 and a Santa Cruz Stigmata.

Between the two of them, I could survive rather nicely as far as bikes go.

While I still have some interesting steel bikes, they tend to just sit there.

I will never own a soulless plastic bike with meat slicers for brakes. Nor a threadless stem. No, I thought about 650b, but likely won't even go that route. I have begun to think that, when it comes time to have only one rider, this will he the one.

https://johns-recycled-bicycle.blogs...ation.html?m=1
I personally haven't tried it, but I'm told it can be done. It looks doable.

Well this is embarrassing. I can't figure out how to upload photos anymore. I'll keep trying.....

Nope. The problem is twofold. The phone will not let me select from a specific album, and it will.also not let me download and go that route. There appears to be no option for uploading directly from the gallery. Perhaps things will be clearer in the morning.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3a04a12b0f.jpg
Here is an old one, from last Spring (2019) which, somehow, was allowed to be downloaded. And is tiny. Is Mercury in retrograde by chance?

I was wondering about that. I started a thread a while back as to which vintage bikes could take a 700 x 38c tire. There are not a lot of vintage bikes that can handle that:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...tage-bike.html

The bikes that popped up on that thread are the Raleigh super course, Nishiki semi pro, Fuji special road racer and Motobecane grand record. All four are 1970s models. I suspect they were all originally spec'd for 27 inch wheels and they had lots of clearance even with 27 x 1 and a 1/4 tires.

I would be surprised if it can't take a 38.

I've rebuilt a lot of old Treks from the late 70s and 80s. They tend not to have as much clearance as the early to mid 70s era bikes that were designed around 27 inch wheels. At least based on the feedback on that thread, vintage bikes that can take a 38c tire are not that common. Hopefully yours can.

You can add an ‘84 Miyata 610 to that list.

thanks. The original list was for bikes without cantilevers. Some of the 80s touring bikes can handle a pretty fat tire; some cannot. The miyatas are good on that.

no cantis... tall order.... I’m going to check out that thread.

it would be hard to choose a better bike than and early Trek. I have a half dozen or so...

Once in the 80’s, it gets hard to fit 38mm tires on Treks. I just barely got 35’s with fenders on my ‘81 412.

I went back and read that article, and see it doesn't mention 42mm tires. I read that somewhere, I thought. Anyway, I'm gonna stick with the 35mm Kenda Small Block Eights that are on it now. Until they wear out. Our terrain is flat flat. But now I'm curious to see just how wide it will go.

Add the '86 Schwinn Voyageur to the list. 42mm front, 38mm rear.

I put 30mm corsa control tubular on the 85 team miyata......while it is not a gravel bike by any means....is sure handles the little forays onto the gravel on the side of one trail i use...... so suggest something like this 30mm on the 84 team miyata might be the ticket for next years heroica

If 'perfect' is attainable, it will have at least 42 on the front. It's easy to wash out on unknown surfaces. I'm running 47- 38 on a Triplecross and have had some anxious moments on steep downhill paths.