FloridaBoy

I guess that is the way it goes. I have seen quite a few threads dissing 650B bikes...all by folks that have never ridden one....internet experts. I got a good deal on the Bleriot and there may still be some frames around. Here is a link to conversions: https://www.bikeman.com/content/view/1161/33/ The BB is lower and you do have to be careful in corners.

Road Fan

My Woodrup fork has 375 mm axle to crown. Brake fit is just at the end of a vintage medium reach brake caliper, first-gen DuraAce, with 700c. The bike was was originally made for 27 inch touring wheels.

Road Fan

My Woodrup fork has 375 mm axle to crown. Brake fit is just at the end of a vintage medium reach brake caliper, first-gen DuraAce, with 700c. The bike was was originally made for 27 inch touring wheels.

Epicus07

Awesome thread. Revived because I'm planning my Rando Build and found it very useful.

Fenway

Right-click, "view image", to view full size:








1983 Peugeot UO14, and yes I adjusted the front fender strut & a few other things since these photos were taken. Silca pump now in the umbrella and a stainless water bottle in the cage fills out the frame nicely. Eventually changing to 700c wheels w/dynamo kit and probably some nice Acorn bags.

nlerner

^ Looks great! But how about a rear mudflap for those rain-splattered riders behind you! (I confess that neither I nor anyone I ride with has a rear mud flap, so we take turns spraying each other on rainy rides).

Neal

jr59

Well I'll post the bike I do rando events on.

It's not C&V nor a "rando" bike, but it sure does wok good.

Epicus07

Cross Check?

Alan Edwards

I now have a head full of ideas and my wife wil not be happy, thanks to all for a better explanation or picture of what a "Rando" is or is thought to be.

old's'cool

You cook with it?!!!... Chinese food then, I take it. Is it a Chinese bike?

OldsCOOL

Dig the screen name

BillP

Here's my 30yo Japanese randonneuse, just refurbished. Bill P

RFC

For the historical record, here is my now finished Bianchi Randonneur.

I fought my instincts and kept it largely stock except for the 700 wheels and the right bar end shifter. The ARX components are actually very smooth.

I took it out for a quick 20 this morning before family started to congregate. It is a very different ride. Although I love the look of touring bikes, I really don't like the belabored dull ride. This ride is neither tourer or crit bike. The long trail is very noticeable at first and feels tiller like at lower speeds. As speed increases, the bike tracks very well and even allows someone as clumsy and me to ride for some distance no hands. However, when you start to hammer, it reacts much more quickly than a tourer and corners well.


A good 4th to all.

RFC

Six jours

Been thinking about a lightweight randoneusse with a Rohloff Speedhub for a few years, and finally got around to it.



The hub is nice overall, but I can see why it hasn't gotten a whole lot of play in randonneuring circles. It's kind of heavy, and kind of noisy. But for a "cyclo muletisme" for mixed terrain in the mountains, it should be perfect.

Also FWIW, I've continued to learn and experiment with front end geometry. This frame is probably the last "experimental" one with 650b for me. It's the 73 degree parallel with 73 mm of fork rake that Jan Jeine has heaped so much praise on, and (drum roll please) I hate it. It's way too unstable, especially at very low speeds, and simply requires far too much attention. A replacement fork with 60mm of rake is at the painters right now and should make the bike very friendly. The bottom line is that I'd pretty much decided that 73 degrees with 50 to 65 mm of rake was adequate for almost anything, and then Jan mentioned that Jack Taylor had decided that 73 degrees and two to two-an-a-half inches of raked worked for everything the made. A bit of quick math showed that two inches is about 50mm and two-and-a-half inches is about 64mm. Light bulb...

So I no longer care about geometry and don't plan to build anything outside of those parameters, unless maybe I make myself a track bike someday.

Captain Blight

That's my Centurion, leaning against the cable stay of the Sabo Bridge in Minneapolis. I apologize for the crummy picture; usual reasons apply. In any event, the more I read about rando, the more I want to try it, and I think this bike is a pretty good place to start.

It is possibly the most inherently stable bike I've ever ridden. I had it out around town on its shakedown ride a couple weeks ago, and I found myself looking for rougher and rougher sections of pavement. I finally found some good long stretches of brick-surfaced streets and tried it out. No hands, ma, even at slow walking speeds! It really, really wants to ride on the front contact patch-- it will tolerate about a degree of deviation from straight ahead and perfectly vertical before it starts to turn. It's not sluggish, not by any stretch of the imagination-- and the harder I ride, the more responsive it gets-- it's just quite well grounded. The bars very much encourage riding in the drops, and the combination of bar-ends/Suntour Cyclone/Dura-Ace makes for shifting so smooth it makes silk look like burlap.

Not only does this angle show off the sweep of the GB bars, it also lets you see what some misguided cretin did to the once-lovely Bluemels TdF fenders before I took possession! See the wrench marks down the valence? Stupid, stupid, stupid. A strong pair of thumbs and maybe the blunt end of a baseball bat (I actually use the big end of a splicing fid) is more the tool to use. I did manage to get the worst of the marks out with some very careful dolly work, but they'll never be all the way gone. And the fenderline, though better than it is now than when the photos were taken, still isn't quite right. Fortunately, I think I have another set heading my way soon. I am not terribly enamored of the Dia-Compe 500 brakes, and should soon be installing yet another pair of my beloved, carefully-hoarded MAFAC Comps.

This also shows, or would if it were taken in bright sunlight, the Cyclone RD I polished to within an inch of its life. That's a Normandy Luxe Comp (red label) hub, by the way, in a Super Champion rim. The front is a Rigida, tires are Conti Ultra Sports in 27x1-1/8" because that's what fits. I suppose that I would have to find another fender if I wanted to actually run a proper-sized rando tire, but isn't that what Velo Orange is for?

This is to show the lengths I am willing to go in order to pinch a penny. Rather than shell out for something new and halfway decent, I took a Dremel to a pair of old SR quill pedals with the built-in reflectors. Mind you, I wear a size 13 shoe and finding pedals that can take my gunboats is always something of a challenge. In any event, they work! And work well. If I'm going to be spinning the engine for hours and hours and hours, the last thing I need is for my feet and ankles to start hurting.

Needs a front rack and a saddlebag to be propah. For that, I need to get another two pair of eyelets and maybe a set of rack eyes added as well. Maybe later this year, the good Lloyd willing and the creek don't come up too far....

southpawboston

SixJours, that randonneuse you built is nothing short of stunning. I've seen your other pictures of it ad your other projects, and have read about your frame building experiences. You obviously have a talent, a passion, and a sharp eye for style. Beautiful work.

I've been trying to understand front-end geometries, and the more I think I understand them in theory, the less the experimental outcomes bear them out. I recently did a 650B conversion of an 80s Japanses touring frame: Parallel 73 degree geometry and 57mm rake yields 44mm trail with 42mm tires. So it's right smack in the middle of those Jack Taylor numbers, yet I feel that the front end is too heavy with anything more than a few pounds in the front bag. I've been lamenting not having had the fork re-raked to give me lower trail in the Jane Heine range, but I'm starting to think now that that doing so may not have guaranteed better results.

Dylansbob 

Early '80s Bertin that was given to me years ago. Finally decided to make it my #1 bike, so it gets the Command shifters.

shipwreck

Are you running without a front derailer? I don't see one.
I have thought about doing that, like the Cranes did on their ride to the center of the earth https://web.archive.org/web/200412110...tup.net/crane/

Dylansbob 

Sharp eye. At the moment, no FD or left shifter installed. I've been out a couple of times and kicked the chain down manually, but haven't figured out a way to go up.

Six jours

Thanks for the kind words, southpawboston. Building all these frames has really added to my little pile of knowledge re. bicycle handling.

Interesting that our experiences have differed - but then, my experiences differ from Heine's too, so...

I have long suspected that geometry is only part of the puzzle, with things like body weight and positioning also playing a part. And of course pure old-fashioned personal preferences! I have always preferred a bike on the stable end of things, even when I was racing. Others like the hair-trigger bikes. C'est la vie. I guess we all just have to try out a dozen different geometries until we've settled on our favorite. Should make the framebuilders happy!

hagen2456

I wonder if someone could find the link for me? This one seems to be broken.

1987

A truly inspirational build for me! Just had to post the link to your flickr gallery:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=inte...ll&ct=6&m=tags

Bandera

Well done, post pics w/ mudguards & front bag when you are done.

Thanks for reviving an interesting thread.

-Bandera

paulkal

Here is my randonneur bike during a 200 or 300, it is a 1983 GAzelle Aframe, build up with Campagnolo 8 speed.
Two weeks ago I attempted London Edinburgh London on this bike, but had to stop after 350 km due to saddle sore.

RubberLegs

I GUESS I am drifting towards Randoneur with this...still need to source a front rack...get some bags...pedal cages....