merziac

Or this


With the original Eclipse panniers.
https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Velo-Cirque-Bike-Show-13-800x531.jpg

This one was built for PBP but ended up being a bit small so a Davidson was rushed through and went.

They will all take bigger tires but not much.

himespau 

Intrigued by the double bottle cages.

merziac

They rock, been running them for 5? years at least.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/20049692764...AAAOSwtM1ZzTsW

Manu431

Nice to see your beautiful bikes !

Here is my contribution.
This bike is a 1979 Gitane "Route de france".

I think we can call it "randonneuse", because it is pretty light (Camus 779 steel frame) , 700C wheels with 28 mm tyres.
It is a light bike, made for long distance carrying a reasonable amount of luggages, and not a world touring bike made for offroad with 50 kg of stuff on it.

This is probably one of the bike I like the most, because I can carry all that I need for one day , or more. I just put all on the front bag

Manu431

and for comparison, his "brother, a gitane criterium 1978 (durifort steel frame), just suited with fenders (difficult to install !) for the holidays (tubulars 23 mm).
(of course not a "randonneuse")
Lighter, and quicker on the road , but not as versatile with the 52/42 at the front

ehcoplex

Nice looking bike! What is the front bag?

Manu431

Ostrich F104, 12.4 L
Well known bag from Japan

Nice to see you appreciate the bike

non-fixie 

Very nice! Should be light, methinks. 10kg, or so? Its wheelbase seems pretty long for a crit bike, though.

Those Ostrich bags are nice too. I bought one when I wanted to try a front bag, but didn't feel like spending megabucks on a Berthoud. We now have three different models in the fleet, and they get a lot more use than I expected.

The first one I got was an F-516, which was quickly snapped up by mrs non-fixie. Pictured here together with my own F-104:




With my frame size I can afford a big bag, so when an F-702 appeared at Planet X's, I got me one:

ehcoplex

I've heard mixed reviews of the Ostrich bags but, at least from photos, they seem pretty nice. I really like my Acorn Rando, but they're $$ and kinda hard to get, and I need another, bigger handlebar bag... may give an Ostrich a try!

ehcoplex

Good to see this thread reactivated! I set up my PX-10 650b conversion as a sorta-rando/all-road bike- alas, I haven't done any serious distances on it because....life... but lots of 20-30-40mile rides on all manner of surfaces.

Manu431

It is pretty light indeed.
But it could be lighter (pedals, dropbar, saddle, ..)
Rear derailleur should be Huret (I personally prefer Huret derailleur, and I will mount one the next time I change the cable !)

The fact is, that these Gitane bikes are fantastic to ride. Difficult to explain.
The base are indeed very long, about the same as the gitane "route de france", but it was the norm in france at that time. Bicycle had to be versatile, and a lot more popular as today. Comfort was among the priorities.

What is sure is that we can see differences between different brand.
I also own a Mercier 1978 which is a joy to ride too. but not so lively as the gitane. Maybe even more comfortable as the Gitane.
And a Peugeot 1985 (super vitus 980) which is a beast, but not as comfortable. A real race bike.

non-fixie 

Ten or so years ago, when I was still trying to get used to riding vintage racing bikes, those were the ones I would take on cycling vacations, which usually means long-ish day trips for at least a week. So comfort was an important success factor.

My late seventies hi-ten Mercier in Bordeaux:



My early seventies Gitane Tour de France in the Camargue:



I like both, but distinctly remember being most impressed by the Gitane. Such an easy bike to ride.

bwilli88 

72 Witcomb.


81Centurion Pro-tour

Classtime 

I’m preparing for Randonneuring ‘2022-‘23 and will renew my RUSA membership in two weeks. Then, after a 200k, I’ll show off the season’s Randonneur. Playing with drivetrain, wheels, tires, and bags. First 200k on my schedule includes 10,000 feet of climbing.

Classtime 

I’ve got a Shutter Precision dyno hub on the way,
But the pictures of vintage Rando bikes had bottle dynos. My relatively modern bottle from B&M Dymotec 6 basically brakes my wheel when I flip it on. So I got scared. 😧 What was high tech Rando lighting in the 70s?

EDIT: The SP hub came in. Yikes—it feels like a lot of drag at the axle. We’ll see after the wheel is built. Got some lightly used DT Comps and a lightly used Velocity Aerohead.

tmnguuyen 

i’ve been watching Adam Watkins YouTube videos about Audax rides. Very interesting. Could you expand on your 200km route, the RUSA membership and your plans for future rides. Are you going to doing the grand Randonneur series?

Digging around i found the RUSA and PCH randonneurs club sites. Thinking about getting memberships. Do you belong to PCH club?

Thanks

Classtime 

tmnguuyen I belong to PCH Randonneurs. Look at their schedule and check out the Santa Monica Mountains 200k. The course is on RideWGPS. Join the San Diego club too as they have a full series. You can mix and match. I’ve ridden with both clubs and they are fine people. My plan is too complete a SR Series. 2,3,4,&600k.

VintageRide

I think this Fuji was posted but possibly the image is no longer available from a host site. A 1981 Fuji S12S I converted 5 years ago. Very nice ride and an almost perfect candidate to convert.

old_dreams

Beautiful bike

Classtime 

Nice fender line. Powershifters? Battery lights?

VintageRide

Yes, the shifters are Suntour power shifters and the lights are using batteries. It was my first try at a traditional random bike so was not thinking of a dyne hub setup although I might have the front wheel rebuilt with a Son but as my rides are such that batteries are sufficient not really in a hurry. I usually tend to get fender lines to radius quite well, j\one just needs to take their time and have a few options on mounting .

Classtime 

Well, I joined a 200k Brevet a couple weeks ago with my "new" Rando Bike but got a DNF. At mile 60, the road was closed due to traffic fatalities and wouldn't re-open for 2 hours. I didn't plan on riding in the dark (time change) so I headed back. The part of the course that I missed was all flat so I got the 10,000 feet of climbing in the 95 miles completed. I think that I went to hard on the climbing and it took me a full week to recover. During recovery, I dismantled the bike and never got a complete picture.. I need to lower the gearing on this 77 Motobecane Grand Record or just ride slower.