USAZorro

You should have seen it when he picked up the frame at Trexlertown. It looked kind of rough, and I had some doubts about how presentable it could become - but JYB has done a very creditable job with it.

USAZorro

Those last two would be the best candidates for Rando, IMO.

treebound 

Are tires noted/marketed as randonneur tires anything special compared to other tires, what sets them apart? I ran a search on ebay for randonneur and came up with some Vittoria tires with randonneur in their name. Are they just durable, flat resistant, do they have better rolling economy as opposed to stickier cornering, do they have better wet weather traction, what? This is just one of the questions when I look into randonneuring. Well, that and why couldn't they call it something with less letters in the name like audax.

Off and on over the years I've given thought to completing a series. The nearest series here in Wisconsin starts in the southern part of the state and heads west out towards Madison then back east to Lake Michigan, then back to the starting point for the longer distance. That's a long ways.

I've been thinking I might set up the World Voyager as a rando bike, seems like it could be well suited to it. Found an original 1973 World Voyager handlebar currently on ebay, got it bookmarked but may pass on it.

I kind of see randonneuring as a long ride or pseudo-tour without a lot of baggage, close to credit card touring but without sight seeing as a primary motivator. Where the ride for the sake of the ride is the primary motivator. Could be wrong, if there is a wrong, but maybe kind of sort of close as well.

Sitting here web surfing in front of the tv and channel surfing a bit as well, came across SoundStage on one of the PBS stations and BBKing is playing. I think I'll just stop this post here, sit back, relax, and head down to the Long Distance section of the site and lurk a bit.....

poprad

So not sure if my Vanilla qualifies, but if you can stomach not having a built-in front rack then this is sort of a modern Rando. It's basically my "all-rounder" that I have ridden the one day StP, Crater Lake Century, and Cycle Oregon on. I was able to maintain a 17.5 mph avg sans draft for the whole 207 mi StP with no undue discomfort.

Oh, and with the discs it's also the only bike I own that looks just as cool from the non-drive side.

rotharpunc

the vittorias are just a name I think, I use them on my fixed gear just because they are white and look cool, lol.

it seems a triple front is the way to go, but what is the prefered RD and cog arrangement? wide range or very tight?

redxj

My Seral was my most ridden bike this past year even though I didn't finish it until a few months into the riding season. The LHT will remain almost bone stock with the exceptions of the Surly rear from the Nishiki, a matching front eventually, and the Brooks B17 and Nitto Noodles from my parts stash. I will be using the dyno front wheel on it for commuting purposes when I want to coast.

Yes, that is a set of 180mm Rival's on the Nishiki. A lot of the normal crank makers don't even make anything bigger than 175mm. They were purchased to put on my cross bike to match the rest of the mostly Rival drive train, but the inner ring hit the chainstay. So a early 90's square taper Shimano LX MTB crank with new ten speed rings was put on the cross bike. A lot of the Nishiki's current drivetrain might end up on the "other" cross bike I bought a few weeks ago.

rotharpunc

heres a good link:
https://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/BQRandonneurBike.pdf

cyclotoine

yeah and campy and shimano only make 180mm in dura-ace and record (i'm not even 100% on the record anymore what with all the carbon and whatnot).

I have a set of 185mm TA cranks on my main road bike. It's interesting, we have a fitting machine at work that will go up to 185mm crank size which I think it just great. I did a fitment, finally, yesterday and we found that at 180mm I was less efficient and produced less power than with 185mm. That was very interesting! I would love to run some tests on average sized riders and go from 165 up to 185 in 2.5mm increments to see if there is a bell shape to their efficiency and power. It's frustrating for us non-average sized people. I only have one bike with 185's which I am more efficient on than 180mm and I am stuck with 180s or 175s on my other bikes because I can't afford to buy a whole slew of custom 185mm cranks.. I wish I bought the NOS suntour CX pros that were on firstflight last year! Anyway I do have 180mm super record cranks on my gazelle, 180mm rival cranks on my cross bike and 180mm ritchey pro logic triple cranks on my LHT which are the important things, obviously I'm not going to run 180 on my fixed gear, though I wouldn't mind moving up to 172.5s from my 170s.

okay end rant...

this is exciting for me:
armsets up to 185!!!

https://www.surlybikes.com/new/crank_pop.html

LWaB

To the organiser, it isn't a race. Perhaps he might tackle some organised long-distance races more often, where finishing first actually means winning it.

Road Fan

Nice build idea, and nice pics, Matt!

One thing I notice is that the Cohos both have longish chainstays and steep head tubes. I figure the long chainstay is to get the rider's weight forward, to meet the traditional 55% rear 45% front weight distribution when mounted and loaded.

So let us in on the secret - what front bag is like (I assume its as good as) a Berthoud but way less $$$? Curious cheapskates want to know ...

Road Fan

Road Fan

BF already has a resource that would help a lot with this thread: the Long Distance Forum. There's a Post Your Ride thread, several technical threads, and a sticky or two that define the rando form and its sibling forms, and a set of regular posters who really do it. Machka and Rowan have both done PBP at least once, and are experts. The flavor of it all is a lot more about "how do I do this ride?" than equipment-based, but there is some good hardware info there.

treebound 

This builder has a list of how his Randonneur model is spec'd out.
https://www.pereiracycles.com/RandoForSale.php

I've got a pic of his touring bike as my pc wallpaper this week.
https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/p...ikedetail2.jpg
found here:
https://bikeportland.org/2006/11/06/i...htony-pereira/

tcs

I was wondering the same thing. A web search turned up an entry that Mr. Ken Bonner had ridden some 31,440 miles in 2006, which is very impresive, but a bit shy of the 75,056 miles Mr. Godwin rode in 1939 and the 62,657 miles ridden by Mr. Ossie Nicholson in 1937 (both extensively documented).

If anyone has more information on this I'm sure we'd all enjoy hearing it.

Best,
tcs

treebound 

75,056 miles is a hair over 205 miles a day, that's every day for a year, and on 1939 roads as well, with 1939 equipment. I wonder how many miles a year some of the top road racers ride in a year.

I've heard directly and indirectly from some "ride" organizers that they have to be very carefull that their ride doesn't become known as a race due to route use permissions and insurance liabilities and such.

I have questions and curiosities about the Washington rando racer but they would quickly put me into the realm of the A&S section and the RoadCycling section and the Racing sub section there, and I don't want to go there right now, so I won't.

(back to day dreaming of warmer weather and clear roads with no traffic.... )

edit: there's a short bio/blurb and pic of Ken Bonner on this page: https://www.ultracycling.com/about/aboutmag.html

tarwheel 

Some of the British bike companies (Mercian, Bob Jackson) still make very nice rando frames, which they call audax over there. I recently ordered a Bob Jackson World Tour frame, after initially considering their Audax frame. I chose the touring frame because the geometry suited me better -- more relaxed angles, long chain stays, shorter top tube. The touring frame also uses canti brakes rather than calipers and has more clearance for larger tires and fenders. Both the Mercians and Jackson are excellent values right now due to the rising Dollar vs. the Pound.

Road Fan

The geometry chart on the Pereira link shows fork rake of 65 mm, head angle 73 degrees, and I am assuming wheel radius of 335 mm (a guesstimate, but should be within 5 mm). So its trail works out to about 34 mm, which is definitely on the "low trail" side of things. I assume it's intended for a front load? It certainly contradicts what was stated by many of us early in this thread, that higher trail was desired for better stability over long distance. This was thought to help reduce fatigue and to improve the safety of a tired rider.

Road Fan

jet sanchEz

iI don't think I saw this link posted yet, it is a site from Japan where Randonneur trips are popular once again. Some of the photos are very nice: https://tamzortho.exblog.jp/blog.asp?...%3A56%3A38.000

jet sanchEz

I'd always thought an RB-1 would make a sweet Randonneur and then a forum member posted this and I feel that it is perfect for the sport:

StevePGN10

What does the conversion from 27" to 650B gain for one?

cyclotoine

More fender clearance and the ability to run fatter tires.

cyclotoine

Nobody said it was.

Road Fan

Ability to run fatter tires within the fender clearance of a 700c frame. A chubbish 650 B tire, say a 30 mm, has about the same radius as a 21 mm 700C, but a lot more tire cross section.

But you might need longer reach brake calipers.

nlerner

I just came back from a trip to Berkeley, CA, and a visit to Jitensha Studios. Their Ebisu is designated as an "all rounder": canti brakes, lots of clearance for wide 700c tires, lots of fittings for lights, fenders, racks, etc., and drop-dead gorgeous in Moltini orange. I did a lot of drooling there.

https://www.jitensha.com/eng/frame_allrnside.html

Neal

redxj

It is no secret. The Ostrich and upcoming Velo Orange bags both from VO are more than half the price of a Berthoud. Jitensha studio link Neal just posted they have the Japanese made INUJIRUSHI bags for $185 or 165.

Road Fan

Thanks, I was kidding but I did want to know. Your fellow cheapskates are grateful.