gerv 

I've seen many photos here showing lovely MTBs that have been converted to touring bikes.

Just wondering what C&V road frames would make great touring conversions...

Would a heavier, perhaps hi-ten, frame work better?

What about geometry? I generally think a longer wheelbase would work better, but I'm not aware of which road models would fit the bill.

I also know there are lot of workarounds for missing braze-ons.

Are there any particular make or model that would be dead-ringers in this department?

MnHPVA Guy

Look for something with plain gauge Chrome-moly (4130) or Reynolds 531. Or butted tubes if the seat post is 26.8 or smaller.

Long stays and 71-72 degrees would be nice.

kludgefudge

pre 90's Trek 520.

Edit: your idea for a "conversion" describes a classic touring bicycle, of which there are many makes and models to choose from. the 520 is a very common, easy to come by model. my girlfriend has a lugged model made of butted 531.

EjustE

Do hybrids count as "road bikes"?

Depends on what kind of touring you want to do (and by that I really mean overnights or daytours; in other words, how much load you want to put on the bike). If you are planning loaded touring, you would need at least a place to mount a rear rack with full panniers. Also canti brakes help with stopping the extra weight (thus the desirability of MTBs and hybrids as touring bikes). If there are not eyelets for a rear rack, is not happening IMHO. For day touring, if you are comfortable with either a handlebar rack or a backpack, every bike will do.

EjustE

that's a touring bike

SweetLou

What type of touring do you want to do with this bike? The great thing about older bikes is that the geometries are often much slacker than today's race bikes, making them very comfortable for slower long distance riding. You will typically have longer chainstays also.

There are also C&V touring bikes out there. They already have the triple cranksets, braze-ons, etc. The Miyata 1000 is awesome. The Trek 720 and 620 are very very nice, along with the Miyata 610. There are many others that are just as good: Specialized Expedition, the Univega touring models, etc.

Hi-ten? No. A high tensile bike is not stronger than a good quality cro-moly bike. It is just heavier. It needs the more steel to be strong enough whereas the double butted cro-moly doesn't need as much because it is stronger.

jan nikolajsen 

Just completed an almost 2000 mile tour on the following bikes:

1985 Trek 600 series
1976 Gazelle A-Frame
1982 Shogun Samurai

These are club racers or semi serious racers, sporting 531 or Tange 1 tubing.

We found that "need" is sometimes an excuse to justify a "want". With some ethical restraints imposed on us we used whatever we had for the most part. Cheap aluminum racks, with P-straps where braze-ons were lacking. Friction shifting on all bikes. Wal-Mart hand me down kid carrier converted to flat bed cargo hauler. Old center pull brakes. Freewheel hubs (oh dear!!).

This was not a credit card tour going from hostel to hostel, but a camping trip. Cooking our own food, sleeping on the ground in the woods. The load was moderate, the days longish. All the gear and the bikes held up with out a single mechanical issue beyond flats and one loosened headset fixed with a rusty wrench found roadside.

But most important: the resulting rides, bases on 'lightweights' from the past, were comfy and fast, nimble and effective. Having owned a Long Haul Trucker I felt a positive difference, especially when grinding up the 2 dozen major passes we encountered.

gerv 

That would be my idea of a bike for touring... I have a Bianchi Volpe which is more of a sport touring bike and I normally put about 30 pounds of gear: tent, stove, food, clothing. And my vision of a road bike conversion would be something along those lines...

I currently use a couple of Fuji road bikes, but these do not seem to the bill as a tourer. i was thinking of some road bike that might be a little beefier.

If I can't find a suitable road bike, perhaps I could snag an 80s MTB and outfit it with a quill stem and road bars.

Monkey Face

I've just been through this and it seemed the Gazelle was a good option for tire/fender clearance. However, I bought a Pinarello Sestriere frameset which is being built this week with new components... lots of nice older bikes out there, but for a mechanical incompetent like me I didn't like the idea of older/used components for long distance trips.

RobbieTunes

Centurion Lemans or Lemans RS.
Pro:
Relaxed geometry, but not that much.
One set of eyelets per end.
Clearance for bigger tires.
Reasonable price.
Easy to build.

Con:
Can't use cantilever's
Maybe not as relaxed as a pure tourer
Could use more eyelets

jzaun

Maybe I'm missing the point, but given that you're planning to load it up for self-contained touring, I think you would look first for a real touring machine. Are they that difficult to find? If you want triple chain rings, then you'll want a bike designed for that -- both for sufficient chain stay clearances and for a proper chain line. Reinforced brake bridges should be considered too for braking with heavier loads when using side-pulls.

If you're looking for an Italian-made bike, I use to do fully-loaded, 1000+ mile tours on a 1980 frame made with Columbus SP tubing. SP is beefy enough to handle touring loads but still light enough for day rides around base camps. Hi-ten would take the fun out of touring while SL and SLX road-race tubing would be too thin to hold up safely under heavier loads. See https://www.zaun.com/freschi/ for my touring setup.

randyjawa 

Get yourself an eighties something Miyata 1000 Touring and you will have found the near perfect vintage touring bicycle. They are wonderful, both in ride and quality of construction. Here is a little something to help with knowing more about these wonderful old touring bikes...

https://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...troduction.htm

Hope this is a help. And, I have a nice old Velo Sport touring bike in The Old Shed at the moment. There is also a near mint Miele Touriste for sale on Craigslist Toronto.

Grand Bois

I did some loaded touring with my PX10 in the late seventies. I know now that the bike was completely unsuitable for touring. I didn't know any better then, so I had great time. The only modifications I made was to switch to a 14-28 freewheel and add some Blackburn racks. Needless to say, I was a whole lot stronger 30 years ago.

Bianchigirll 

ignorance is bliss yes? *giggle* these days I think some/alot of us get so wrapped up in having the correct gear that the real fun is left by the wayside.

like the others said if you are mostly just doing daytrips any bike you can put a handlebar bag or smallish bag on the back is great

remember the pros ride 100 plus almost everyday one regular racing bikes.

mickey85

The thing for me with a lot of hybrids is that they seem to get kinda whippy when under load. I've got an early '90's hybrid (Tange 4130 throughout) that REALLY doesn't like any more than 20 lbs on the back. After that, and you really get a "wag the dog" feeling.

IMO, the mountain bikes, etc are best, because you get thicker tubing and long reaches. I'd go with a mid-late '80's rigid MTB, and I'd get the biggest one you could (at least for me - a 22" frame is just about right). Convert it to drop bars and modern cantilevers and you'd be good to go.

Of the road bikes, the slacker bikes have the better touring geometry, like the Peugeot UO-8, the Raleigh Super Course or Grand Sport, Nishiki Sport, Bridgestone RB-#, or the like. That doesn't necessarily mean that they'd be ready to go out of the box though. For me, any of those would have to get bar end shifters, at least 7 speeds, and alloy wheels (in the case of the Pug, at least) to be considered decent tourers, and even then I still don't think I'd fully load them up. I will say though that I wouldn't feel uneasy taking any bike like that on a ride with a BOB style trailer.

The biggest things for me to consider something a tourer/distance bike are fender clearance, lateral frame strength, and position. If I can get the handlebars up to about saddle-height, can fender the widest tires I'd want to put on it (usually I'd guess about 32c), and don't have to worry about the thing shaking like a dog s##tting peach seeds when I weight it up, I'd be good.

corkscrew

If you keep your eyes open on the used bike markets, you could probably pick up a dedicated tourer for not much $$.

That being said I picked up my Cannondale T700 for $175 - only really needed new bar tape.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

My HI-Ten framed grocery getter is like this. Load it up with 20-30lbs of groceries and its like riding a snake up a hill

Very odd feeling, and not what I'd call pleasantly reassuring.

rhm

You know, I think this thread was destined to descend into semantics. I mean, a PX10 was (and is) a very nice bike, and it was marketed as a racing bike, complete with sewup tires, but it wasn't really a racing bike.

OP's original question, about converting a road bike to a touring bike, is semantically even more troubling to me. I mean, a touring bike is a road bike; no conversion is necessary. But if by "road bike" you mean "racing bike", then... it depends. A bike may be marketed as a racing bike, but be very nice for touring. A bike that's made for serious racing may not be that great for touring, if it's difficult to mount a rack, if there's no room for wider tires, if the wheel base is so short your heels hit the panniers; if you can overcome these obstacles, fine; if not, you still have other options such as a trailer, or fully supported touring, etc.

Grand Bois

Do you care to explain what you mean by that?

abarth

That looks like the 1967 Masi with Peugeot decals on it.

Don't know about being a racing bike, but it works great to tow my kid around.

abarth

Sounds like fun. What is the loaded average weight for each bike including rider? Did the old center pull worked OK for the tour?

soonerbills

If this is the right size this may be what you need... it's a beauty

https://cgi.ebay.com/1986-Miyata-One-...item20af82f16f

crazyb

Back in the early 70's I did some touring, and used a Cannondale Bugger trailer. Worked wonderfully, didn't have to modify my bikr, no balance problems, no extra weight, why doesn't anyone use trailers anymore?

Road Fan

It might be, but the fork bend looks like a Peugeot, not a Masi, at least not the early USA bikes.

Road Fan

I think the short answer to the OPs question, is that you can, and people have, toured on vintage and modern racing bikes. If you can make teh bike comfortable, carry your gear, and do necessary field maintainence, you can tour.

Different bikes due to style and design have different limitations, but the touring tent is very broad and the definition of road bike is very broad.

I think a much better question is, for a specific tour carrying specific gear, what bike is my best choice to tour on? It's really a matter of what's a better touring mount, not what's a possible touring mount.