I would say braze on's are far less important than fit and lugged steel construction, but if I'm gonna take the time and build up a "keeper" project, I'd like to get a close to perfect as possible the first time around. The Craigslist market here in Fargo is pretty sad, so forums/eBay/co-op will be my likely resources. I have 3 other bikes at the moment so it's not like I have a desperate need, but I'd like to have something ready to roll come spring.

This is trueness;… there seems to have been a missing link between loaded touring bikes and race bikes, from what I’ve seen, back in the late 70’s and 80’s which Surly and Soma have exploited with their Cross Check and Double Cross designs. As nice as they are, I have a hard time paying the retail price for their frames when an entire good quality steel framed bike can be had for half that. The problem is that finding the vintage bike that meet your requirements will require some compromises that only you could make. You could go with a full-on tourer and strip it down, but you’d be left with a sluggish bike that was designed to come alive only when loaded back and front. Or, you could try to MacGyver a sport frame. I have no answer for you, but I’m going down the same road. Among the bikes that are currently in my radar are the Bridgestone 400 and Univega Gran Turismo. There are obviously others hidden under some magical rock somewhere, but only you can do the homework to find it.

I think there are plenty of options out there, you just need to be patient. The 82 Schwinn Super Sport mentioned earlier in this thread is a great example, Tang 2, double braze ons front and rear, non toury geometry . I actually have an 81 Super Sport (57x57 approximately, and it fits 33.333's snugly) in nearly new condition I have considered parting with. I'll get back to you with pictures and a price if I can bring myself to actually do it. But there are Miyatas, Univegas, and Centurions out there that would fit the bill as well.

A growing consensus is that it is better to have purpose-built bikes than a jack-of-all-trades bike. Touring and quick riding don't go together in perfect harmony and a lot of bikes that attempt to meld them end up as commuter bikes. Or totally awesome Randonneurs with names like Singer and Herse.

Why, it is the justification for N + 1, our guiding light and perfect excuse for having a garage full of bicycles.

Go ahead and get the Stanyan and build it up. After riding it awhile, you'll know which direction you'll want bike #2 to go. And then bike #3, #4, and so on.

Ah, Fargo makes Minneapolis a bit far to go. But if not then take a look at that Motobecane, if it's still available.

And keep in mind that there are a lot of people on the site here who might be willing to help facilitate a deal for something out of your immediate range.

The more I search for models listed in this thread, the more old BF threads come up with people asking he same question as me! There's certainly a lot of interest in this type of bike. As of now the Trek's still pique my interest the most. They had a lot of sport touring frames in the 80's that meet my qualifications, and if I avoid a cantilever braked 520, I should be able to find something quite affordable. The big bonus is that no one will cry if I bastardized it with new parts, since they aren't that rare. A 22.5" Elance with a 9spd 105/ultegra build and a brooks b17 would be about perfect.

Thanks for all the input!

Yep, what you've described is a standard for sport touring. You'll see a lot of companies today marketing sport touring bikes with enough clearance for 28c with fenders and 32c without.

i.e. gunnar sport (my favorite bike that I own )
https://gunnarbikes.com/site/bikes/sport/

I think this is a very good point worth emphasizing, and exactly the point. If we put a loaded touring bike on one end of the scale and a sprint bike on the other end, the bike that we would be looking for would be somewhere in the middle of the scale, obviously. This sort of melding of extremes is done all of the time in the sporting equipment industry to maximize profits. It brings to mind, this time of year, the all mountain ski. It’s not a powder ski and it’s not a slalom ski, but it will do either equally badly.
I don’t think that N + 1 is necessarily a solution to finding this type of ‘do-anything-even-if-it-does-it-badly’ bike, but it is certainly a reliable excuse for buying another bike.

JAG410, I hope I'm not stepping on your toes by asking what impressions people have of the Panasonic 3500 in this category. One has come up in my area, although it seems to be heavily pushing towards the touring end of the scale.

Specialized Expedition, Miyata 1000, Nishiki Cresta, Univega Specialissima, or if you want something lighter (but no bottle braze-ons), a 1970s Motobecane Grand Jubilé or Grand Record; not Peugeot PX-10 because they have that Simplex-derailer-only hanger. Swiss or French bottom bracket threading on Motos is no problem if you can live with IRD cartridge bottom bracket (JIS tapers) and their aluminum Swiss cups for it. Bottles are easy enough to accommodate on bar mounts, behind-saddle mounts, or the old TA cages with rings that go around a down tube.

A lot of the Japanese bikes from the 80s with double- or triple-butted tubing are nice and light, and still had fender eyelets on the dropouts.

I don't know, but I recently picked up a DX-3000 that's a great riding bike. Of course it's more of a road bike, and lacks rack mounts...

So many bikes fit your requirements. Lol. You're describing what I'd like to have.

I’m currently looking at an ’83 Trek 500 frame in my search for a sport bike capable of carrying light rear panniers. I didn’t think it was worth starting a new post about, but since this thread had fallen off the charts, does anyone have an opinion about this bike and Reynolds 501 tubing?

https://vintage-trek.com/TrekBrochure1983Part1.htm#page6

What would be the issues with using a vintage Tri-bike for light touring? All I’m looking to do is to put a couple of panniers on the rear with a light 20-25 lbs load, and maybe a handlebar bag. The bike I’m looking at has a 41.5 cm chain stay. That seems pretty short, and I’m not sure about issues with the BB height.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_whtVpXkKwl...600/img195.jpg

Loaded with a significant amount of weight, the bike might handle oddly. With short stays, you might get heel strike on panniers too. You've been out of the forum for a while... welcome back! Did you ever sell that Rossin bike that I sold you the seatpost for?

Thanks PP, yeah, it’s gone. If one is fortunate enough, (or perhaps unfortunate enough), to have taken up bike refurbishment as a hobby, you stop crying over having to sell one of your nice bikes because you want the funds to start a new project. I didn’t cry after selling the Rossin, but I did get frustrated over the game, and put away my bike tools for a while.