Not vintage or French Tourers/Campeurs, Trade/Porteurs, Audax/Randonneurs, Commuters/Town

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Olympia Sport.

Made by an undisclosed frame builder for Rein Ruitenbeek's shop in Hilversum, it features slacker frame angles than usually seen on bikes like this.

Another beautiful bike. Paint is very similar to my mates old Gazelle. The relaxed angles really show in your picture.

 

[non-fixie]

Koga-Miyata Randonneur.

Bought as a battle-scarred frame set, rattle-canned and in use as a test bed for parts I find and want to give a try.

Version 1 sported Claris brifters (work well, but the jury is still out on the looks), an Andel compact crank set (nice René Herse clone), Tektro CR720 cantis (meh ...) and a cheap (€100) new wheel set from Taylor, including a hub generator (not too bad!):

Version 2 had Nitto randonneur bars and Campag brifters (comfy!), a Gipiemme triple (kinda cool), MAFAC Criterium brakes (fine) and Lyotard Berthet pedals (excellent):

I'm currently at version 3, with Athena 11-speed brifters (really nice, but not as pretty as the first generations of Ergos), TRP carbon MAFAC copies (a bit OTT, but they brake really well) and an Idéale 90 saddle (lovely):

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Koga-Miyata Randonneur.

Bought as a battle-scarred frame set, rattle-canned and in use as a test bed for parts I find and want to give a try.

Version 1 sported Claris brifters (work well, but the jury is still out on the looks), an Andel compact crank set (nice René Herse clone), Tektro CR720 cantis (meh ...) and a cheap (€100) new wheel set from Taylor, including a hub generator (not too bad!):

Version 2 had Nitto randonneur bars and Campag brifters (comfy!), a Gipiemme triple (kinda cool), MAFAC Criterium brakes (fine) and Lyotard Berthet pedals (excellent):

I'm currently at version 3, with Athena 11-speed brifters (really nice, but not as pretty as the first generations of Ergos), TRP carbon MAFAC copies (a bit OTT, but they brake really well) and an Idéale 90 saddle (lovely):

Always interesting to see the progression of our bikes.

I like the Claris shifters I find them very comfortable. Importantly they also work well. I was surprised by your comment regarding the Tektro cantis. I have a pair on my Royal and they have a really nice light action and stop well. Were yours poor in some way?

 

[non-fixie]

Always interesting to see the progression of our bikes.

I like the Claris shifters I find them very comfortable. Importantly they also work well. I was surprised by your comment regarding the Tektro cantis. I have a pair on my Royal and they have a really nice light action and stop well. Were yours poor in some way?

Agree on the Claris shifters: they really are nice. Great value, IMO. Having said that, because of how they work they need a fair bit of room to manoeuvre which can be a problem in combination with narrow bars (f.i. randonneur bars with a flare) and a front bag. Just something to be aware of. And the modern looks need a certain bike to blend in, but that is very much a matter of personal preference and taste.

Not sure what was wrong with the Tektro brake performance. Could be the rim width (I suspect narrower rims would have worked better) or straddle cable length for all I know. They weren't really bad, they just weren't a match on this bike for the TRP's or even the MAFACs.

 

[non-fixie]

Roy Thame touring bike.

I bought is as a frame set and built it with the best I had at hand at the time: Chorus 9-speed brifters and pedals, TA Touriste triple chain set, Shimano transmission, MAFAC brakes.

I don't think it would be the best choice for fully-loaded touring, but for long day trips it is close to perfect.

If I could only keep one bike this might well be the one.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Roy Thame touring bike.

I bought is as a frame set and built it with the best I had at hand at the time: Chorus 9-speed brifters and pedals, TA Touriste triple chain set, Shimano transmission, MAFAC brakes.

I don't think it would be the best choice for fully-loaded touring, but for long day trips it is close to perfect.

If I could only keep one bike this might well be the one.

How does it index? How many speeds? I like the idea of Shimergo or Campagano Was there any weird routing to get it to work?

 

[reindeer]

What is that decaleur thingy you have

 

[non-fixie]

How does it index? How many speeds? I like the idea of Shimergo or Campagano Was there any weird routing to get it to work?

The older Campag 9-speed shifters work well with a 5 or 6-speed block and a Shimano SIS rear derailleur. No modifications or funcky cable routing needed. The 11-speed shifters on the Koga-Miyata are mated to a 9-speed Shimano cassette, shortened to 8 cogs to fit the 126mm rear of the frame. More options are here.

 

[non-fixie]

What is that decaleur thingy you have

I wanted something affordable as well as adjustable, so I could use it with different bikes, bags and racks.

So I cobbled this together from Minoura SwingGrip parts and a piece of aluminium tubing.

So far it has held up well. Two leftover pieces of cotton bar tape keep the leather straps from sliding:

 

[PeterPerfect]

1983 Univega Alpina Uno town bike conversion. Owners words below.

Made of cro-mo tubing and featuring a twin plate fork crown. It makes a good base to build a town bike, that can also handle green laning and rough roads. It has a 47cm c-c seat tube and 56cm c-c top tube.

26" x 1.5" tyres with slick tread for urban roads. I built a compact triple crankset from a set of Sugino GT arms and a mix of Surly and Ritchey chainrings. The drivetrain is a modern Shimano Tiagra rear derailleur with a Z-series front derailleur. Sunrace thumb shifters and was impressed with their quality. The shift is smooth thanks to the ratcheting mechanism similar to vintage SunTour shifters. They're a favorite of Grant Peterson.

Classic 90's cantilever brakes, brand new brake levers, handlebar, and cork grips. The saddle is made by Gyes who makes leather saddles for a number of other companies including Dia-Compe. Mudguards by Wald.

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Probably, the most underrated frames that money can buy.

Really well made, never known one to have any issues (the steel ones anyway).

They sell relatively cheaply and the geometry allows for lots of different builds.