Older lugged canti touring frames

[Whit51]

Schwinn Voyageur approx 1987-90
Univega Specialissima 1982 and later
(Earlier models of the 2 above were sport touring bikes with road calipers)
LeMond Poprad ( not quite vintage and not lugged but makes a good all-rounder)

[mistermo]

Mercian
Austro Daimler
Schwinn Paramount
Koga Miyata
Motobecane
Raleigh
Peugeot


This was also the hey day of the Japanese:
Nishiki
Fuji
Miyata
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/japan.html

[buddybikes]

Ultimate (my biased opinion) is an old Bruce Gordon Chinook touring, not many made - lucky to have one

There certainly large number of old steel cyclocross frames around with those who need to go disc

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

Specialized Sequoia. I happened to see one in a wild a few months ago. It still had the generator and fenders and racks from new.

Sequoias sadly only fit up to 700 x 32. More of a sports tourer than a potentially repurposed gravel rig.

Speaking as a former retrogrouch, the old stuff was always a bit too flexy for my pedaling style. Very aesthetically pleasing, but I prefer modern "oversized" tubing (~31.8mm downtube, ~28.6mm toptube), esp if riding off pavement.

[merckxman]

This is a new frame of this type, been for sale for awhile.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/56-cm-Rando....m46890.l49286
No relationship to seller in any way.

[tv_vt]

I had a Centurion ProTour touring frame with cantis. Bought it in the mid-80's. Nice bike - except for the canti brakes. Never worked well and I never could understand the attraction others had for them. The other problem for me was that it was built around 27 inch wheels, not 700c. Rim and tire selection was not great, and got worse over time.

[Liberace]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Sequoias sadly only fit up to 700 x 32. More of a sports tourer than a potentially repurposed gravel rig.

Speaking as a former retrogrouch, the old stuff was always a bit too flexy for my pedaling style. Very aesthetically pleasing, but I prefer modern "oversized" tubing (~31.8mm downtube, ~28.6mm toptube), esp if riding off pavement.

The 1991 Sequoia was speced with a 41mm tire and fits up to a 45mm tire easily.

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by Liberace

The 1991 Sequoia was speced with a 41mm tire and fits up to a 45mm tire easily.

It looks like there are 4 generations of Specialized Sequoias:

80s - Tim Neenan designed with lugs
90s - tig welded with a unicrown fork
00s - aluminum
~2016 - AWOL-inspired steel

The early lugged ones did not have as much tire clearance as the later models.

[pcb]

Hard to come up with specifics until OP gets a little more specific about what "older" and "gravel ish" mean to them.

'70s canti touring bikes were often designed around 27" wheels, and canti boss spacing was very narrow. Like pinkshogun said, brake choice is usually limited to vintage brakes, usually wide-profile. Difficult to adapt to 700c due to canti boss height originally spec'd for 27", and generally not much tire clearance beyond 38-700c, w/o fenders.

'80s canti touring bikes were more frequently designed around 700c wheels, especially after '84-'85 or so, but still with narrow canti bosses, and not very generous tire clearance, at least compared to modern gravel-ish specs. Nobody made quality 700c tires much wider than 32mm back then, so not much reason to design a frame with 42mm+ clearance.

With '90s canti touring bikes now you're getting wider bosses and wider tire clearance, but a lot more tig-welded rigs than lugged.

There are always exceptions. My '74 Harry Quinn Tourist, '76 canti Paramount P-15, '82 Weigle Touring and '84 Fuji Touring Series IV are not exceptions. 35-38mm clearance max, brake choice pretty much limited to vintage wide-profile models. Getting correct brake shoe height for the 27"-designed frames, which is all but the Weigle, is a bit of a headache.

Touring frame pinch points are often the chainstays, so if you're willing to dimple them deeper, maybe you can get to 42mm-700c on some frames, esp the 27" conversions?

If you're looking at vintage 'cross frames, through the '80s most had narrower tire clearance than touring frames, and most had very high bbs, shallow bb drop, so the ride/handling feel can be very different.

Early lugged hybrid frames are usually better gravel-ish conversion candidates, though they tend to be on the heavier/clunkier side. By the time hybids hit the market, wider 700c tires were available, so tire clearance is usually better, and canti spacing is less of an issue.

There are also fans of 26" ATB conversions.

There's also the school that says Jobst Brandt rode his skinny-tire road bikes everywhere/anywhere, so who needs anything else?

[Roger M]

I bought this frame a few months ago. It is a 1984 or 85 Expedition. Nothing exotic, but a pretty nice touring rig. I gave 38mm Gravelkings on it with fenders. I know of another that has 42mm tires(no fenders).

Plenty of attachment points for fenders and racks. It even has internal wiring(originally designed around a Sanyo dynamo that mounts under/behind the bottom bracket.

[witcombusa]

'Gravel' seems to mean many different things to different people. From maintained dirt roads to chip seal to smallish loose gravel to large sharp loose chunks.
Tire size and type would be a personal choice but the current BIGGER is better doesn't always work as best. I've seen more than a few folks ride 25mm tires on the 180k D2R2. I've ridden 32's, 35's, 38's and 2.1" there over the years.

So better definition on the finished build will really define what 'older' frames might work at all. Vintage brakes of the frames era or current? Tire size wanted?

[bigman]

magic carpet ride
look no further

[Ralph]

Some 1970's Raleigh International or Schwinn Touring Paramounts were very nice (in their day). Designed around 1 1/4" (or 700X32) tires, 36 spoke rims, as I recall, eyelets, etc. Narrow rears though. Required longer reach brakes....the touring models came with Weinman centerpulls or mine did. I had an all chrome P 15 Paramount once...came with a triple crank. A little too big, or would still have it.

[kirke]

If you want lots of clearance, my vote would be for 26" mountain bike conversion. Some of these you can even go 650b on with the right brakes.

If 700c, the early 1990s Trek 520 touring bikes are lugged and seem like they have good clearance. And are modern enough that using new canti's shouldn't be an issue.


Or the Trek 750 'Multi-track' from the same era - essentially the same frame I think, but probably can be had cheaper cause it's billed as a 'hybrid/city' bike and not a touring bike.


Maybe other early 'hybrid' bikes like a Miyata Triple Cross would be a good option too. Not sure on the exact tire clearance on these so do your research.

[bgymr]

I don't have much to offer as far as models, but I have to say that these bikes appeal to me a lot. I just built an old Raleigh up with halfway decent bits, and I can't help but smile every time I pedal it.

Some of the 90s hybrid Bianchis are probably good candidates for you.