Pics of actual rando bikes please

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by dsjackson

I'll offer this one up as a build that supports SV's take on a slightly rowdier rando build.

The roads of trad Randonneuring and "Endurance Gravel" have intertwined as of late, with many who were previously strict randos deciding that, in the USA, death by cars and gas station controls are just not that great. So while many argue to just leave randonneuring alone, others have tried to broaden the format from within its constraints to include rougher, less traveled terrain.

I don't know where I stand right now within the tensions of randonneuring, but this bike was designed for long ass self-supported rides off the pavement. It can do the classic randonneuring thing too, but I see why some believe that the SV take with 48mm tires dilutes what was once a great underground consensus on "rando bike design." I still got my 700 x 35 rando bike, and it's fun too, but I'll share this one on this thread.

Best,
Daniel in Northern VT

Oh my, this is FF986, ain't it? https://www.renehersecycles.com/a-fi...ass-iv-trails/

This bike checks off nearly all the boxes for my next off-road-but-not-mountain build. Did you ever think about spec'ing an internally routed dropper post?

[lavi]

Originally Posted by dsjackson

I'll offer this one up as a build that supports SV's take on a slightly rowdier rando build.

SNIP

Deets on that fork please. I have an incoming Ti lovely. I'm getting a carbon fork, but am interested in other options.

[bicycletricycle]

amazing! what bike do you have the best memories on?

Originally Posted by ripvanrando

My first brevet was in the late 80's and I never saw a proper randonneuse until decades later. This is what I ridden on not too many brevets but a good number

Masi GC
Dawes touring bike
Vitus Carbonne 9
Klein touring bike
Kestral esi
Pocket Rocket
Trek cyclecross bike
Felt AR1
Stumpjumper
Cervelo S3
Pinarello AK61
Zinn custom rando
M5 CHR recumbent

Only one of the bikes failed to complete a brevet, it got a torn PCL. The Felt AR1 was able to ride 1220 Km without sleep, pretty much nonstop. I doubt the bike has anything to do with success on brevets to be honest. I am sorry, I have no pictures of my bikes.

[jamesdak]

Well I never have done a rando event but I do have a bike custom made for such events. This was built for the 1995 PBP.

Columbus EL OS tubing, top tube longer than the seatube but I don't know the actual geo specs. Nothing really remarkable about it but it does have fittings for three bottle cages and rear rack braze-ons attached to each seatstay and rear dropouts. Room for 700 x 32 tires at least, maybe more.

This is pretty much how I got it including the reflective tape on the seatstays.



How I run it now with a nice 9 speed Dura Ace setup. Fast and comfortable.

[RudAwkning]

Originally Posted by ripvanrando

My first brevet was in the late 80's and I never saw a proper randonneuse until decades later. This is what I ridden on not too many brevets but a good number

Masi GC
Dawes touring bike
Vitus Carbonne 9
Klein touring bike
Kestral esi
Pocket Rocket
Trek cyclecross bike
Felt AR1
Stumpjumper
Cervelo S3
Pinarello AK61
Zinn custom rando
M5 CHR recumbent

Only one of the bikes failed to complete a brevet, it got a torn PCL. The Felt AR1 was able to ride 1220 Km without sleep, pretty much nonstop. I doubt the bike has anything to do with success on brevets to be honest. I am sorry, I have no pictures of my bikes.

Did you take the Stumpy out for $hits and giggles? Or was it a mixed terrain brevet?

[dsjackson]

Originally Posted by lavi

Deets on that fork please. I have an incoming Ti lovely. I'm getting a carbon fork, but am interested in other options.

Potts Type II mini. Never really understood the appeal of a carbon fork. The rigidity of tapered head tubes and plastic on anything rougher than pure road hasn’t impressed me. That and if you’re anything much slacker than 73 deg HTA, you’re in for higher trail. Steel offers any rake you’d fancy.

That said - the 1.125” Ritchey fork is fantastic. Super boingy in all the right ways.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dsjackson]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Oh my, this is FF986, ain't it? https://www.renehersecycles.com/a-fi...ass-iv-trails/

This bike checks off nearly all the boxes for my next off-road-but-not-mountain build. Did you ever think about spec'ing an internally routed dropper post?

Yes - that’s the bike. No on the dropper - for the 15% of the time I’d appreciate it, the other 85% of the ride would be spent on a post that doesn’t have any flex and offers inadequate setback for dirt road riding.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

This is fantastic

+1 super nice

[ripvanrando]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

amazing! what bike do you have the best memories on?

Probably the Zinn. The Felt maybe because I did a full series in so-called R60 time, a very fast and comfortable bike, much faster than my proper rando bike.

Back in the day, there was this somewhat older randonneur who was not so fast but his splits were steady. In reality, he was very smart. He would do 8 hours for the 200 and then 16 hours for the 400k and a little longer on the 600K due to sleep. He had a custom titanium bike (litespeed, I think) with a triple campy and slightly wider tires. He was like a machine in terms of efficiency. He was the Senior Editor of Bicycling, Ed Pavelka. As a younger whippersnapper, I thought of him as the eveready bunny. So when I got older, I had my magnesium framed Zinn built along those lines. Like a modern British Super Tourer. Magnesium with 32 or 35 mm tires with a Brooks B17 on a Specialize Gooseneck post is heaven. Extremely comfortable and stable. Rock solid. After 200+ miles and 26,000 feet of climbing in Kentucky and Virginia on TABR and absolutely trashed, I was descending at very high speed on windy roads in the middle of the night, it was a blast..... that memory and excitement is seared in my brain. Carving one turn after another. I suppose knowing the interstate highway down below had food didn't hurt my enthusiasm.

I wrote what I wrote because I meet riders who want to try randonneuring but they think they have to have a randonneuring bike.

[bicycletricycle]

Thank you for sharing. Did you keep the felt or the zinn? I like riding bikes I have really positive memories riding.

Originally Posted by ripvanrando

Probably the Zinn. The Felt maybe because I did a full series in so-called R60 time, a very fast and comfortable bike, much faster than my proper rando bike.

Back in the day, there was this somewhat older randonneur who was not so fast but his splits were steady. In reality, he was very smart. He would do 8 hours for the 200 and then 16 hours for the 400k and a little longer on the 600K due to sleep. He had a custom titanium bike (litespeed, I think) with a triple campy and slightly wider tires. He was like a machine in terms of efficiency. He was the Senior Editor of Bicycling, Ed Pavelka. As a younger whippersnapper, I thought of him as the eveready bunny. So when I got older, I had my magnesium framed Zinn built along those lines. Like a modern British Super Tourer. Magnesium with 32 or 35 mm tires with a Brooks B17 on a Specialize Gooseneck post is heaven. Extremely comfortable and stable. Rock solid. After 200+ miles and 26,000 feet of climbing in Kentucky and Virginia on TABR and absolutely trashed, I was descending at very high speed on windy roads in the middle of the night, it was a blast..... that memory and excitement is seared in my brain. Carving one turn after another. I suppose knowing the interstate highway down below had food didn't hurt my enthusiasm.

I wrote what I wrote because I meet riders who want to try randonneuring but they think they have to have a randonneuring bike.

[ripvanrando]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

Thank you for sharing. Did you keep the felt or the zinn? I like riding bikes I have really positive memories riding.

I have the Zinn. The left seatstay of the Felt had cracked 2/3 of the way thru by United on the way over to PBP. Drove me crazy during the ride, it sounded like a creaking BB.....the glued in ones. I got rid of it after figuring out what went wrong. I probably should have kept it but too many bikes hanging around.

It would be interesting to see a survey showing what bikes are more likely to allow one to finish various distances. How much of the success is the rider and how much, if any, is it the bike? I think speed is underrated here but not in Europe, they ride fast bikes.

[jamesdak]

Those racing trikes are awesome. One day I'll find one local I can afford! I have to scratch that itch!

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by jamesdak

Those racing trikes are awesome. One day I'll find one local I can afford! I have to scratch that itch!

I got a bob jackson step through trike for sale in CT

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

This is fantastic

So good! A perfect unassuming blend of modern meets classic styling. Very well done.

[slowpoke]

btw, for anyone looking for a randonneuring bike, this '79 Centurion Pro-Tour for $650 is a pretty darn good deal. This generation was one of the few mass produced bikes that had center-pull braze-on brakes (later Pro-Tours went to standard cantis).

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/bik...351901807.html

The ad has the bike with the original 27" wheels, but you can easily throw on 700c wheels and fit 35-38mm tires.