Touring Bike

[Warny]

Hi all,

I've managed to get a touring bike and hoping to find out a little more about it. It's in decent condition, not sure how old it might be. Simplex gear levers, Shimano deraileurs, 21 speed. Has Dia Compe brake levers and hoods.
No head badge or stickers on the frame, any ideas? It's not super heavy considering the pannier racks.

Will check the frame number and report back. Gear levers have something like 21 8 on the bracket?

 

[raleighnut]

That looks suspiciously like an adventure Hybrid converted to drops to me,

Very Nice though.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Hi all,

I've managed to get a touring bike and hoping to find out a little more about it. It's in decent condition, not sure how old it might be. Simplex gear levers, Shimano deraileurs, 21 speed. Has Dia Compe brake levers and hoods.
No head badge or stickers on the frame, any ideas? It's not super heavy considering the pannier racks.

Will check the frame number and report back. Gear levers have something like 21 8 on the bracket?
View attachment 475983 View attachment 475984 View attachment 475985

Looks nice, whatever it is.

 

[MichaelW2]

That looks suspiciously like an adventure Hybrid converted to drops to me,

Very Nice though.

The difference would show in the rear cable braze-ons at the top of the down tube. Touring bikes would usually have threaded adjustable stops, hybrids have non adjustable ones since cable tension threaded nuts are at the bar controls.

Beware the stem mounted gear adjusters, not as stable as bar ends and uncomfortable in a sudden enforced stop.

 

[raleighnut]

The difference would show in the rear cable braze-ons at the top of the down tube. Touring bikes would usually have threaded adjustable stops, hybrids have non adjustable ones since cable tension threaded nuts are at the bar controls.

Beware the stem mounted gear adjusters, not as stable as bar ends and uncomfortable in a sudden enforced stop.

I was going more by the gear cable stops rather than 'braze on mounts' on the downtube.

Looking again it really resembles my 'medium weight' touring bike,

A lovely Tange CrMo framed Ridgeback, much uprated/converted.

 

[Warny]

Thanks for the comments, I think the stops are non-adjustable but will have another look later. Rides well though, brakes are nice and sharp.

 

[mjr]

Beware the stem mounted gear adjusters, not as stable as bar ends and uncomfortable in a sudden enforced stop.

Really? I would expect more chance of kneeing bar ends than hitting the stem and even that's pretty unlikely.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

That looks suspiciously like an adventure Hybrid converted to drops to me,

I agree; my immediate thoughts on seeing the pics were much the same.
The unicrown forks suggests it dates from about 1990-onwards, not any earlier.

 

[raleighnut]

I agree; my immediate thoughts on seeing the pics were much the same.
The unicrown forks suggests it dates from about 1990-onwards, not any earlier.

I think Surly use 'unicrown' forks on their touring bikes though.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I think Surly use 'unicrown' forks on their touring bikes though.

From what I can make of Surly designs, they are essentially old-school rigid MTB frames that can in some cases be run with 700c wheels and carry front panniers.
Quite a few steel bikes were later built with unicrowns, that originally started out with conventional forks. Clearly a cost-cutting measure primarily, and something I am not aware of on road/hybrid frames prior to 1990.

 

[raleighnut]

From what I can make of Surly designs, they are essentially old-school rigid MTB frames that can in some cases be run with 700c wheels and carry front panniers.
Quite a few steel bikes were later built with unicrowns, that originally started out with conventional forks. Clearly a cost-cutting measure primarily, and something I am not aware of on road/hybrid frames prior to 1990.

That's the point I was making, the bike isn't necessarily 'that old', it could easily be quite recent as bikes that look like that are still produced and my opinion is the 'unicrown fork' is a superb design and not a 'cheapo' cost cutting exercise, but then I've had forks fail at the crown (luckily only on one side) back in the 70's

I'd love to know how old my Ridgeback is but I acquired it 20 odd years ago as a pretty bare frame apart from a few knackered bits when Maz's Daughter and her Husband moved into an Army house (4 bed detached 'Officers Quarters' as Ian was a Sergeant by then) and that was in the garage.

So really we can narrow @Warny 's bike down to having been built sometime in the last 30 years.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

my opinion is the 'unicrown fork' is a superb design and not a 'cheapo' cost cutting exercise, but then I've had forks fail at the crown (luckily only on one side) back in the 70's

I would agree the unicrown is a sound design, as the way they take their loadings reminds me of a a brick arch with a keystone at the top; i.e. the vertical loading from the rider's weight is transferred into the fork blades so the whole thing is in compression.
In terms of strength/cost they are undoubtedly superior to conventional forks, and lend themselves to more automated production whereas brazed forks don't.
The reason I am not wild about them is that they are generally not as aesthetically pleasing as a brazed fork, especially if comparing a welded unicrown to a really high quality sloping crown brazed fork often fitted to top end racers. Functional but not beautiful.

 

[Warny]

Hi all, I hadn't heard of a unicrown fork before so just been reading up a little on the subject! Interesting. Had a look at the frame number underneath: Appears to be M3JM36142, which doesn't mean much to me. Also has WBKK and BI02868

 

[Warny]

Getting quite attached to my new bike, it's been invaluable the last few days as commuting into Cambridge for a short while. Loving the idea of having panniers, I might start planning some longer trips

 

[mjr]

Getting quite attached to my new bike, it's been invaluable the last few days as commuting into Cambridge for a short while.

Cambridge is a bandit city (although not as bad as that London), so unless you have really safe parking (inside the office, in sight, for example), I would add a D-lock through the stays and rear wheel and use that cable and thin padlock for the front, because it would be sad to lose something you are getting attached to.