Any pics of mid to early 70's touring rigs?
 

I am looking for images of bikes ridden on tour in the mid to early 70's. Please post if you have some. Thank you.

You might be interested in this thread I posted the C&V sub-forum.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...2-gitanes.html

pretty cool story and trip.
neat that they typed it up on the interwebs.
good photos too.

Might be a good thread for the classic & vintage section of the forum.

Are you looking for photos from the 70s, or just pictures of 1970s tourers?

The idea of the “grand tourer” bicycle didn’t really fully flourish until into the 1980s, but bicycle touring was of course a thing before this, and some bikes were designed for it while many just happened to also be suited to it.

Hey ti, why the interest?
I have a clear memory of being in an outdoor store sometime in the early mid 80s maybe, and they had mounted up on the wall some dudes ratty bike with ratty panniers and everything, had been ridden on some long trip.
Don't recall the trip details, but i certainly remember saying to myself, mmmmmm that looks pretty cool.....

1973 Peugeot PX10-- Not a "touring bike", but it did a pretty good job.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e14fc8ef_b.jpg

Sherman with his Raleigh Grand Prix and me with my Batavus Tour de l'Europe in the midst of...touring l'Europe.

Both bikes were basic steel-framed 10-speeds with cottered cranks and Simplex derailleurs. We added racks, fenders and large water bottles to make them touring bikes. They worked, but it helped that we were young and stupid.

August of 1974
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...862b026a65.jpg

The above pics are what I am looking for. I started touring in 1977 and am interested in what came before that time in the 70's. The rig I used at that time was a 75 Schwinn Super Sport. While reading the Adventure Cycling article on the beginnings of Bike Centennial, it reminded me of that bike and how the touring rig I built last year is similar, but different in many ways. Just want to see more pics for comparison purposes.

Thumpism, the bike on the right looks to have panniers similar to the Cannondale panniers I used back then. The ones I had were blue. Worked quite well.

Back in 1970s, I think Kirkland (spell?) and Gerry Sports were the only companies that sold sizeable panniers in USA. I was not into touring at the time, so I can't say that with certainty, but those are the brands I recall seeing. I really wished I was rich enough to buy the Gerry panniers back then. I recalled trying to make some panniers from some army surplus bags, that was a dismal failure.

A year or two ago I bought some nearly new Cannondale Overland panniers at a swap meet (no, they are not for sale) and that sparked my interest in history at that time. I do not recall how I found this image, but found it somewhere on the internet, saved it to my hard drive. I think it was from a sales brochure.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5560561de0.jpg


Cannondale:
http://vintagecannondale.com/year/1985/1985A.pdf
http://vintagecannondale.com/year/1982/1982.pdf
https://vintagecannondale.com/year/1974/1974.pdf

For sure that image had to come from a sales brochure. My touring buddy, Pete, had the Gerry panniers. He also had a Hubbard hbar pack as did I. The Gerry pack literally tied onto the Pletcher whereas the Cannondale panniers simply hooked on to it. Needless to say it took him several minutes to tie the panniers to the rack every morning, but it only took me a few seconds. The Gerry packs were connected to each other so I presume it was the only way the designers could figure out how to attach to the Pletcher.

I need to see if I can dig up any pics. My first touring rig was a Peugeot UO 10 that I rode all over Western Europe in the early 80s. It was a pretty good touring rig with a 42 inch wheelbase, nice long chainstays, and "alpine" gearing (a 42 running on a 28).

Well I suppose this photo is more of me than the bike but it's the only one I have of it. The bike predates your time frame slightly but I rode it well into the 70s. That's my classic 1968 WB Hurlow frame set up for light hosteling type touring. I believe it had a fairly common Campagnolo Record crankset with 49/52 chainrings, a 5 speed 14-28 freewheel for somewhat of a low gear and Campy down tube shifters with Nuovo Record derailleurs.. At age 20 lower gearing was not an issue!

Also revealed in the photo is a Brooks Professional leather saddle on a Campagnolo seatpost and Bluemel's fenders. That's a Pletscher aluminum rack with a seatstay clamp. The frame builder did leave the eyelets on the Campy dropouts after offering to cut them off. Also in the photo are my French Sologne panniers made of canvas.

Up front out of the photo I had a TA Cyclotouriste handlebar bag supported by a small TA rack that attached to the Universal center pull brake bolts. I'm pumping up my Clement Elvezia tubular sew-up tires mounted on Fiamme Red Label rims with a Silca Impero frame pump. Detto Pietro shoes with TA cleats are on the feet. Christophe toe clips and straps on the pedals.

Unfortunately the photo does not show off the pretty frame. It is Reynolds 531 tubing with parallel 73 degree geometry and a generous chainstay length. Still hanging in my basement!

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2a44e93954.jpg

Sorry for the crappy quality, Kodak 110 cartridge film (introduced in 1972), not stored or scanned well. My first tour in 1976, around Lake Michigan from Chicago.

Riding a Schwinn Continental, no panniers, and I'm wearing cutoff jeans behind the sign.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6cbae4df4c.jpg

Good pics thus far. Like the pic of the Welcome to Michigan sign as I remember the Land of Hospitality bird from that time. Just rode with my friend that rode cross country on a 74 yellow Continental back in 74. He bought it and set out across the states. Never gave him a lick of trouble, but did wish he had lower gearing in the mountains. He does not recall the gear he used other than the bike was bone stock. Keep the pics coming as they demonstrate a lot about how things have changed, yet have stayed the same.

I’m enjoying the “fashion.”

Neat pictures and stories. Though, I must confess I was not even thought of in the '70's... Its still interesting to me to see how things were way back when.

My step dads bike is a Cannondale with those rail style pedals and toe baskets. I am thinking that is an early 80's model - it is aluminum (I assume - a light weight alloy) road bike, no where near touring capable.

They are called toe clips. I have those on one of my bikes, a friend of mine uses them for touring.

KC, and this is why clipless pedals are called clipless, because they no longer had clips.
When you tightened them down with leather toe straps that ratcheded tight, when you came to a stop you had to reach down and push the release tab.
Partly why I found going to clipless spd's pretty easy to adapt to back in 92 I think. Much easier than reaching down to a tight toeclip in busy traffic or when someone opened a door on you suddenly.

sheesh, kids nowadays, they don't know how easy they gots it.....

IIRC by far the most common early '70s 'touring' bike was the ten-speed you owned with a back rack.

June Siple's bike, Alaska to Argentina, 1972-1974: https://brickthomasblog.files.wordpr...7/dscf3012.jpg

Dug out the ol' DeLong's Guide to Bicycles and Bicycling ©1974. A pretty typical touring bike, i.e., a fifteen-speed with a rack:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...725f07f8a8.jpg
Thanks to its super wide-range 1970s drivetrain, the low gear might have been all the way down into the upper 30s. SunTour derailleurs that actually shifted okay when new. The frame wasn't torsionally stiff and would waggle with a touring load. The bars are all the way up and still lower than the saddle - that's why we rode far larger frames back then than we would today. Snaps for the braze-on cantis, though.

DeLong presents this custom tourer. Check out that TA Cyclotourist and the half-step plus granny great-granny gear! For standover+high bars, this lugless, filet brazed frame has a sloping top tube some 25 years before Mike Burrows invented them. Man, I never saw nothin' like that IRL. :)

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...36ac95ccac.jpg
Do you notice the large rear cog has every other tooth ground off in an attempt to make the wide range gears shift acceptably with 1970s derailleurs? Also: de rigueur chrome stockings.

Yeah, baby, loaded up on a Pletscher. I remember seeing my first Blackburn and going, 'whoa'.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...39e888e784.jpg

Love the 'Age of Aquarius' lock and chain!

Maybe you tightened your toe clip straps, but I always leave mine loose enough that I could slide my shoe out. I have a pair of shoes somewhere that have the groove in them for the pedal, but generally only use trail running shoes or hiking shoes with my toe clips. They slide out quite easily when you suddenly have to stop for a stop light.

Yup, I still use toe clips, have them on my folding bike. But only my folding bike has toe clips.

The bike photos that TCS posted above, the second photo had toe clips.​​​​​

I still use half step on my two derailleur touring bikes, it is not THAT ancient.

My old pletscher rack is in storage somewhere. The clamp squeezed on the seat stays to hold it in place, but if you hit a bump with much weight on the rack, the rack would slip down on the seatstays and push on your sidepull brakes and bring you to a sudden unplanned halt. And if you did not have the right tools, you could not get rolling again.

tcs, that is what I am looking for. Really something different there in that picture. The Delong's guide pics are great references and convincing me that I am on the right track with outfitting my rig. Have almost everything I need this far. I have rear panniers, but not sure they are big enough for a X country ride. Only 1800 cubic inches. Have to play with packing item a bit more and minimalizing what I carry a lot more! lol. They are fine for week runs and I don't see how a week is any different than 3 months since each month is made up of 4 weeks, so it is like doing a week long run every week! Somehow that makes sense to me. Anyway, KEEP POSTING THOSE IMAGES.

was more from memories of over tightening them, basically you learn your lesson quickly.

Please post a few photos of your Hurlow over in the Classics and Vintage forum. Hurlow built fabulous bikes: Many of us over there would love to see your bike.
Brent