Originally Posted by
Longfemur
The traditional randonneuses were never the main type of road bike in France. They were a style, very much a minority one. That they were for fast riding is a bit of a stretch. They were for casual riding with a handlebar bag from village to village by a rider smoking a pipe, without any atheletic pretensions whatsoever. An existentialist philosopher might have ridden one :-)
With the occasional detour into a ditch from not paying attention to the road!
I've been thinking about this difference lately as I'm selling off one of my touring bikes and hope to buy a frameset that's more of a randonneuse. To me, a key difference in addition to where weight is carried is the tubeset. The touring bike has a fairly stout tubeset, appropriate for carrying lots of weight but one that is relatively heavy and quite stiff. I'd rather carry weight up front and have a lighter tubeset (and lighter bike overall). That'll serve me better as I meander down the road thinking about the meaning of life.
Neal