Originally Posted by
Russ Roth
But the OP sounds like he's had/has newer and money doesn't sound to be an issue so why not newer?
As far as frames go (which is the real concern here, components are swapped and upgraded all the time, especially on vintage tourers), this post early in the thread points out a real difference between vintage touring frames and modern ones. The answer isn't that there are only cons to vintage touring frames, there are pros as well. At least there will be depending on the person, its of course subjective:
Originally Posted by
Salamandrine
I remember having this same question a few years ago. I went around and looked at all the modern touring bikes. IMO modern touring bikes tend to be overbuilt. They are optimized for a 250lb dude carrying 75 lbs + of gear. That's fine if you're going to tour Patagonia or something, but for more typical mostly road touring, it's overkill. Vintage touring bikes are more optimal. Bumping up to tourist gauge +1mm is enough, for example Tange
#2 instead of
#1 , SP instead of SL, 531 'tourist' gauge, etc.
He even then went on to recommend upgrading some components to modern.