merziac

Tx Gomango, always appreciate your good words. I know the sports tourer model is a little finite, that being said I think it changes quite a

bit over time and is era dependent as other have pointed out. These were very serious touring machines in their day and that may be

debatable to some nowadays. The "pink" one has logged 10's of thousands of miles loaded to the gills as it was Jim's first purpose built

touring bike. One of his rides was over most of the Sierra passes for 2100 miles in 21 days fully loaded with his then wife Virginia. He wasn't

messing around and may take issue with the sports tourer moniker, but I think it fits so there you have it. Fun fact that it had canti's when

it was built but he took them off at some point when he sold the frame.

non-fixie 

Finally got around to it. It still needs some detailing, and I yet have to find the correct rear light/generator combo, but I took it out on a 40-miler today and it's a fine ride.

bertinjim 

non-fixie-

Nice looking PA 60. The generator would have been a Soubitez 6W 3V bottle type attached to the tab braze-on on the non-drive seat stay. Wiring would have been internal with the headlight wire running down the inside of the rear fender, through a hole in the BB and then out at the head lug and over to the headlight. The rear light on plastic fendered bikes would be a bolt-on that attached at the generator stay mounting point. If alloy fendered, the tail light would be part of an integrated tail light/reflector unit. I have photos of this type of setup if you need them, just pm me and I will forward them.

non-fixie 

Thanks, Jim. To my surprise, the man I bought the frame from appeared to be the owner of this website. I even held the original copy of this 1975 brochure in my hands. It shows the correct setup. I have found the Soubitez generator and I think I have the rear light as well; I just need to find it. The frame came complete with the internal wiring; I hope it's still intact.

(As you can see, I've taken the trouble to get my rear fender line just as crooked as the original. )

bertinjim 

non-fixie-

Well, it's not like the previous owner wasn't a Peugeot enthusiast! Good that you have the catalogue photo as a reference as well as the required parts - somewhere. It really looks like an upright angled frame. How does it ride, being plain gauge Peugeot hi-tensile compared to bikes with a more exotic tubing spec? The equipment spec on yours is very nice but thank heaven you don't have the Ideale 2001!

NormanF

This is the way bikes for the non-enthusiast used to be made.

Nothing but reliable and practical every day transportation from commuting to utility hauling to light touring and recreational day rides.

If you're not competing in the Tour De France, the sports touring bike is a sensible choice.

Vintage_Cyclist

The 1979 Centurion Pro Tour



The 1983 Motobecane Grand Touring

polishmadman

What are you using for the second water bottle mounts? And are you happy with it?

noglider 

Huh? I took several long tours on this type of bike. I'd say your use of the word "never" is off.

Vintage_Cyclist

Zefal Gizmo. Works well.

Dfrost 

+1 on the Zefal Gizmo. Nice product. I use a wrap of tape underneath so they don't slip on the seat tube.

echo victor 

Had to grab a photo of my Raleigh Gran Sport that would do it justice for this thread. Here it is in full L'Eroica mode - more often than not I use a modern pump rather than this vintage one.



I like the idea of chainstay length helping to identify a bike's role, since there's a fair amount of consistency. I believe sports touring bikes typically had lengths around 42-43.5 cm (similar to what you're likely to find on an audax or sportive bike, I think). With the wheel forward in the dropouts, the length for the Gran Sport is right in that range.

Pawlus

@echo victor
Nice photo and a really ,really beautiful bike. Have you ever used rear panniers on it? With mentioned chainstay length is hill strike a problem?

jimmuller 

+1. Very nice.

steelbikeguy

Always good to see a Gran Sport!

I rode a Gran Sport for 14 years, roughly 1976 to 1990. It saw a lot use and abuse, and was a pleasure to ride. It was replaced by a custom frame, but the frame's dimensions were based on those of the Gran Sport.

Here's the Gran Sport, somewhere around 1980, I think...



I still have that Brooks Pro saddle, which now has 40 years and probably at least 40,000 miles on it.

While the Gran Sport is gone, I do still have the custom bike that replaced it. It has roughly 50,000 miles on it and was repainted and had the rear end spread to 130mm a few years ago.




Steve in Peoria

echo victor 

Thanks very much, @Pawlus and @jimmuller! I was impressed by its condition when I first found it, and I've tried to keep it looking nice. I suspect it would appreciate a full tear-down overhaul soon, though...

It came to me with a rear rack installed, but I don't think I ever used panniers on it. Either way, my panniers are small day-trippers that allow for pretty good clearance even on bikes with somewhat shorter stays - if you're looking, that style of panniers can work well for sports touring rigs. I used mine them extensively for a while on a Schwinn Super Le Tour.

Actually, one issue I find is that if I'm using a saddle bag (either the one pictured or a larger transverse style one) that attaches to the seatpost or stays, the bag can interfere with the brake cable. Sometimes, there's just enough pressure on the brake cable to pull the calipers and have them constantly applying very light braking to the rear wheel. Not fun. I have to be careful how I mount bags. Of course, the brake cable hanger fights back by trying to cut open the bottoms of my bags, so I guess they're even. Yeah, overhaul...

@steelbikeguy - Your Gran Sport was very nice, too - and also with blue as its main color, which I understand was a little less common than white. Which crank was that? And gorgeous custom - fillet brazed, right? Got any close ups of that brazing?

steelbikeguy

I'm not sure which of the two color arrangements was more common. The catalogs that I've seen show the lagoon blue w/white in the big photo. I'm partial to this version myself.
The crank is still the Stronglight 93, but I switched to an axle for a double chainring and got rid of the chain guard. Here's a close-up (I always thought it was a very attractive crank)....




Yep, fillet brazed. As for closeups.. actually, no.. which is surprising, considering how long I've had the bike!
I can offer a couple of pics from when the frame was shiny and new....





Steve in Peoria

echo victor 

Oh, I should have realized that. Very cool looking. I like the utility of a chain guard for times when I just want to hop on wearing jeans and not worry about it, but I may have to consider setting it aside. And note to self - polish the heck out of it the next time I do a full overhaul.

Beautiful workmanship. Thanks for sharing those.

noglider 

I never should have sold my Gran Sport. Oh well, that was many years ago, when I was young and foolish. I owned it from when it was new in 1976 through 1979. I replaced it with a Peugeot PXN-10LE, which I thought was superior in every way. It was superior in some ways, but now I really appreciate the sport touring design as distinct and better for some purposes.

@Pawlus, I did long distance touring on my Gran Sport, and I didn't have heel strike. Since it is a light and flexible frame, it would shimmy at very low speed when loaded down, but I didn't mind at all. It pretty much only happened when starting from a stop.

Lazyass

Would you guys pay $575 for this bike in this condition? I think it's an '82 but not sure. Except for the lack of rack mounts which I don't use it looks like a sport touring geometry.

bikemig 

Short answer is no. You're probably better off starting a separate valuation thread so you get more feedback. The bike deserves a bump up in value because of condition but still overpriced. Look at the fork, that's 1024 steel which is Miyata's term for hi-tensile steel. Miyata did that on some of its middling bikes like the 610. This is not a $575 bike.

noglider 

I might pay $300 for that Miyata. If someone who wasn't a home mechanic paid $400, I wouldn't call them crazy.

aluminummonster

Here's my Raleigh Carlton in it's final state (for now). Shimano 600 rear derailleur, original Huret front derailleur (tried to swap it out to a Suntour Spirt but it kept rubbing the crank arm--the Huret isn't much better, about a dime or so from rubbing the arm, but no actual rub), Williams Crankset, Suntour Shifters, new pair of Sun M13II's with 700x28 Continental Ultra Sports (they get a bad rap, but I've never had a problem out of the 3 pairs I've had), new 6 speed Sunrace freewheel, and a pair of Velo Orange smooth fenders.

Darth Lefty 

Just went through this thread again. I love this style of bike. It makes me think of a long day of smooth riding, all on my own for no reason but enjoyment.

I always go back and forth in my mind about my Dad's P10-9. It has the frame for this sort of thing, but it's got racy Italian parts all over it. I can never quite bring myself to change it, but neither can I justify the time or space to bring in another bike so much like it.

styggno1

This is my circa 1980 Meral Super Randonneur. Bought as a new frame in, I believe, the mid 80-ies. First build up was tout francais (Huret Duopar titane, TA, Mafac, etc.) but later I resprayed it in Audi raugusa green with gold luglining and built it with an eclectic mix of Campag stuff.
Seatpost: Super Record
Cranks, Euclid
Derailleurs: Centaur rear (the old group) , Euclid front (now Record triple in front)
Hubs: Record high flange 40 spoke
Shifters: Record bar ends
Brakes: First Shimano XT (sans the Shimano decal and I also drilled them) at the rear but now it is Record OR, rear and Record nomal reach on drop bolt in front. Super Record levers. (edit - I hope the PO can forgive me the cantis in the rear... as there is a normal reach brake in the front - being a true "in between bike")
Headset: Super Record

The racks are Blackburn. I made my own rear lowrider out of a front Blackburn - using only one straight chromemoly rod as "extra" nothing else is modyfied. Has worked perfectly over the years.
It is a wonderful ride and has been used a lot thru the years (and still).





The saddle is level - it is something with the photo that makes it seem tilted.