Danmozy66

Looking to put together a list of these to look out for.

First I was into vintage road bikes, and then I was really drawn to lightish, rigid 90s steel mtbs for the feel and comfort that wider tires (road slicks in my case) affords. I like the ride and aesthetic, and I am addicted to wider tires now (choppy city streets) but the 26” wheel size is feeling less efficient in long distance road stretches.

I am curious about optimizing and get the best of both worlds

(here we go again, subconsciously justifying the acquisition of more bikes)

From what I’ve been able to find, it seems that are only a handful of 80s-90s bikes that were designed with 700 wheels, and canti brakes for good clearance, and nice (ideally light) tubing.

I guess today these would be marketed as hybrids, sport touring, or gravel bikes etc. I guess I’m after an ideal gravel conversion.

I am beginning to research what names to look out for on the local CL. Can anyone suggests bikes that suit this criteria to supplement my list? i feel like I am missing some gems. This is what I have for starters:

-miyata triple cross (nice frame but average components from what I’ve seen)

-Specialized crossroads (same as above)

- trek 540 ish and higher end 700 series

-some old schwinns (I think high Sierra?) *EDIT: I was wrong about this one it’s 26*

-some ritchey ($)

There must be a lot more examples for some of the experts on here to enlighten me on. I am currently riding a ‘86 specialized sequoia with XT deerhead, and it is amazing, fast, light, almost perfect—safe for the tire clearance thing and I want something more rugged

Sedgemop 

How wide do you want to go with the tires?

Danmozy66

Probably nothing crazy. Like mid 30s

Classtime 

You want 2" tires on a 700c wheel? What tire are these "road slicks" you mentioned? I bet if you get some NICE tires like Compass RTP tires on a drop bar early 90s XT level MTB, you will be very happy.

Danmozy66

yeah. I just mean I am running tires without tread on my 26” ‘95 KHS Montana currently.

And I do actually have those compass tires on it. It’s great. But not drops.

Some of my friends that I ride with are going the surly, or all-city modern retro type route with wider 700 tires, which I like. But I figured something older for me would be cheaper and more interesting. And despite the cost for those new bikes they’re quite heavy it seems. Almost like the older tubing was better in some ways

Bad Lag

I suspect this is a mis-perception not a reality.

Danmozy66

You’re likely somewhat right, and I’ve read it debated back and forth on these forums before. Whether it be due to frame geometry, body position, bar style or wheel size, etc., though, I think generally speaking something more closely related to a road bike would be faster than a mountain bike on pavement. Bigger wheels, bigger top speed I thought. And I’m told that it rolls over bumps more efficiently on the trails too

madpogue 

The High Sierra is an MTB. For a 700C canti "cross" Schwinn from BITD, look for a CrossCut or (if you can find one) CrossPoint. There's also a CrissCross, but it's more entry-level.

Danmozy66

You’re right! OK, great tip thank you I will keep an eye out

UPDATE: just looked this up, yes, this—exactly perfect!

John E

Lots of older road bikes, racing or touring, have ample tire and mudguard clearance. I have gone as large as 27 x 1-3/8" on the 1959 Capo.


Shown with 700Cx28 tires, can go much larger.

robobike316 

There are lots of good quality vintage bikes out there for very cheap that were made for 27" wheels and therefore have alot of clearance if you switch out the wheels to 700c. Brake pads need to go 4mm lower for that to happen. Many of the 70s bikes fit that bill. English Raleighs, French Motobecanes and the early Wisconsin Treks... the 720 is excellent! There are too many to list. Even the hardcore racing frames back then often had lots of clearance although they were for sew ups. If you need or want cantilevers now the field narrows considerably to old touring bikes or the later 80s "hybrids" which were basically a reaction to the mountain bike craze. Those are mainly tig welded and not that "vintagy" in my opinion. They will almost always have the cantilevers though. So, if you can live without cantis or know someone who can braze on studs you have near unlimited cheap options for a very cool old road bike. With cantilevers, Japanese touring bikes come up for sale regularly here on the classified for reasonable prices.
Sounds like you have gone down this road already, but an early 1" tube, lugged mountain bike frame can make a nice machine with perhaps some narrower rims and tires and some cockpit changes to suit your desires. With this you get the cantis and a triple up front which is nice. The old Stumpjumpers come to mind but really any production mountain bike from that era would be good and pretty cheap.

Danmozy66

thank you! Good tips. The 720 looks awesome. Otherwise I might prefer a bit more modern than the really old ones, for overall zippy ness and more updated stock drivetrain. I already have a decent 26er, but would consider it if I saw good value (hardly the case lately) on stumpjumper for example. I was going to go down this road with a ‘93 trek 930 frame i picked up, which has nice lugs, but it is a bit heavier being a mtb and I think I am abandoning this to go with a 700 size

bikemig 

If all you want is a 32-35c, then there are a lot of bikes to choose from as a great many steel road bikes that use calipers can do that. If looking for 38c or above, that gets tough.

70s era Raleighs (gran sport, competition, and international) can all take reasonably fat tires. So can most of the French bikes from that era (the Motobecane Grand Record is a very good choice for a fat tire). You're in Canada and so a top end Sekine would be another good (and quite possibly available) choice (say the SHS 271) for example. A 70s era Fuji Finest can easily take a 32c tire. If you are looking at a 70s era bike that takes 27 inch tires and uses centerpull brakes, you are in business. By going with 700c wheels, you should be able to fit a 35c tire and perhaps a 38c. By the 80s, you might want to focus on touring bikes with calipers or "sports touring" bikes with long reach calipers.

Edit: If you want to focus on a road bike with wide tire clearance, a 70s Raleigh Gran sports, a 70s Raleigh Competition, or a 70s Motobecane Grand Record would be near the top of my list.

madpogue 

The 27"-wheeled canti tourers I've seen typically have the old-style cantilever arms that do not have slotted holes for the pads, so adjusting them for 700C wheels can be tricky. You can try changing the angle of the pad to reach down to the 700C rims, but that may produce an odd angle between the pad face and the rim face. This may require replacing the arms with more modern ones. Just something to watch out for if you're looking at 27" canti grand tourers for conversion.

Danmozy66

i don’t think I want a 70s bike. Late 80s to 90s is ideal. I prefer cantis for the option to go bigger and add fenders if I wanted. The newer groups appeal to me more, and I feel newer could handle a bit of trail slop a bit better

Piff 

I'll throw a wrench into the discussion, you could also make a 650b conversion from a road bike with tight clearances and still fit a 35mm tire. Just need to make sure bottom bracket drop isn't already significant.

bikemig 

Any older bike can be fixed up with a "newer" group. I'm skeptical that "newer" can handle "trail slop" a "bit better," but that is immaterial. What matters is what you want in a bike.

If all you want is 32-35c, pretty much any road bike with cantis should do this. Some touring bikes came stock with 27 inch wheels in which case you will need to find a cantilever that will adjust to 700c (or live wih a 27 x 1 and 1/4 tire). Alternatively do a drop bar conversion on a hybrid and you will be able to run 38c tires.

Danmozy66

I hear your point, but to me all that seems like more work is what I’m saying. It’s less plug and play. I also like the idea of original parts on a bike as riding it as it was designed. And yes you’re right, any road bike (or hybrid!) with cantis would do. Just wondering which bikes were manufactured to this criteria.

The point of this post is for help determining what exactly the nice versions of those bikes are so I can look out for them.

bikemig 

Keep an eye out for the 90s era Trek 750 hybrids. These were Trek's top end hybrids and they more or less had the same geometry as Trek's touring bike, the 520. The neat thing is that they tend to fly under the radar price wise since they're hybrids. I picked up one recently that I plan on converting to drops and running indexed 3 x 7 (which came stock on the bike) or maybe 3 x 9.

Danmozy66

OK, sweet! Done

Sedgemop 

I'd take a look at the Miyata 618GT and the '86 Trek 520 Cirrus. Both came with 700c wheels and should have clearance for 35's.

Danmozy66

thank you, these look super great

WT160

'90s Fuji Saratogas. Excellent touring bikes.

Danmozy66

Nice! now thats what I’m talking about

WT160

Agree. The 750s are great.