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Looking for a VO Pass hunter lookalike

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Looking for a VO Pass hunter lookalike

Old 02-13-21, 11:38 AM
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mariachi
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Looking for a VO Pass hunter lookalike

A bit of story Jump to the bottom to skip the emotional journey
Some years ago I asked you for opinions https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...38c-tires.html in the end I bought a VO Pass Hunter (canti), the last in 57cm in stock. It had some cosmetic quality issues (the fake lugs are not aligned properly, the head badge is off-center, there was a small paint chip) and later I realised structural: one of the rear dropouts was not soldered in the correct location and I had to file the dropout a bit so that the rear wheel properly aligns with the front. I contacted VO about it and they sent me a brand-new frame, but the disc version.... so I was happy with their customer service, but I still wanted a non-disc bike so I sold it and fixed the canti frame as best as I could.

I've been ridding it for 4 years now, but never truly happy with it. I'm happy with how I build it and the components I found, but the frame was never a good fit: the saddle is at a good height (I'm 173cm, 63kg) with a bit more than a fist of seatpost showing, but I had to get a 50mm stem and a compact handlebar (Dura Ace 7402 levers) to get a comfortable reach. Not sure if it's my anatomy (I'm actually quite flexible), or the angles in the frame are not ideal. I don't like the handling either: looking over the shoulder, shifting with the simplex levers, getting some water -- all lead to instability with our without a handlebar bag; going downhill at some speed (50kph+) leads to a bad shimmy that disappears with the knee touching the top bar technique; while cornering I feel like I have to "fight the bike" otherwise it just goes straight. Some days ago during a ride with very icy roads my mates could see how much my rear wheel was skipping from side to side, while they were more stable and I fell twice at low speeds.

Riding my wife's bike, a cheap Decathlon aluminum is a completely experience! The bike tracks well, no problems looking over shoulders or cornering etc. Why not ride it all the time? it's a "normal" road bike with 28c tires, caliper brakes and no good means to carry my handlebar bag. I love to go on 1-2 week fast tours and long <200km rides (want to do some brevets soon) and having that bag plus larger tires is something I can't live without. I also love randonneur bikes and I'm not impressed with disc brakes, so I think this is the right crowd to help me out I want to keep riding a classic looking bike with my triathlon friends on their carbon tt bikes and be the guy everyone wants to draft because "wow you have fenders"

Besides going for a full custom bike, is there anyone still offering bikes like my pass hunter?
  • frame made to accept 700c 32mm tires and fenders (all the mounts are equidistant for a good fenderline) or 650B 42c
  • canti or centerpulls (this I would really doubt haha but hey surprise me)
  • lightweight with spirited riding in mind, not a "touring bike" to carry heavy loads. I tour with a handlebar bag and a carradice saddlebag.
  • super bonus points if I can get it easily in Europe (I'm in Berlin these days), but I can live with importing something
(earlier build when I was testing saddle height and reach)
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Old 02-13-21, 12:49 PM
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650b conversion is the way to go if you want wide tires on a vintage bike.
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Old 02-13-21, 01:11 PM
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Why not go for a quality 1990's hybrid bike? It will have room for 700C x 32 at least. It will most likely have all the braze-ons for racks and fenders, bottle bosses, and maybe a pump.
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Old 02-13-21, 01:23 PM
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This link to a posting on the iBOB Google group list might give you some leads:

https://groups.google.com/g/internet-bob/c/hL5nHnEmoXc
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Old 02-13-21, 01:24 PM
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Why not get a Surly?
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Old 02-13-21, 01:38 PM
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Originally Posted by dweenk
Why not go for a quality 1990's hybrid bike? It will have room for 700C x 32 at least. It will most likely have all the braze-ons for racks and fenders, bottle bosses, and maybe a pump.
That kind of bike, with proper steel like 531 is a rare find at least here in Germany. Most hybrids you find for sale here are heavy, bombproof machines and with long top tubes because people tour with flat bars. Adding the touring geo to the mix and it's a pretty boring ride IMO. I've been looking for a Bob Jackson, but again super rare..

Originally Posted by Het Volk
Why not get a Surly?
I assembled a cross check for my mate and we toured the alps last summer. It's a bit too heavy and thought for a different use-case I think. It has clearance for much larger tires, which means the fenders when using 32C tires sit too high for a proper fender line; the front rack also sits too high, meaning the straddle cable hanger sits too high and braking is bad. Neither of us like v-brakes because of the low modulation, but in that bike it might be the only option. I would prefer to get a custom bike at this point than a surly cross check, but thanks for mentioning, they are fine bikes nonetheless.
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Old 02-13-21, 01:42 PM
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Part of me wants to say "cut the front triangle off and have gugie replace the whole thing and the fork," but that's a bit over the top and already asking for prohibitive expense.

Still, it would mean that the part of the bike you do like will remain.

Not sure, but a 1970's Raleigh Super Course with the full Gugie treatment might fit the tires you want and have a shorter top tube. Seems like they're the go-to "always-seems-to-work" bike for projects like this.

EDIT: Germany? A Super Course may be accessible for you. Gugie, less so. Any framebuilders in your area?

-Kurt
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Old 02-13-21, 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by mariachi
That kind of bike, with proper steel like 531 is a rare find at least here in Germany. Most hybrids you find for sale here are heavy, bombproof machines and with long top tubes because people tour with flat bars. Adding the touring geo to the mix and it's a pretty boring ride IMO. I've been looking for a Bob Jackson, but again super rare..

snip . . .
You're right that a lightweight hybrid is not easy to find. Bridgestone made some but they are not easy to find.

Vintage Reynolds 531 road bikes that are suitable for 650b conversion can be found in Germany, France, the low countries, the UK, and the US of A, right? You might want to spend some time looking at the 650b conversion thread and get some idea of which bikes are suitable for that sort of conversion.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nversions.html

Here are some guidelines:

https://www.bikeman.com/bikeman-blog...sion-guidlines

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Old 02-13-21, 02:03 PM
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Originally Posted by bikemig
You're right that a lightweight hybrid is not easy to find. Bridgestone made some but they are not easy to find.

Vintage Reynolds 531 road bikes that are suitable for 650b conversion can be found in Germany, France, the low countries, the UK, and the US of A, right? You might want to spend some time looking at the 650b conversion thread and get some idea of which bikes are suitable for that sort of conversion.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nversions.html

Here are some guidelines:

https://www.bikeman.com/bikeman-blog...sion-guidlines
Thanks I'll keep an eye on that thread. I see Bridgestones for sale but mostly the cheaper stuff, my ebay classifieds alert is on haha nothing like a nice Bridgestone Eurasia..

Originally Posted by cudak888
Part of me wants to say "cut the front triangle off and have gugie replace the whole thing and the fork," but that's a bit over the top and already asking for prohibitive expense.

Still, it would mean that the part of the bike you do like will remain.

Not sure, but a 1970's Raleigh Super Course with the full Gugie treatment might fit the tires you want and have a shorter top tube. Seems like they're the go-to "always-seems-to-work" bike for projects like this.

EDIT: Germany? A Super Course may be accessible for you. Gugie, less so. Any framebuilders in your area?

-Kurt
I'll search for Super Course.. that's a model I've never search for before. Yeah.. that sounds laborious and expensive and in that case I would get a custom made frame, but thank you for pointing that out. https://meerglas.org is right around the corner and I did send him an email, but I think he's not building stuff anymore, or not actively, thus my search for alternatives He's the only one with the style and details I like. I mean, if I'm going to pay a bucket of money for custom, I might as well go for a builder that does exactly what I like.

Originally Posted by nlerner
This link to a posting on the iBOB Google group list might give you some leads:

https://groups.google.com/g/internet-bob/c/hL5nHnEmoXc
This is a cool thread! I had forgotten about Ebisu for example.. the cost plus shipping is probably more expensive than anything else including a local framebuilder. Still, lots of cool leads thanks!

If I wasn't picky and just accepted that discs are here to stay and when it rains they make noise all the time my life would be easier
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Old 02-13-21, 02:08 PM
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The Randonneur geometry is becoming more popular, it seems to me, in builders marketing “do everything” bikes. You see this it’s American brands like Soma and Surly. I just bought a New Albion (Soma sister brand) Privateer frame off eBay that I’m going to experiment with. It checks a lot of your boxes and we’ll see how it works out in the handling department. It is getting harder, unfortunately as you’ve also found, to find newer rim brake frames. Handsome cycles makes a 700c frame (Devil) as well that meets your criteria.
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Old 02-13-21, 02:28 PM
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Originally Posted by mariachi
That kind of bike, with proper steel like 531 is a rare find at least here in Germany. Most hybrids you find for sale here are heavy, bombproof machines and with long top tubes because people tour with flat bars. Adding the touring geo to the mix and it's a pretty boring ride IMO. I've been looking for a Bob Jackson, but again super rare..
If you're in Germany there should be plenty of options in the nice hybrid category but let me recommend one to start with;
A Koga-Miyata Terraliner.

Available in a lot of different versions over the years. Some being pure-bred racing bikes others being light tourers but pretty much all of them came with cantilevers and can fit 42-622 tyres, some even with fenders.
They also have shorter top tubes than most modern bikes so that should work pretty well too.




1992 Koga-Miyata Terraliner. 12.4kg (27 lbs) according to the brochure.

TerraLiner
Pure bred hybrid.

The heart of the strong TerraLiner, the frame, is made from "oversized" Koga-Miyata Hardtlite® FM-1 chromium molybdenum STB (splined triple butted) tubing. The fork is also made from "oversized" chromoly. In combination with the frame this results in an extra stiff bike. A well-designed geometry makes the TerraLiner a real "Multi-Purpose" bicycle. In part due to its high-end components the bike is a very fast and sporty hybrid. With its mady mounting points such as the attachments for racks, lowrider racks, fenders, etc. the TerraLiner can be quickly adjusted to a nimble workhorse for touring.

Last edited by JaccoW; 02-13-21 at 02:38 PM.
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Old 02-13-21, 04:01 PM
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How about a Thorn Club Tour? It seems to tick most of the boxes except for canti brakes, and as it's got V-brakes fitting cantis should be straightforward.

I see quite a few Thorn bikes in Audax rides and they look well made and the owners are invariably happy with them.
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Old 02-13-21, 05:57 PM
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Jamie Aurora

I have an older model of this bike and it is a lovely ride. I'd say it is a light duty tourer so I think its up your alley. The biggest tires mine can hold is 35c's but I enjoy it immensely.

https://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/aurora.html



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Old 02-13-21, 07:34 PM
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This might be a tough find, but for a few years Rawland offered the Stag, a lightweight, low trail, canti-brake all-rounder 650B frameset manufactured in Taiwan to Rawland's spec. Framesets occasionally show up for sale on the iBob and 650B lists. What made this bike attractive is that despite being a low-cost production bike, it was spec'd for the rando / all-road crowd and checked a lot of boxes-- room for 650B x 50 wheels, fender mounts spaced equidistant, three sets of bottle cage bosses, ultrathin 0.7/0.4/0.7 or 0.8/0.6/0.8 butted tubing depending on size, nice Pacenti twin-plate crown. The only design flaw is that the fork was spec'd unnecessarily stout and rigid (but possibly no more so than any recent production Surly, Soma, VO production fork), but a bunch of folks including myself organized a group buy for a more supple replacement fork by a custom US builder, which elevated the economical frame to near perfection. If you can get ahold of a used Stag from one of the lists, that would be a really good contender. The predecessor to the Stag, the Nordavinden, is also a good frame to look out for. It was 700C in the larger sizes, and 650B in the smaller sizes. Here's my Stag, with replacement Jeff Lyon fork:


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Old 02-13-21, 08:40 PM
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I have a Koga Miyata Cityliner, which is a very nice hybrid with good tubeing that ended up being to light for touring. I'm running 40mm tires under fenders. It has a high bottom bracket and seems to have a pretty high trail, not really Randonneur geometry. I still run it with a big handle bar bag, but its not optimum. Im converting it to drop bars, and will run a much smaller front bag and a large trunk bag. Point being that a Koga Miyata hybrid might not be a good randoneur style bike, but I would assume that any Koga Miyata you find is a very nice bike, and not all are upright touring hybrids. I'm pretty sure they even had a road bike call "Randonneur"
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Old 02-14-21, 12:23 AM
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Not quite a lookalike, but what about the Soma Pescadero? Okay, it's out of stock at the moment (isn't everything?), but it looks pretty good. You can also get the New Albion frames for good prices. Don't know about shipping.

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Old 02-14-21, 01:21 AM
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tl;dr: If you want to do fast touring/rando with a significant front bag component and easy/clean fender/rack mounting, you should look for a purpose-built rando frame with a shorter top tube that fits you better.

So what I think I'm looking at is a medium-high trail frame (current VO Pass Hunters are 57mm), which in general isn't expected to handle great with a heavier front bag, combined with a longer-than-ideal top tube and subsequently a shorter-than-ideal stem, which will accentuate the skittish handling. The answer to that is either a smaller, lower-trail frame, or a lower-trail frame of the same height, if OP likes having very little standover, but with a shorter top tube.

There's a lot I don't understand about frame shimmy, but I somehow think that a tall-for-the-rider frame with a short 50mm stem and med-high trail combined with a front bag might encourage shimmy?

I'd first be looking at overall bike fit, then be thinking about trail, then be wondering if 650b would be better for my height.

Asking for a production frame that fits 700x32 with fenders isn't a tall order anymore.
Asking for that in a current-production rim-brake frame severely limits choice.
Asking for that in a lightweight frame for spirited riding limits it even further.
Asking for that with a full compliment of well-designed fender mounts.....und so weiter.

I have zero frame of reference to tie all that in to what current-production/used choices might be easily available in Berlin, Germany.

I'm guessing there are plentiful options in Europe/UK for custom built.
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Old 02-14-21, 05:21 AM
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Soma Champs Elysees forks might be still available with a 1" threadless steerer and canti studs for 700c. That would get you there when added to a high end hybrid and a drop bar conversion.
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Old 02-14-21, 07:13 AM
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Mercian? they’ll build exactly what you want, or look for a second hand one that’s ‘close enough’

thats a ‘93 King of Mercia built to take 700x32c with guards, will actually take 35s under them if you squeeze.
Geometry is custom but based on their Audax/Soort tour and it’s built from 531c

if you asked them today they could build exactly the same thing despite the 30years gap, although would probably offer 631, 725 or 853 instead of 531 but that’s not a problem as the modern equivalents are as good or better.

other builders are available in the UK too, insure you must have some in Germany? Alternatively look to the French... Gilles Berthoud still build traditional random eyes, as do others (including Cycles Alex Singer if you have deep pockets!)
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Old 02-14-21, 11:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Korina
Not quite a lookalike, but what about the Soma Pescadero? Okay, it's out of stock at the moment (isn't everything?), but it looks pretty good. You can also get the New Albion frames for good prices. Don't know about shipping.

Didn't know this one. Has some interesting things going on... not super sure about anything besides canti/mini-v brakes. My TRP mini-v can lock the wheel, so they're as good as anything else. Are centerpulls as good as that? It's the only reason why I never looked at frames without brakes mounted on bosses. Actually found a dude here in Berlin with one, hopefully he'll let me check iit out in person.

Originally Posted by amedias
Mercian? they’ll build exactly what you want, or look for a second hand one that’s ‘close enough’

thats a ‘93 King of Mercia built to take 700x32c with guards, will actually take 35s under them if you squeeze.
Geometry is custom but based on their Audax/Soort tour and it’s built from 531c

if you asked them today they could build exactly the same thing despite the 30years gap, although would probably offer 631, 725 or 853 instead of 531 but that’s not a problem as the modern equivalents are as good or better.

other builders are available in the UK too, insure you must have some in Germany? Alternatively look to the French... Gilles Berthoud still build traditional random eyes, as do others (including Cycles Alex Singer if you have deep pockets!)
Mercian is cool. It seems like they also do 650B frames theres days? How's the handling with the bag on yours? Like 80% of the time I ride without a bag, but when I do it's nice the bike doesn't go all crazy on me.
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Old 02-14-21, 01:18 PM
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Originally Posted by amedias
Mercian? they’ll build exactly what you want, or look for a second hand one that’s ‘close enough’

thats a ‘93 King of Mercia built to take 700x32c with guards, will actually take 35s under them if you squeeze.
Geometry is custom but based on their Audax/Soort tour and it’s built from 531c

if you asked them today they could build exactly the same thing despite the 30years gap, although would probably offer 631, 725 or 853 instead of 531 but that’s not a problem as the modern equivalents are as good or better.

other builders are available in the UK too, insure you must have some in Germany? Alternatively look to the French... Gilles Berthoud still build traditional random eyes, as do others (including Cycles Alex Singer if you have deep pockets!)
I had thought about suggesting Mercian! No American builder can compete price-wise for a full custom, and given the OP's preferences, it looks like full-custom is the way to go.
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Old 02-14-21, 06:09 PM
  #22  
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Crust canti lightning bolt seems to be exactly what you need, no?
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Old 02-14-21, 08:16 PM
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Old 02-15-21, 02:40 AM
  #24  
amedias
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How's the handling with the bag on yours? Like 80% of the time I ride without a bag, but when I do it's nice the bike doesn't go all crazy on me.
I ride about 50% of th time with no bag, 30% of the time with a bag but light load, and 20% of the time with a heavier load.

The handling is fine for me, with and without the bag. Key point there being 'for me', just cos I like something doesn't me an you will, same goes for anyone else's opinion so be careful taking advice if you don't fully understand both what you want and what kind of geometry will achieve it, otherwise there's always a risk you'll end up getting someone else's interpretation of perfect, which might not be the same as yours!

But... you'd be surprised what you can get used to, and there are general 'rules of thumb' so unless your expectations are properly whacky, and you get a bike with geometry at the extreme end of an interpretation you'll probably be fine ;-)

I ride numerous different bikes, all with slightly different geometry, and I ride them loaded and unloaded, it only takes a short while for my brain to adjust back into how a particular bike handles, sure I have favourites (in the moment) but I also like the differences.
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Old 02-15-21, 11:04 AM
  #25  
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Wow, @Korina, that's a really good video. I'll be referring back to it.

@dddd, you're an expert in bike geometry, no? What's your opinion on that video. While you're at it, what do you think of the original poster's question?
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