seedsbelize 

I averaged 11 mph on my recent tour. And I did very little walking.

Hobbiano 

I'd keep your wheels, 36/ 40 spokes, sealed hubs, nice rims, made for touring. So what if they're a little heavy? How many lighter, modern wheels will still be in good shape 35
years from now? Maybe even add a dork disk for extra protection.

crank_addict

Take advantage of the fork! It has the brazons for mid-mount rack and lowriders. I suggest the majority weight bias forward. You'll notice a difference on steel frames. (For touring on aluminum frame, I prefer to balance front and rear.)

Can live with the simple down tube shifters. If the Brooks feels right, keep it.

Sealant in tubes. That's all.

Enjoy the adventure~

gugie 

Here's my Pro Tour set up for "well packed" credit card touring.



Mine is a couple of years older than yours. Some OEM equipment, mostly just the frame is reused. First gen SunTour Cyclone, new wheels. I see nothing wrong with your wheels, and although I don't have any experience with the Mountechs, if you were doing long distance touring, I'd change it out. 5-6 days, maybe not. Like others I like the bar end shifters.

The geometry on the Pro Tour handles front loading pretty well. I would consider a Nitto Mark's rack with a good sized handlebar bag. If you're camping, I'd prefer lowriders up front before starting to load down the back end for optimal handling.

I run Compass 700c x 35's. That's too big for decent fender clearance, 32-33 might be the most I'd use with fenders.

ryansu

Nice Centurion OP lost out on one like that a few years ago but came up with a Nishiki Cresta GT, I might suggest doing a shorter tour first as a shake down which should help you figure out what works and what you might want to change before going on an epic ride. I would agree with @Lascauxcaveman that wet doesn't have to be the death of a leather saddle. Care for it (proofide etc), fenders, saddle cover or plastic bag for the occasional downpour and you should be fine. I don't see cows running for cover every time it rains .

bwilli88 

Here is my other Centurion Pro Tour, an 83, it came stripped of paint and it had a set of bottle bosses installed on the seat tube and the chrome had been stripped from that area.
Also built up with Shimano 105 5700 10 speed.

IMG_20181002_110522699_HDR by Bwilli88, on Flickr


What would I do for your bike; Brake pads, replace if not done already, with Kool Stops, Ditch the mountach for a Vgt luxe or similar, Re-lace the wheels with SS spokes it they are not already, Get a nice front rack like a Nitto Mark's rack and mount a nice Rando bag.

Also you can see I have riser stems on both of my ProTours.

JaccoW

Like some have mentioned before me, add a front lowrider and shift most of the weight to the front.
Bring a backup pair of cantilever brakes or at the very least some Koolstop thinlines for the front.

Have the wheels checked and carry some extra spokes and mostly nipples.

I went touring on this bike last year and going down one of the very first mountains in Switserland I hit a pothole at speed, broke a few spokes in the rear. Had to remove the fender because the wheel was dragging so much and when I tried to adjust the front brakes to grab a little more one of the old brass bolts snapped off. Meaning I only had a badly working rear brake and 15 km left going down a hill. And of course a shop specializing in road bikes does not have canti's, let alone narrow-post ones, so I had it switched to long-reach caliper brakes for the rest of the tour.



But maybe I did have a bit of Murphy's law going on that day.

gugie 

Really like what you did with the black contrast! Pure chrome gets lost somehow.

sloar 

Fenders are on, doing final adjustments. Heading today to my favorite bike shop for a rear derailleur.

seedsbelize 

I rode a 80 Trek 414 with original wheels. I had all the weight in back, until it started breaking drive side spokes. At which point I moved the bulk of the weight to the front, on some hand me down panniers and racks.

Those drive side spokes had all been damaged at some time in the past, by a thrown chain

Phamilton

@sloar don't wait until you have scars on your legs to trim the ends of those fender stays. If you have big feet, your toes will hit 'em too. If you think it may be useful to you, I have a front rack that you'd be welcome to use and try out for a tour or whatever, since you're local and I've bought a bike off you before. I'm not using it at the moment.

thumpism 

Looks like you have 36H front and 40H rear wheels. That 40 might be problematic in the event of a trashed wheel but, on the other hand, it might be strong enough to resist trashing. That's why it was specified for a touring bike.

I approve of the stem setup.

Cougrrcj

I 'toured' for years with a V-GT Luxe rear and Compe-V front on my old Fuji S-10S with SunTour barcons. Never had any problems.

My current 'touring bike' is a '84 Univega Gran Tourismo, pretty much outfitted like the OP's Centurion with Mountech, cantis, etc. Although I've never had an issue with the Mountechs, I'll probably put one of my spare V-GTs on the rear just because they are pretty much bomb-proof. Oh, and it now also wear SunTour barcons like all of my bikes that are ridden on roads...

Like his Centurion, my Uni has the original Araya 36/36 27" wheels with Sansin sealed hubs, and I've been running 1-1/4" Paselas on it for a close to a thousand miles so far.

I agree with 'upgrading' your brake pads to fresh KoolStops -- I'm using the dual-compounds.

Pedals? I'm still using the originals with toe clips and straps, but I might change them out for pinned platforms at some later date. I still use my old-but serviceable Specialized touring shoes...

Pump? I prefer a full-size frame pump, and have several vintage aluminum-body Zefal HPs that I've acquired over the years...

The most important thing is NOT to overthink things, and just Enjoy The Ride!!!

sloar 

I have a Suntour Luxe on the way.

delicious

I'd rebuild the rear wheel with new spokes. Breaking those was the only mechanical problem I had on a ~600 mile tour on my '76 Raleigh with original parts.

52telecaster

Looks good to me. Ride slow with your head up and enjoy the view. Coast when you can. You've earned it.

yukiinu

Install new bottom bracket. Change triple crankset to 22/32/44. Change freewheel to 7 speed with large 34 tooth low gear. Install long throw rear derailleur for use with 22/34 lowest gear combination. Install 7 speed stem mounted gear shift levers, new chain, front dreauiler (all drive train Shimano) info and purchase at Amazon. Install high pressure presta valve tubes (use schrader to presta rim adapters) use wide touring tires compatible with high pressure tubes. Carry extra tubes/ tires because they are hard to find in small towns (without bike shops). Unlike mountain bike tires tubes which are in drugstores in small towns. I have 9000 miles American cross country touring on road and mountain bikes.

mstateglfr 

I cant imagine riding 8mph on purpose as riding 11mph really doesnt feel like more energy is used and 8mph would make for some really long days in the saddle. My 8yo daughter rides faster than 8mph and she definitely isnt working too hard or missing any sights, at least based on all the chatting she does about everything she passes!

The destination is an experience and not a point an a map- yada yada yada. Sure, I can get on board with that, but OP dont just default to following some line of thinking where you must ride slowly to see things. Thats absurd and could easily become exhausting in saddle time.

With a slight breeze, it seems like I can coast for a mile at 8mph...thought that may say more about my weight than anything else!


Anyways, smell the roses, but it is completely OK to also give some effort when you ride so you can get to the next rose bush quicker and perhaps see more rose bushes overall.

The Golden Boy 

OK- take away the “8-10” and replace it with “a much more relaxed pace than a competitive cyclist would be comfortable with.”

Besides, I can't imagine how difficult it must be to maintain 11 MPH and not stray into 10 or 12 MPH territory- I would hope you wouldn’t go to 9 or 13...

Miele Man

I think it'd be pretty hard to get the cable stop adapter to fit the top of the downtube mount for the shifters.

Cheers

Miele Man

What a gorgeous looking classic bicycle!

I too like low-rider front racks for two reasons. One is to balance the load and take a fair bit of weight off the rear wheel. The other reason? I use a 3 person dome tent and with the low-rider front rack I can remove the front wheel and park the bicycle INSIDE my tent at night. I'm quite hard of hearing and I like the security of the bike inside my tent. The low-rider front rack holds the bicycle pretty steady when the front wheel is off.

One other thing. I'd cut off those hose clamps where they protrude past the screw mechanism so that there's no chance of one of those protruding ends cutting your leg.

Cheers

Phamilton

I have never toured but have a long daily commute. I imagine a good touring speed would be 14-15mph. I feel like I could keep that pace for hours. At 11mph I think I’d be coasting the whole time and my butt would get sore. I usually commute at 16-17 unless it’s windy. I’d be wiped out after 50 miles of that pace on a heavy loaded bike. I wonder how much farther I’d expect to ride in a day’s time anyway. And that’s thinking flatland speeds, like around here. Hills would add a different flavor.

sloar 

One other thing. I'd cut off those hose clamps where they protrude past the screw mechanism so that there's no chance of one of those protruding ends cutting your leg.

Cheers[/QUOTE]

Hose clamps were temps until the correct clamps came in.

2Fer

All great advice by Yukiinu, especially regarding the bottom bracket and drivetrain advice. You’ll appreciate the lower gearing when pulling a hill fully loaded. I haven’t tried the stem mounted gear shift levers, but instead installed bar-end shifters on my ‘81 Miyata 1000. Great advice from Yukiiny, who has obviously “been there, done that”

2Fer

52telecaster

Im using barcons and a 20 tooth granny. Its really great to have that super low when u need it.