Best Vintage Steel for 26" Touring Bike?
01-31-15, 10:06 AM
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Best Vintage Steel for 26" Touring Bike?
As vintage MTB prices are beginning to swoop upward in the Bay Area, I am looking to buy a vintage steel MTB to convert to touring, possibly drop bars, etc. I am looking to identify bikes with Prestige, Ritchey Logic, 531 or better, tubing. I would like information about OX grading as well. Can people recommend years, models, and if possible, post pictures? I am aware of the more common bikes of the same: MB1, Breezer, Trek900 series.
Last edited by coquina012; 01-31-15 at 02:37 PM.
01-31-15, 03:51 PM
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i would be a little surprised if vintage, and that can encompass a lot of years and different styles of tubing and manufacturing techniques, MTB's were often made with tubing that one usually associates with pre-welding manufacturing techniques. IME, most Specialized MTBs from the late 80's on were welded from some pretty heavy cro-mo for quite a while. i'm interested in the responses you'll get. 
01-31-15, 04:05 PM
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Although this thread is entirely subjective, the best riding mtb tubing I have ridden seems to be True Temper AVR and Tange Prestige.
01-31-15, 08:24 PM
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The very best riding bike I have ever owned (I have had a number of rather good steel bikes) was a Joe Breeze Venturi, US made frame. The tubes are likely Ritchey Logic, but I don't know for sure. A magazine ad from about 1990 offers the frame for $3400 +or-. But I had a superb Miyata 615 touring bike that is said to be equivalent to Prestige MTB tubing. I am shooting for something along those lines. It was nearly as good as the Breezer. My brother just found me a Trek that is probably 531 or OX; lugged steel. I can't tell what model that Fuji is from the photo. Do you recall?
Last edited by coquina012; 01-31-15 at 08:37 PM.
02-01-15, 08:33 AM
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Lots of good reference in here...
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...nversions.html
I would not get hung up on the fancy tube sets as those were more intended for racing bikes, alas lacking lacking touring amenities(I.E. braze ons)
Also, folks tend to favor the 80s MTB/ATBs for their more relaxed, touring-esque geometry. Most of those were double or triple butted cro-mo on the higher end bikes.
The 90s saw a shift towards more road like/stretched out geometry to the point were you could almost use a yard stick to measure saddle to bar drop.
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...nversions.html
I would not get hung up on the fancy tube sets as those were more intended for racing bikes, alas lacking lacking touring amenities(I.E. braze ons)
Also, folks tend to favor the 80s MTB/ATBs for their more relaxed, touring-esque geometry. Most of those were double or triple butted cro-mo on the higher end bikes.
The 90s saw a shift towards more road like/stretched out geometry to the point were you could almost use a yard stick to measure saddle to bar drop.
02-02-15, 01:55 PM
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I have an 87 Ritchey Outback frameset that I am going to be selling soon. The geometry on that would make a perfect touring bike.
Last edited by fiatjeepdriver; 02-02-15 at 02:06 PM.
02-02-15, 01:57 PM
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I'd be less worried about the steel (as long as its good quality DB tubing) and more worried about frame geometry. Top tubes got longer relative to the seat tube length in the 90s and wheelbases became shorter. This improved the handling offroad at the expensive of making the bikes somewhat less suitable for touring. Vintage mtbs can make excellent touring bikes.
02-04-15, 12:02 AM
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Yes, the geometry shift also makes it harder for me to predict fitment on an unbuilt frame. I like the Ritchey above a great deal. I am surprised how much I like the purple. Looks fantastic. I have a 29-30" standover, and normally ride a 53 in road bikes, with some 52s and fewer 54s fitting OK. On Mtbs--newer geometry-I ride a 17. In the meantime, I have a Trek 950 knocking on my door, an LX bike, for a pittance--asking $80.
03-01-15, 10:13 AM
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Tange here, too. 1996 Mongoose IBOC ZeroG. 24.9 pounds stock.
03-10-15, 06:59 AM
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The lower the bottom bracket, the better. You want a lower Ctr, of Grav. for a touring bike and tend to need less ground clearance. I found out the reverse when I built a touring frame up as a SSCX bike...
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The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets. Christopher Morley
