apparently not!

I bet that isn't a flip/flop hub but is designed to have a drum brake attached. Useful for tandems and/or heavily loaded touring bikes in the mountains. If I was doing a non-supported tour through the CO mountains I'd love to have a wheelset like that.

Now I had not thought of that but that makes perfect sense. I bet you are correct.

Some sweet touring bikes.

Below is my 83 Trek 620

http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/f...3trek620-1.jpg

1985 Bridgestone T500... picked up frame/brakes from BF member sonatageek. Had to re-piece with spare parts laying around. Rides great! (not much of an "improvement" before/after but a before/after nonetheless)

Before
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1245900595

After
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...7/DSC00713.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...7/DSC00706.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...7/DSC00709.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...7/DSC00712.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...7/DSC00716.jpg

All I need now is a decent saddle and some new tires sometime soon...

Here's my 1973 Mondia photographed last Thursday June 18th at the top of Sonora Pass in the Sierras at 9,000 ft. A good climbing and descending bike.
http://www.peterbrueggeman.com/cr/mo...onora_pass.jpg

is that an ortlieb saddlebag?

i ask obvious questions, correct me as needed

I love that derailleur combo! Do you find it awkward to shift the front derailleur? I presume it's only for changing at the beginning of a climb or at the top of a climb... Fascinating concept, nonetheless. Do you find it practical, though? or wish for a middle ring?

-Jon

Absolutely !
But why in hell a 100 years later nobody still hasn't marketed such clever frame bags ????

I dunno.... I once had a triangle frame bag, and I hated it. I sold it to a friend, and used the proceeds to buy a rack and panniers. :-) It was constantly bumping into my knees, regardless of how tight I tried to tighten it. It wasn't cheap either.

-Jon

There are people making bags like that

carouesel design works
http://carouseldesignworks.com/

epic design
http://www.epicdesignsalaska.com/

My Mondia has an Ortlieb handlebar bag and a Carradice SQR Tour bag, both ostensibly waterproof. These were more than sufficient for our credit card tour for five days covering 488 miles from San Francisco Bay area to the Sierras via two passes and back (oops, Sonora Pass is 9,600 feet and the photo was taken a few yards away from the road summit; we returned via 9,900 foot Tioga Pass).

The Carradice bag has a recommended max carry weight that I learned should not be approached; weight in the bag can wag the bike frame on rougher textured asphalt high speed downhills, leading to front end shimmy. While I stopped it by clamping my knees on the top tube to finish my descent of Conway Summit, something had to change and I adjusted my load to move tools, food, etc. to the handlebar bag. Voila, fixed it, and the Carradice SQR Tour bag is great for carrying clothes which are lightweight and bulky. Panniers and a rack would be better of course, but we were riding light and what passes for fast, averaging 97 miles per day, and staying in motels. We both have full-on touring bikes with racks, panniers and such but went for light on this trip. Our bags and contents
weighed 14 pounds, not counting food or water.

As for using a lever front derailleur and 28-53 chainrings for touring, this is a having-fun-with-vintage setup. A lever front derailleur doesn't work better than modern stuff but it does garner the style points and is fun to use. I enjoy shifting it and I can't say that about cable operated front derailleurs on my other bikes. Gear range is 23-109 gear inches. Plenty of touring bikes years ago had double chainrings in similar though less extreme alpine gearing. You stay on the large chainring for flat, downhills, and lesser uphill grades; you shift to the small chainring and stay on it for hills. Typically there's not much front shifting going on, only when on the bottom of a steeper hill and at the top
after it flattens out. I have a higher top gear than common in old alpine gearing setups, because I like bombing downhills and I use it.

As for shifting, I shift up or down chainrights without looking down, just reach down and shift. It's not much different than reaching for a water bottle in a downtube cage without looking. Since the derailleur lever is on the seat tube, you can find it quickly if you don't lay your hand dead on it. The derailleur snicks the chain right onto the large and small chainring no problem. I can ride up moderate grades on the large chainring and have to downshift to the small chainring for any sort of hill. The downshift to the small chainring at the bottom of a hill is quickly followed by a shift to a smaller freewheel cog, so there's a quick loss in momentum there at the bottom of a hill. No big deal to
me since I don't race up hills. At the top of a hill, you shift back to the large chainring.

I overlooked answering the question whether a double chainring and wide range freewheel was practical, or if I wished for a middle ring.

The number of gears one needs is an interesting question, and the answer for me is it's all relative. When I got into bike touring in the later 1970s, I used five speed freewheel, triple crank, and so had 12 or 13 usable gears. My Mondia has a seven speed IRD freewheel and 12 usable gears. So I don't feel a lack where I'm coming from. Someone who prefers having 24 or 25 usable gears might feel differently.

I ride well enough using a wide range of 12 gears, and never felt held back with only 12 gears. Cycle tourists years ago only had so many gears, remember, and they weren't held back in touring Europe, the US, etc. It's the other stuff that holds me back, like heat, thin air, etc.

Meral
 

Meral, 531, Huret ti Duopar Rd, Triple TA, 6 cassette with chamfered teeth for secure snap changing, MA40's... that sort of stuff. Efficient, but doesn't feel very "alive".

fuji touring
 

My '83 Fuji Touring Series IV. Someone hung it in the garage for 25 years I guess. It is a great ride, but I won't be touring, so I will probably sell it. It has the cool "extra spoke" braze-ons on the left chainstay. I'm sure those haven't been removed in 25 years either.

Touring bikes make great commuters.

Ride that bike for a couple weeks before you part with it. If it rides anything like my Fuji I think you may change your mind about selling it. I am so impressed with the TouringIII I picked up despite the neglect it has seen. It definitely has been rode a LOT. It has telltale marks from a full set of racks. It was rode hard and put up wet. Despite this the ride is wonderful. I am actually thinking of parting with my 85 t700 C-Dale that I was going to set up like a randonee and make the Fuji into the randonee.

Have you got a shot of the spoke holder? The III doesn't have it.

Atami steel
 

this bike is still in the works, I have some randonneur drop bars coming and a new paint Attachment 110241

Attachment 110243

Here are the chainstay spoke holders on my Touring Series V
[IMG]http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/w...0/CIMG3648.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks. I think I could make something like that that clamps on easy enough.

Meral made very beautiful bikes! I believe most US readers would not be familiar with that marque.
I have never seen a Meral in the US, and only rarely in France.

I believe that your bike was made to hold a unique rear luggage rack (porte-bagage arriere) which would fasten to each seat stay at 2 points... perhaps you still have that carrier? If you have more photos I would love to view them. - Merci!

Bob

Hi Bob, for a self-professed "Old Skeptic" you are being refreshingly optimistic :)
Before I got my hands on that Meral, it went though the clutches of people who kindly supply the needy via ebay. Meaning it had racks, but they got stripped off the bike and sold for somebody to build a tourer... So unfortunately, this tourer is rackless apart from the front carrier. There are hex screws on both fork baldes meaning a traditional big pannier carrier each side (viz a Meral on some other forum ?), and the seat stays have fixing screws for a rack likely of the type you've described. I imagine that what you describe is the original config. However, the bike carries a "Daleo Special" decal set. Daleo is the trademark of a well known custom frame builder over here (near Clermont Ferrand), so if it was taken to him, he must have performed quite a few modifications, I guess a custom fit, inner routing of rear brake cable and who knows what else.

So right on, Meral made some really great bikes. But they also made some really atrocious ones :) Don't ever see any from the period of mine on the roads over here, not even on ebay. Both are 57 cm's and if I take one to EROICA and you can accomodate that size, you can ride it to your heart's content. And if you prang it and it's a write off, tant pis, c'est la vie. Bikes are made to be ridden.

Definitely, now the amassing bikes is ending, I'll do a site with detailled pictures and measurements of the entire collection, so yes, more pics to come. And thx for the compliment, glad you like the thing.

Well, now that I've gotten around to looking for images of a MERAL touring bike...
I quickly came across this gem! Hmmm, what do you think of that paint color Batman_3000?

Now THIS is what I call a very cool looking rear touring rack. - I just gots to git me one! :thumb:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/...77c3665779.jpg

I hope everyone will take the time to check out the very nice larger images of this bike here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tetedel...7604026966258/

I'd also seen one on eBay a while back and saved this image showing a different but equally clever smaller luggage rack:

I'll have to dig through my files to see if I'd saved any additional captured images from that auction.

I just noticed that both of these bikes appear to have internal rear brake cable routing.

I do wish people would post larger auction photos (for me to appropriate...) :mad:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2010/...7eac47ff_o.jpg

My 1984 Trek 520. I bought it new in 1983, and I changed a couple of things recently.

http://members.cox.net/netwurkin/loaded%20edit.jpg

What does the shifter on the back of the seat tube do on that Meral? Nice looking bike!

Sanyo dynamo
 

Fabulous bikes !!! I guess that if you want one Stronglight, you'll know which charity to contact over here. However my info is they never find any. The original config is Maxicar hubs, but those went the same way as the rack, another Huffy turned into a Herse. Thx ebay !!!




The Derailleur lever on the ST actuates a Sanyo dynamo mounted with a plate/screw/plate attachement between the stays, snug against the BB. Kicks out a bit more power for less rolling resistance.