squarenoise 

As a celebration for recent personal accomplishments, I decided to treat myself by adding another checkmark to my grail list... the legendary Specialized Expedition!

I considered a complete and original 83 model that was available locally recently, but ultimately wanted to do more of a "modern" Randonneur build and had reservations about stripping a perfectly functional factory build. I figured I'd wait for one that was already modified or available as just a frameset and it didn't take long for this 85 model to pop up. Just had to address one little hiccup with a minor dent in the head tube (details in this thread) and I'm excited to move forward with the build.



I've been sitting on a majority of these parts, since converting my Surly Cross-Check to a flat bar gravel/dadbike, and was only really missing handlebars and a stem. Wanting to try out the Velo Orange Nouveau Randonneur Handlebar for awhile now and figured their Quill Stem with Removable Faceplate would be the perfect match. So I'm set on those for now.

The drivetrain will be Campagnolo Veloce 9 speed, with compact crankset (50/34). The Campy hubs (11-28 cassette) are laced to Velocity Dyad rims, and I'll be running 700x38 Panaracer Gravelkings.

I'll also be installing a Velo Orange Randonneur Front Rack with Integrated Decaleur. I have this rack/bag system on all my other cantilever bikes so it's super easy to swap the bag around.





Saddle wise, I almost shuffled around saddles on my other bikes, but one would have ended up being downgraded, so I decided to splurge and bought the copper version of the Brooks C17 Special. Have that on order so hopefully the timing works nicely with the rest of the build.

PEDALS: I know Jim has largely been credited for his frame design contributions, but as a big footed person, his touring pedal design was literally life changing for me. When I got back into cycling in 2007, I agonized for years trying to find a pedal/clip combo that didn't cause me discomfort on rides longer than 15 miles. I don't recall when/where I found out about the 80s Specialized touring pedals, but once I got a pair they really opened up a whole new world for me and I was able to enjoy much longer rides. It was as if they were custom made for my feet. These pedals paired with the MKS cage clips are absolutely sublime! Thank you Portlandjim !!!



So yeah, plenty to work on as time permits and we'll see if I can make it for a pre xmas test ride or if it'll have to be after.

Piff 

Oh, this is going to be good.

Can't wait to see how it all shakes out

Does the frame change much from 83 to 85?

squarenoise 

I THINK the geo is the same across all 3 years. 83 had clamp-on shifters and no pump peg. 84 got braze-on shifter bosses plus pump peg, and I guess 85 was the same as 84 with the addition of the "S" panto on the fork crown.

merziac

I have 1 set of those pedals, had to strip the black that had faded to purple and plan to polish the crap out of them, someday.

merziac

Plenty of recent discussion and links here.

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

squarenoise 

I just might be the merziac of pedals, I have them on 8 bikes! The pair above were in rough shape when I got them so I had the cages powder coated.

I’ve been following that one and a couple others, great stuff!

merziac

Fortunately for me the classic Campy's work great for me and I really like the older ones with the chrome steel cages and consider them to be the pinnacle of C+V for me.

I have them on most bikes, plenty of newer black cage ones too but only have them on a couple, not my favorite at all.

I'm a big fan of MKS as well and have them on several too, great looking, bulletproof and one of the best values in all of cycling for a long time IMO.

squarenoise 

Haven't had much free time so sort of an insignificant update, but figure someone might find this useful. While treating the frame with T9 and intermittently moving it around, I realized the rear brake cable stop didn't have an adjuster. Not that it would be totally necessary, but pretty handy for quick little adjustments.

I had a lone Gran Compe adjustor laying around, which was way too long, but with a quick zap from a Dremel... bingo bango bongo! Pretty snazzy lookin.

squarenoise 

Progress! Got all the straight forward parts installed quickly, then spent time massaging the front rack for proper fit and getting the brakes lined up with a bit of toe-in.

Threw on a placeholder saddle to gauge hight in relation to handlebars, so things should be pretty close when installing cables/housing.

The next few days will be extra hectic with xmas fast approaching, but I'm optimistic to have it ridable before the weekend.

Robvolz 

Wow, from the pedals I've never seen before to every choice of components. Well played sir, well played.

squarenoise 

Thank you, Thank you! Those pedals are perfection, highly recommend!

jjhabbs 

beautiful bicycle, It's on my Grail list as well. As well as a Miyata 1000 and a 82 or 83 Trek 720.

Happy trails

John

The Golden Boy 

Nice!

sd5782 

Very nice. I see you also have a Miyata 1000, so comparisons after you finish would be interesting to see.

squarenoise 

I’ve been lucky with Miyatas. Had an 84 1000 and 84 610, the 60cm 1000 fit me perfectly, but the 23” 610 ended up feeling too small. I sold both to justify buying a mint 86 1000, then recently bought a well used 89 1000. I’d love to have a Trek 720 as well. The closest I got was an 85 620, but it was a size too big and I just couldn’t make it work. I do have an 84 520 and although it’s a couple notches below the 720, it’s really a great bike.

As mentioned above, I’m a lucky duck and have two 1000s, 86 and 89. For the most part they’re set up about the same way. The 86 with 7 speed bar ends and the 89 with 9 speed bar ends so there’s not much perceived difference with how those two feel overall. I’m thinking the Expedition is gonna feel a bit sportier, mainly because of the build, but maybe the geo is different enough that it’ll be even more significant. I’m running the same tires on all three so at least that won’t be a variable to consider.

The Golden Boy 

That's a good spread of the 1000 to have- and it's interesting there's not much percieved difference. For me- there's a world of difference between my 1990 Miyata 1000LT and any of my older tourers (84/85). Some of that is the SL/SP/531 vs STB tubing and just a "post 1984 Miyata" thing, and some of that is 1985 to 1990 "burlier is better" sort of thing.

I always say my 620 and 720 ride like a 72 Cadillac Eldorado and the 1000LT is more like a solid truck. But not in a bad, unwieldy way- just a solid hauler with less give than the other bikes.

squarenoise 

Yeah, I'm interested to see how the Expedition will feel overall. I've tried lots of other tourers, but I don't think it's been a fair A/B comparison with frame sizing being different, like the Miyata 1000 being a 60cm and the 610 a 23". I've had 4 different 23" tourers (84 Miyata 610, 85 Sekai 2500, 87 & 90 Schwinn Voyageurs) and they all ended up feeling too small. And for all of those models, the next size up was 25" or 25.5" which is then too big for me. I guess that's why my 24" Trek 520 feels like such a great ride.

With the Expedition and 1000 both being 60cm, it'll be a level playing field. I do agree that the 1000 has that solid truck feel. Solid, smooth and stable. I kinda wish I would have weighed the frames before building them up, cause I definitely don't care enough to tear them down to find out, but when handling the Expedition I had a thought that it somehow felt more "elegant" than the 1000. Maybe weight related, maybe the fork crown lug, maybe the difference with the paint (the 1000 feels denser), maybe just new grail excitement, haha.

The Golden Boy 

I totally agree with you about earlier tourers feeling more "elegant."

My secret theory is that tourers were often the flagship bikes for companies- "touring" was the buzzword- and the "touring bike" got the attention- as such, they got the prestigious tubing and the cutting edge and prestigious parts. But as the mid 80s rolls around ATBs/MTBs became the buzz and 1985 is the peak and the crash of the Grand Tourer. Trek dropped the touring program for 1986. Schwinn combined the Voyager and Voyageur SP program into the Voyageur program for 86. It looks like Miyata was still making a full-on Class A M1000 with XT and everything for 1986, though- but by 1989 Deore DX replaced XT.

But I think as the prestige went away from touring bikes, you had less prestigious tubing and parts- but probably "better" tourers... Heavier tubing probably made for a stiffer bike carrying an extra 30 pounds. Where speccing racing bikes is always a game of grams- you're not beholden to it like that on a touring bike- where carrying an extra half bottle of water is a good thing.

LeeG

Looks great

squarenoise 

Thanks LeeG! Also thanks for reminding me to update the thread!

Sooooo I did finish the build just before the new year, but had somewhat of a bummer maiden voyage. The frame was not tracking correctly and it became extra obvious when riding with no hands. It kept turning towards to the right, ack! Even with knowing I could get the frame properly aligned, I was still pretty bummed, defeated, etc. I started rethinking the whole build and decided to use the majority of parts on another frame.

The good news is that Tucson is home to Any Gilmour, a fairly prolific frame builder and he's shop is just up the street from me! I took the frame over to Andy recently, he got everything aligned and the bike is back in my possession.

Version 2.0 will be more of a traditional touring build with the following components...

Specialized Flag Triple Crankset (Recently purchased from forum member: hazetguy)
Shimano Deore DX Derailleurs
Shimano 7 Speed Barend Shifters
Nitto Technomic Stem pair with Nitto Noddle bars
40/36 Wheelset with sealed Suntour hubs

I've been working on cleaning/prepping all the parts and now just need to find time to build it up. Hopefully diving back in this weekend!

Bikedued

Deore DX is good stuff. One of my all time favorite derailleurs, right behind Cyclone M-II.

kvnclu

Being also based in Tucson, I'm looking forward to seeing this beauty around town! Love the shiny silver build

squarenoise 

Nice! Maybe you'll catch me on The Loop sometime!

Piff 

Gorgeous build, again. Like the swap to the triple!!!

Also, if those VO rando bars don't agree with you and you start looking for a similar bar but with a more classic bend, I recently came across the Ritchey WCS Evo max and found it to be a great bar. Almost identical to the VO bars except for the drops are a flat line mostly. It's from 2016 so finding it may take a little time, but they're out there.

Prior to the Ritchey I was using a bog standard road compact bar and just couldn't get used to the drops. I'm most used to the classic rando bars (e.g. Nitto 132/135) which have drops with plenty of room, they have plenty of rearward extension. I'm missing that when using a lot of compact bars. And it's hard to find all-road bars with minor amounts of sweep/flare in narrow dimensions these days, gotta go back into the past. All that combined to a feverish internet search that ended with that Ritchey bar.

squarenoise 

I THINK the VO Rando bars are going to work great, although on another build that's a couple months out. Thanks for the tip on the Ritchey bars, though! Always good to have recommendations for future builds. Did those only come in black, is this the right one?

Another bar I really like, but has been sold out and probably out of production is the Fairwether Mod 174. It's basically a short reach, shallow drop Nitto Noodle and really feels great all around. I regret not buying another one or two while they were available.

Crust also has some interesting bars, but I haven't built up the courage to try the mega wide range and they're spendy so it's hard to throw that much money on something that might not work. Not to say they're not worth it though and I'm sure resale value is decent. Maybe one day.