The Golden Boy 

That is looking inspirational!!

And I really dig your photography skills.

TimmyT 

Looks like a fun bike. What's the funky home-made basket thingy in the main triangle? What was your inspiration?

awfulwaffle 

Cannondale ST400 picked up yesterday, my new commuter once I get a new set of bars and a stem.

Lamplight

I do believe your Voyageur and my Univega may have been separated at birth.

vqstaphbeard

Thanks! I've always been a film man, particularly Konica, but I received a Nikon DSLR for Christmas. It's nice for bike photos when one wants to post same day.

vqstaphbeard

Haha seems like it. Yours looks very nice! I've been meaning to move my headlight to the NDS.

coolkat

Interesting that you posted a pic of your Univega, Lamplight, as it served as an inspiration for my own 1984 Univega Specialissima, that I recently completed.

Saguaro

Beautiful bike. Well composed photograph, love the B&W. Well done!

Saguaro

Another outstanding bike! Shellacked cloth bar tape, check. Aluminum fenders, check. Long wheelbase, check. Very nice! Needs racks and perhaps lights though to make it a fully functioning touring bike but I like what I see

Lamplight

Thank you!

Oh man, nice job on your Specialissima! Yours is even the same color, but I see you have lowrider mounts, so maybe mine's a year or two older. They sure would come in handy from time to time. Enjoy your lovely bike!

Thank you!

cycle_maven

I finally finished my 650B conversion tourer. Bought it as a stripped frame project with a box of parts, and finally identified it as a 1983 Raleigh Touring 18 that had the cantilever mounts moved to 650B.

Powdercoated the frame a deep metalflake purple.
Added racks and porteur bars.
Added Raleigh-branded Suntour ratcheting bar end shifters.
Added Brooks B17.
Original first-gen Deore Derailleurs.
Original Dia-compe canti brakes.
Original Tourney AD triple crank 52-42-33 and bottom bracket.
New everything else (wheels, headset, cables, etc.)

It rides like a dream.

Centaurious

Takagi Tourny AD Crank

I have one on my 1984 Raleigh Kodiak I'm working on.

Did you have any problem bending the front rack arms to fit the 60mm cantilever brake studs?

Doohickie

It's 20 years old so... I guess it qualifies? My 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS started life as a straight-up hybrid, but I've tailored it for commuting which is pretty much a light touring setup.





A few of the things I've done to it over the years:

. Brooks saddle
. Drop bars with Suntour Barcons replacing the original flat bars and twist shifts
. Upgraded wheelset with SON28 dynohub
. Busch & Müller lighting
. SKS Longboard fenders

Most of the mods have been opportunistic when I got a good deal on something- swap meets, deals from friends, etc. It's a pretty great do-it-all bike.

The Golden Boy 

Let's see some color pix!


Those Specialisimas are really cool. If I didn't have 3 class A touring bikes right now, I would not have passed up that Specialisima frame.

Regardless of the "same frame as the Miyata 1000" stuff- these Univegas look like wonderful bikes that stand on their own merit without having to tag along on the 1000 coat tails.

The Golden Boy 

I totally love the 1st Gen Deore derailleurs!

cycle_maven

You're right- A/D not XD- says it clearly on the crank.

No problem- I just bent the arms in- but I had to switch around the little angle brackets around and drill the hole larger for the brake bolt. The original configuration interfered with the brake arms.

Post pics when you're done! Or even half-way through...

the_tool_man

Sorry for the blurry pic. It's the best I can do at the moment:



This is my 1983 Fuji Touring Series IV. I saved up and bought it new in high school. My plan was to eventually go on a cross-country tour. That hasn't happened yet, though. Nevertheless, I've been riding it pretty regularly in the intervening thirty years. I pinstriped the lugs at one point, not long after I got it. Through college, and beyond, I'd use it for occasional commuting duty, or to run errands. A few years ago I added a set of NOS Suntour bar end shifters, and upgraded the freewheel to 7 speed. I started commuting to work on it about the same time. Before getting a more modern bike a couple of years ago, I started using it on longer charity rides, including a century. Last year, I removed the crusty, old tire savers (who remembers those?), and put fenders on. It turned thirty last August 8th. I'll never voluntarily part with it. It looks like winter is finally letting go of us. So I'll be tuning it up for commuter duty soon, including a new Brooks B17.

The Golden Boy 

That is beautiful! Those Fuji Touring Series bikes are so classy looking. The teal perfectly compliments the silver and red.

Lamplight

Here's one from today, which is the most recent color picture I have of it.


It looks black in that picture, but it's actually a sort of dark maroon.

otg 

That's a nice bike. I'd never let it go if it were mine either!

the_tool_man

I started the tune-up last night. It's turned into more of a refurbish, as I found some hidden corrosion. I'll post new pics when I get it done.

The Golden Boy 

That is just cool. Love the fenders. And the background!

graumpee

Cheers GB! I was really stoked to find this one, mostly because I got it from CL for $50, it's old as, lugged and my size. Historically, I've ridden whatever I can get my legs around and didn't even think about chainstay length, head angle, trail, etc. when going to get it. Since then, after reading as much as I can about other 'ideal' touring bikes, I've taken some other measurements and am extremely pleased: 106cm wheelbase, ~50mm trail and 71 degree tube angles (the last from classicfuji.com catalog). I don't think this one was special ordered, however. According to the catalog there was a 'Tourer' model with the same chainring sizes, tube angles, derailleurs and frame material (high-ten). I imagine that the wheelbase and trail would've at least been comparable if not identical. And from pics I've seen the 'tourer' doesn't look like it had the top eyelet on fork dropout or bottle/rear rack braze-ons either--of course this could a result of a customer ordering or not ordering the extras--trek might've just been that much more accommodating/innovative. Also, the other models that are Chromoly DB (Finest, Newest, America) don't even have bottle braze-ons, which makes me think that they weren't common until later.
As regards the lowriders, this is my first bike with them, but I really like to have as much carrying capacity and the opportunity presented itself to have both. This combo was only $60 and compared to the Surly, which price-wise was not an option, the Blackburns sit considerably lower and the center of the panniers is well behind the wheel axle. From what I've read about pannier positioning this seems ideal. Last year I flew down to Florida sans-bike, stopped at a bicycle-centric pawn shop found on CL and ended up with a Takara Deluxe Touring and had an old Pletscher rear rack booty-rigged to the front (the arc matched the tire line perfectly. I must've had a good 10lbs on it and it made the steering quite sluggish, but I road almost exclusively road so that didn't matter much. Since fitting out the Fuji I've ridden it primarily with the panniers and it seems to make the steering more responsive(combination of head tube angle, rake, trail, etc.??) compared to no load; she's a very comfy ride generally. Only a 5lb sleeping bag will be up top when I leave for XC in a few weeks so don't think it'll make any noticeable difference with a heavy-ish load down low(I plan to put my food and cooking bits there and whatever else will fit--they're on the smaller size, but would like get as close to 70/30 distribution as possible.
Happy Riding!

graumpee

Thanks TT, yeah, plenty of stares while on the road. Here's a couple of close-ups:

https://s819.photobucket.com/user/gra...a77b5.jpg.html
https://s819.photobucket.com/user/gra...05e36.jpg.html
https://s819.photobucket.com/user/gra...a79b4.jpg.html

The inspiration was frustration with a pawn shop while in Australia a couple of years ago when I had a beater diamondback comfort bike with braze-ons and they told me that the bottle cages I wanted off a couple of their bikes were 'size specific to those frames'--I didn't want to pay for new ones. I went to the home depot-equivalent with a general idea in my mind, that came from god knows where, I don't think i even knew frame bags existed just thought 'why not, haven't seen that before', and walked around for a couple of hours through the different departments grabbing various pieces of hardware I thought would do the job (ended up returning quite a bit that wasn't needed) and threw it together in the park. This time around I wanted something to carry water and figured I'd have to pipe clamp bottle cages anyway, why not try to recreate my first fabrication, which was easier and much cleaner looking with the braze-ons. I didn't want to use a frame bag because of the possible downside of it catching a good deal of wind and it's not rigid like the basket. Basket fits three 1.5L poland spring bottles and serves generally as a junk drawer. Full up with water I don't notice any drag or negative handling issues.
Buen Camino

the_tool_man

As promised, I took some better pictures once I had the Fuji all cleaned up. I just installed a new Brooks B17 saddle, all new cables and new brake cable housings. I'm not sure about the Brooks, yet. I'm still getting used to it. But it sure does look right at home on this bike.



Though it originally was 3x6, I replaced the freewheel with a custom 7 speed years ago, mainly to increase gearing range. If I wanted any more range, I'd have to get a rear derailleur with more capacity. I've replaced chainrings multiple times, due to wear and experimentaion, and finally settled on 50-40-28. I finally had to replace the chewed up Sugino crank bolt dust caps with Chinese aluminum ones. I like the look.



I just replaced the old, dried out hoods on the brake levers with new Cane Creek pieces. They fit like a glove, and complement the black of the bike pretty well. I did have to trim the cable openings just a little to allow them to fit over the cable end adjusters. I don't know of anyone else that still uses Grab On grips. But I've always liked them. This is probably my tenth set on this bike. The only downside is they can't be used to retain cables, like tape can. They rip too easily. So I have to use plastic cable ties where the bar-end shifter cables leave the bars. Not particularly elegant. But it works. The bar-ends are NOS Suntour units I bought on Ebay a few years ago. They're what came standard on the TS-V's back in the day. I love them.



Another cockpit view, showing my light and GPS for commuting. When I did the refurb, I found the stem was stuck in the steerer tube. It still is. But I was able to service the headset bearings and polish the stem in-situ. When I get an opportunity (i.e. not riding this bike every other day), I'll make a more determined attempt to free the stem.



That's an original Jim Blackburn rear rack, bought with the bike in '83. The fenders are cheap, plastic, Planet Bike ones bought a couple of years ago. They work great. Note I kept the dork disc, but trimmed it down to just larger than the largest cog on the freewheel. The 27" wheels are original to the bike. They're surprisingly straight, given the miles on them. I've used a syringe to add lube to the sealed bearings a few times. But they're original, too.



Non-drive side view of drivetrain. Because of the spare spoke mounts on the chainstay, I had to use an unconventional mounting arrangement for the cadence/speed sensor. It works, though. If the wheelbase were any longer, or my cranks any shorter, it wouldn't.



This shot shows the original bike shop sticker that came on the bike when I bought it. This shop is still around, and has a location in the town where I now live. They get a kick out of seeing this when I stop by from time to time. You can also see where I highlighted the lugs with red paint. It was the fashion back in the day. And I've always like to customize things. My bike wears it like a tattoo; a reminder of a younger, more foolish phase of life, with a mild sense of regret, but not enough to have it removed.



All in all, it's in remarkably good shape for it's age. I have no idea how many miles I've ridden on this bike. I had over 14,000 miles on the old Huret belt-drive odometer when I removed it in 1998. Now it's my faithful commuter bike. I never did take the cross-country tour. But someday, I still might. If not, I'm still glad we've spent a lifetime together.