big chainring 

50 years of cycling and never toured. Thought I would take off on an overnight excursion, see how it goes. Tent, sleeping bag, this and that.

My bike is a 1970 Mercier. Have some racks and bags to put in it. What do you think, just go for it?

Tourist in MSN

Are you experienced in camping? Have the camping gear? If so, pick a nearby state park, ride to the park and camp for the night, then ride home. Pick a nice couple of days with good weather.

If those are the plastic Simpex from half a century ago, 27 inch wheels, etc., make sure you bring your cell phone so you can call somone if you need a ride home.

Have a great time.

Option two, consider an Adventure Cycling Assoc tour. They have lots to choose from, several about a week long. You might want to try van supported or an inn to inn tour to start. The van supported trips, a van pulls a trailer, you do not need to carry your gear on the bike. But, they are expensive enough that you want to bring a pretty good reliable newer bike if you sign up with one of their tours.

TiHabanero

My brother camp toured on his 79 Raleigh Professional. The first time he went he used my Cannondale panniers that were shaped just like their seat bag, ie a barrel shape. He used the Blackburn drop out eyelet converters and p clamps to mount a Blackburn rack to the bike. Strapped a Colman sleeping bag to the top of the rack and a plastic tarp to sleep under at night. Said his heals hit the bags on every revolution. I am certain they did as those bags were mine and my heals hit them using 45cm chain stays!

He toured on that bike for a number of years, plus raced it during the race season as well. Remove rack and you have a race bike. Smart kid. Nothing should stop you from touring on your current machine as long as the hills are not too long or steep, and if you find they are, change the gearing for future rides.

djb

Smallblock guy, sure you can try, but if you've never camped and never bike toured, you'll be amazed by how the crap required will add up in volume and weight, and then you'll be amazed how the gearing on this bike is inappropriate, especially for an old dude.
heck I'm an old dude,also riding for over 50 years, but really, by using this bike, very likely you'll be making life really hard on yourself and them old knees, not to mention the already said factors of hitting your heels on panniers.

if you do try loading stuff on this bike, also be aware that both as a racing bike AND a 70s or 80s frame, there is a really good chance with a load on it, it will get squirrelly, loosey goosey, wobbly as Dean Martin's drunk legs.
oh, and remember the song Popcorn, I'm sure you do, that'll be your spokes. (good chance anyway)
(Earworm time boys and girls)

djb

Hey, I should add that I totally get having a fondness for a bike that we spent a lot of time on, with great memories. Just be aware of the real shortcomings of a road bike from this era for touring.
If it's bike touring that appeals, many other bikes will make the experience more enjoyable.
if it's very much a nostalgia thing, on flat areas and short distances, with very little stuff, you could try this, but it won't change the fact that its a flexy racing frame designed for a light rider only, with tall gearing, and you could also be 20 or 60lbs heavier than back in the day too, so I guess just be realistic about stuff if you want to try it out.
good luck

bikemig 

I'm an old tourist who did some racing BITD mainly to get in shape to go on tours.

Old French bikes, like your Mercier 100 or 200 (I'm not sure which one you have) typically have very good geometry for touring with long wheelbases and clearance for fat tires. I've toured on a Peugeot and a Motobecane of that generation. Both were fine touring bikes as they took fat tires and fenders and had sufficiently long chainstays.

The French made a lot of different cranks that were very suitable for touring and in fact likely pioneered the idea of running smaller chainrings to get decent gearing ranges. The stronglight 99 used an 86 bcd chainring so you can go as low as 28; the TA 50.4 bcd crank can go as low as 26. The stronglight 49 on your bike can be modded to run 50.4 bcd rings if you want to improve your climbing gears. If you tour in the flatlands around Chicago, that won't matter much. If you decide to go somewhere more scenic like SW Wisconsin, I'd mod the gearing.

The Mafac racers were state of the art BTD and are still fine center pulls. If you haven't done so already, I'd invest in some good quality brake shoes (kool stop makes replacement pads for those racers).

The simplex derailleurs are frequently bashed and maligned. The decision to use that much plastic (delrin if you like) was a mistake and simplex had to have known that early on. That said, the simplex RDs hold up better typically than the shifters are the front derailleurs. Plus they shift well due to the double springs. In fact they shifted better than pretty much better than any RD of its generation other than the suntour which had a patent on the slant parallogram and certainly shifted better than those fancy Italian RDs the OP no doubt raced on BITD. Plus the simplex RDs typically can handle quite a large freewheel.

That said I'd dump that RD for a suntour. It will shift better and I'd trust an old all metal RD over one that has a lot of really, really old plastic. As long as you plan on touring on an old bike, you might as well go totally retrograde and replace that plastic saddle with a leather one. They're comfy for long rides at lower speeds which is what most tourists do.

Oh yeah, I set up my '73 Motobecane Grand Record pretty much in that fashion. I dumped the fancy Italian racing derailleur that it came stock with for a suntour, replaced the brake pads for kool stops, and I'm running generous gearing (50/34 rings and a 14-28 5 speed freewheel). The bike fits stout Schwalbe mondial 700 x 35c tires easily. It's a fine all roads bike and would make a very decent touring bike as well.

John N

Back in the 80s, I did my first few tours on a '76 Schwinn Paramount P-10 (racing model). Yes, I was young and strong but it is doable. You may need to walk a few hills and pack light but it is doable. I would say the older bike's gearing for us older guys might be better suited for credit card touring however.

Tailwinds, John

big chainring 

Not concerned about the bike. Its a gaspipe boom era Mercier. I have a wider range freewheel to put in it. Tires are Kenda double eights which should keep me rolling and provide a stable rife. And the long cage Simplex derailleur is an exceptional performer at 50+ years old! I'll get it outfitted today to see if my touring dreams can become reality.

And I am a camper. 40 years of car camping. But a night or two "in the wild" appeals to me, as long as there's a coffee shop nearby for my morning coffee 😁

Keep you posted.

djb

sounds good. For most of us who have toured a lot, so many times we've seen folks having a miserable time carrying a ridiculous amount of stuff on bikes not suited to touring. Floor pumps on top of panniers on top of giant heavy sleeping bags on top of giant, heavy tents, on overgeared bikes in hilly areas.
Hopefully you can borrow a reasonable tent that isnt too heavy, maybe a smaller lighter (more comfortable also) campmat-- that sort of stuff, to try to keep the weight from getting too much.
I assume you were thinking of going rear rack only? Carrying camping gear and warm enough clothing for this time of year can start to be tricky volume/weight wise for rear panniers only , but you'll figure that out as you gather stuff together and figure out how to get it on the bike.

Do check the spoke tensions on the rear, or have a good mechanic check them. The Popcorn joke was just that, a joke, but adding 20, 30lbs onto the rear wheel will put more forces into them hitting bumps etc, so worth making sure they are well tensioned beforehand.

have fun prepping

big chainring 

Argh! My smallest tent is still quite heavy for this adventure. Same with the sleeping bag. My memory was these were small and compact. Not so much in reality. Hmmm. Still have hope. Gotta dig thru more camping gear.

bark_eater 

A single wheel trailer might be a good option. I've done a trip with an overloaded frame with racks and panniers and it wasn't that fun until I dropped some gear and moved the bulk of the weight to front low riders. My bike has mid fork mounts and a Tubus rack fitted though. I bet you can find a trailer for less money than you'd spend on racks, bags and upgraded camping gear, and you don't have to do much to the bike it self besides dropping the gearing a bit.

Tourist in MSN

The cable pull on a Suntour and Simplex was quite different, if you switch one you might want to switch the other. The Simplex shifter had a very small radius where the cable wraps around it.

adamrice 

You're in the Chicago area, so the biggest hill you'll encounter is not very big. You'll probably be fine in terms of gearing, even without a wider-range freewheel. You're an experienced camper so you've got a good idea of what you can leave behind and what you really need. Maybe replace that triceratops with a headlight.

I say just go for it.

djb

ya, car camping does affect our perception of size and weight! And self propelled, ie carrying or schlepping the junk with our own bodies, certainly makes us aware of the total weight.
Re tent weight, my old tent I cycle toured with for years was 7lbs (3 person), my newest one is 4lbs (2p), but there are loads of lighter 1p and 2p tents out there, but they aint cheap. Same with sleeping bags, whole range of weights, prices and temp ranges.....
Same with camp mats.
Hopefully there's a borrowing option somewhere so you can try out bike touring without spending an arm and a leg.

big chainring 

I found a fairly lightweight compact sleeping bag. Fits nicely on my front rack. The tent I divided up into my panniers. So that spreads the weight around.

I got the whole idea of cyclecamping while out on my bike the other day. Wish I would have thought of it a month ago. Camping season is coming to a close shortly. We'll see

Cougrrcj

I was never a racer, but I did do a 'tour' on my old '75 Fuji - from Cleveland to Milwaukee/Madison and back in 1980. 10 riding days to go almost 1000 miles. Just the cheap Pletscher rear rack holding a duffle bag containing two changes of clothes other than what I was wearing. NO tent or sleeping bag - I slept on whatever padding I could find (usually scrap cardboard), and under the stars or any shelter I could find. It also had a small seatbag containing tools and spare tube/patch kit.

The Fuji had a 51/39 crank with an upgraded 14-26 six-speed freewheel by then.. It did get a triple crank, 13-21 six-speed freewheel and vibration-absorbing seatpost a few years after my 'tour'

Pic taken at work a few years ago - sorry for the non-drive-side photo... 12.5-mile one-way commute in 43-44 minutes depending on traffic lights... 17mph average door-door speed. Not bad for a 30-pound (as ridden) bike!

Moisture

Is that... a dinosaur on the stem?

staehpj1

Good luck with your endeavor. I rode my old race bike on the Southern Tier and greatly enjoyed it. It wasn't as old as your Mercier, but was old enough to be 7 speed and have down tube shifters (1990 vintage cannondale crit bike). I managed to get low enough gearing and carried very little load to get over the mountains. My gearing range was very limited (25-88 gear inches), but I did fine. I went with ultralight backpacking stuff. In my case I didn't use a tent but rather a light bivy and tarp setup.

I'd suggest keeping it pretty light if you can manage to. I find that more pleasant. I think that will be especially true if you have a limited gearing range. You can probably get your feet wet with what you have though. For your proposed overnight excursion you could just choose a day with a good dry weather forecast and cowboy camp tentless to start with. I do that a lot of nights on longer tours and it can be quite pleasant if it isn't too buggy. Initially your current gearing may be fine as long as you choose a flatish route to start with. If the weather is mild there are some cheap bags that are fairly light that will suffice if yours is way to heavy or bulky. I managed to do my first tour (Trans America) with $75 bag that packed pretty small and was very optimistically rated at 32F. Since I put out heat like a furnace and supplemented it with clothing I managed with it on some cold nights, but despite its lower rating it isn't even close to being as warm as my Mountain Hardwear Phantom 45 that weighs 17 ouncea and cost 5 times as much. I have happily slept in that one down into the teens F. It is probably my favorite piece of gear. In the longer term a nice bag is one area that I am most inclined to splurge on, but to get started you could get something really inexpensive for mild conditions.

djb

naw, it's the bike that's the dinosaur ;-)

I know I know.....But in my defense I still have a beloved dt bike and once in a blue moon riding other bikes, my mind wanders, thinking of an early tour on said bike, and my right hand will drift downwards for a shift, which always makes me laugh.

staehpj1

That reminded me that when I suggested cowboy camping, I didn't mention that in the middle of the country much of the camping I have done was in little town parks that often had a picnic pavillion or a pagoda that provided shelter from the rain if needed. I have never gone without a sleeping bag or sleeping pad on a tour though, although I did hitchhike across the country that way 50 years ago.

djb

Re sleeping bags, I still use essentially a synthetic summer bag that I've used touring for close to 30 years. Still works alright but if cool at night, I bring a tightly rolled up fleece blanket for additional warmth. Maybe 3x6ft ish, light, and just helps so I'm not cold at 4am
Simple and I have the space in the pannier, and it keeps me from buying a new sleeping bag.

So not a bad idea to compliment a light sleeping bag, both available at low cost, as stae says, for trying out bike touring, nice to keep costs down.
Re camp mat, none of us being 25 anymore, do think about trying campmats in a good outdoor store-but only you know what you can properly sleep on, and at what cost and weight.
I value a good sleep very much and sleep great in a tent, others need a giant 20lb inflateable mattress or queen size bed to sleep.
Cheap foam mattresses, folding ones etc are available, but not my cup of tea at my age and sleeping on my side.

staehpj1

I still love my DT shifter equpped Cannondale. It is currently configured for the tour I did on the ST route. I keep threatening to put it back to racing configuration or maybe even box stock original, look pedals and all. I have most of the parts. I'd probably use the Mavic Open Pro rims that I logged the most miles with rather than the Wolbers it came with. It is the one bike that I always said I will never get rid of. When I can no longer ride it will get hung on the wall.

There is just so much muscle memory and happy feeling associated with that bike. I love the feel of shifting, clicking into the look pedals, pretty much everything about it. It makes me a little sad that it has a carbon fork on it as a result of a crash. I absolutely logged far more miles on it than any other bike that I have owned.

You'd think I'd have warm feelings about my touring bike after riding across the US on the TA, but it is just a tool. Most of my bikes are like that. The only other one that comes close at all is my 1990 cannondale MTB and it is in a distant second place in my heart.

djb

Stae and big ring, yup I agree on the agreeable tactile stuff of an old bike we spent lots of time with, and the emotional thing too.
re physical and tactile, it's like getting a downshift on a motorcycle or even car just right, the timing, just right blipping to perfectly match up when you release the clutch dipping into a corner so you don't unsettle the rear....

don't get me wrong, I have no real urge to use dt really in daily life, sti, trigger and my Gevenalles are so much safer and easier and faster....But I still enjoy the odd finger gymnastics of right hand both lever shifting, downshift up front and almost same time of an upshift at rear with other fingers or palm, finger ballet.

staehpj1

I really like brifters, but if it comes down to choosing between down tube and bar end Ill take down tube shifters. And I really can't say I missed the brifters on the ST.

big chainring 

A reference to a facebook group "Midwest Dino Riders" which I belong.