sloar 

Building this Fuji up for loaded long distance touring. I’ve made a few upgrades and plan on a few more. Better wheels for sure, maybe 9 speed then use indexed bar ends. Not sure about the cranks and front derailleur. What’s your thoughts on v-brakes over canti’s?. Once I get everything worked out a trip to the powder coater is in order. Thanks.

Hobbiano 

Paint, and the rest of the bike, looks good as is. Is something wrong with the wheels that are on it? Cantilevers just look so much cooler than v-brakes. Add some racks and bags and go. Maybe fenders. Sorry if I'm not much help. I'm sure someone will come along and recommend upgrading everything to something up-to-date. But someone has to take this view point. But then you could just buy something newer, like a mid-ninety's or newer Trek 520 or similar. For what it's worth, I think your Fuji looks great.

Steve B.

Doable, but not seeing any eyelets on the upper chainstays or mid fork for racks and panniers, there are eyelets for for fenders, unless you plan to go with a bikepacking bag system.

sloar 

eyelets on the stays are on the inside of the tubes. My Tubus front rack clamps to the forks. I’m good on racks and bags.

sloar 

The wheels are Matrix 550 with non-labeled hubs. I need better wheels for sure. Paint has lots of chips with rust starting to show, plus I want to had water cage bosses on the seattube. My local powder coater media blasts the frame and single color for $100.

RiddleOfSteel

I am a fan of V-brakes for obvious optimal mechanical clamp force reasons, but they unfortunately won't work on this bike or any vintage tourer as mount bolt/boss center line is much too high (aka close to the rim). The V-brake's brake pad slot location, additionally, disallows the brake pad to be placed low enough. And that's before factoring in the canti boss lateral spacing. I went through this on my Trek 620 and had new bosses brazed on at a height of 283mm from the axle (285-287mm would have worked just fine as well) and a lateral spacing of 80mm. Depending on how much you love the bike/frame--and if you're going to powder coat it, that's a strong indication that you do--then new canti bosses to allow v-brakes or more modern canti brake units to be used is a possibility. If you're happy with the current braking performance, then free is a great thing and powder coat away.

9-speed indexed bar-end shifting is a good idea. Regarding the crankset, are you looking to re-gear or just get a prettier set of crank arms (which of course I approve of)? Do you want the front derailleur to match the rear? The Mountech on my Voyageur SP works really well. So would an Ultegra 6500 double front derailleur, something I accidentally learned the other day, having it index a triple crankset via a 3x9 Tiagra STI pair nearly perfectly. I need to experiment more with that because if vintage "double" front derailleurs shifted triples just fine, why wouldn't a modern Shimano unit do that (with bar-end or down tube shifters)? Would be nice not to have to fish for xx03 derailleurs!

Any more of my questions go into the color/aesthetic bin because it's me who's doing the asking. Is there a look you're going for here, or is it a mix of some utility-only and some color composition. Again, powder coat comes up--what color are you looking to do?

sloar 

Color is probably going to be bright and highly visible. Leaning towards orange. The current brakes work fine with the Kool Stop pads.

Piff 

Long distance tourer, I'd go the same route you're headed and swap out the wheels for a modern shimano cassette hub in 130mm OLD.

Do my eyes mistake me or is reach a bit of an issue on this bike? Would you be better served with something trendy like a Velo Orange crazy bar that combines a swept back bar w/ bull horns in the middle? Easily replicated for cheap with the right handlebar + bar end combo (A Dimension brand 'Arc' handlebar + bar ends is great, I did a TON of looking around before choosing the Arc bar.)

As far as v-brake vs canti, I've never had an issue with canti brakes no matter the weight. Just get the straddle cable length setup properly, they look a bit long.

And if you're doing frame modification, adding a pump peg somewhere isn't a good idea. Same goes for rack brazeons midfork and on the seatstays.

sloar 

I’m curious why you think the reach is a problem. I have a 80mm stem on it so I’m not leaning forward to much. The fit is spot on, now to move forward with components.

Also the stays have rack mounts.

Piff 

It's a shorter than usual stem with a non setback seatpost, plus your brake levers are rotated quite a way up, when I see that it makes me think the frame might be a little long. But, if it feels right, it feels right. I only mention it because fit is so important on a many days long tour. Everything I've read on the subject is that it's best not to significantly alter the saddle/stem/handlebar fore/aft position to make one's body fit on a too small/large bike because of how it may impact handling and/or the body's ability to pedal efficiently and comfortably.

I see the rack mounts down by the rear dropout, guess I can't see the ones higher up on the seat stay near the brake bridge.

bikemig 

I'd take cantis over v brakes on a touring bike with drop bars. Cantilevers work great. As to gearing, there is something to be said about going to 9 speed as opposed to 7. I'm going through the same thought process in fixing up a Trek 750 drop bar conversion as a touring bike. It currently has 7 speeds and I'm very tempted to run it as a 9 speed. Insofar as the crank is concerned, I like a 46/36/24 (with a steel 24 tooth inner) and then an 11-28 7 speed or an 11-32 9 speed.

repechage

Bruce McLaren orange.

repechage

Was this bike specified with 27” or 700c?
the brakes appear to be a bit “cramped”

since it is going to the torch, verify the best brake geometry, no matter the style.

John E

Dump the big "Megadrive" jump to the lowest gear. Come up with a more evenly spaced progression, possibly changing chainring sizes, as well.

I wouldn't hesitate to gear a loaded touring bike the same way I gear my mountain bike:

46-38-24 / 12-13-15-17-20-23-26-30

The 8-speed freehub is actually a stock unit (unusual for me, since I normally drill out or unscrew the retainers so that I can mix-and-match individual cogs) -- my only change was to attach the 7 larger cogs with a 12T instead of the 11T it came with.

sloar 

Im running a 46-38-28 right now but switching to a 24 or 22. The wheelset with the 7 speed mega drive is going to. Already shopping for new wheels.

Steve B.

Ultegra 9 spd triple stuff if you can source it, with bar-cons. Leave the canti’s, with some good brake pads, they will work fine. It’s a serviceable bike from all we can see and what you have described.

52telecaster

I think it looks great but certainly understand wanting to change.
another vote for cantis
Love the orange, any chance you could get some gulf blue in there with the orange?
9 speed is cool and triples with a 24 granny rock!
Happy touring brother!

bikemig 

I like your set up. The stock gearing on many vintage MTBs work great for touring as well (46/36/24 rings, 11-28 7 speed cassette). Anytime you need something lower than a 24/30 or a 24/28 is probably a good time to walk.

Spaghetti Legs 

I think that all looks good. I will add a minor point to check - maybe you already have - size of the rack fittings. I have a similar era Miyata 610 and the braze ons all require 6 mm bolts and I’d have had to drill out my racks I’d assembled.

sloar 

Luckily everything is 5mm.

sloar 

Like I said, it’s a work in progress. After a two hour ride, I realized I was too cramped. I hate the look of the stem, but it feels really good.

roadcrankr

Other than cash outlay, you make me wonder why you want barcon over brifters.
Seems like safer, swifter, convenient shifting with brifters on a loaded tourer.

gna

Can you fit 9 speed? Is it 126mm or 130mm OLD?

sloar 

9 speed wheelset is the plan.

Andy_K 

I like V-brakes much better than cantilever brakes, but even with the correct cable pull they have to be set up fairly close to the rim. For loaded touring, I think that tips the scales in favor of cantilevers.

I absolutely hate the Shimano "mega-range" freewheel. I had one once and it always felt like I had dropped the chain when I shifted onto the big cog. I'm all for having a super-low bailout gear, but that jump is way too big. It sounds like you won't have to worry about that if you're moving to nine speeds.

That LX rear derailleur is great.

If you have someone local who will do reasonably priced torch work, I'd consider adding mid-fork braze-ons and maybe lowering the brake posts since you're having it powder coated.

Otherwise, it looks great.