My first touring bike- new project

[buzz22]

Despite trying to reduce my number of bikes I managed to talk myself into picking this up today:

It's my first touring bike and looks like a fun project.The maker is unknown, but it appears to be good quality with Reynolds dropouts and nice long rear chainstays.
Shimano Deore driveline with a triple crankset (28,38?,50) long cage derailleur and Shimano 600 indexed/friction shifters. Cassette is 6 speed 32-14.

Brakes are Deore cantilevers with 600 levers.

Headset is Shimano 600 as well.
Wheels are 27 inch and in rough condition, the mudguards fitted look to be in good condition.

Plans include a full strip down and clean, new cables, bar tape, new chain and a 700c wheel conversion (assuming there's no issues with aligning the cantilever brakes).
The racks fitted will be removed and a new Topeak rack will go on the back.
After that I'll be planning some longer trips and seeing the countryside.

 

[T4tomo]

(assuming there's no issues with aligning the cantilever brakes).

Might be a bit of trial and error, you only need about 4mm of adjustment, but depend on whether those Canti's you have on have any height adjustment facility.

or get something like the weinmann centre pulls (assuming the post mounts are compatible - most are but you'd need to check) which had adjustment built in.

Is there anything wrong with the 27" inc wheels. whilst there is a bit less tire choice, you can get panaracer pasela PTs in a 27" which are a really good option.

 

[buzz22]

Unfortunately the 27" wheel on the front has heavy corrosion on the spokes and the rear freewheel is not too smooth otherwise I would love to keep them.
Luckily I have a couple of sets of 700c wheels to choose from and some brand new 32mm tyres so they'll be a good replacement.
I think the brakes should be ok, looks like a decent amount of adjustment built in.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It’s been repainted which is why you cannot tell what make / model it is. I used to repaint my frames back in 70/80s. Looks nice enough at a glance.

 

[buzz22]

I thought so- the components are all around 1988, that shade of green is very 90's. Luckily it's my favourite colour and with a bit of love should come up ok.

 

[Teamfixed]

I like it, a nice proper tourer in the making. I wonder what the frame is, its got biopace rings (I presume original) My Raleigh Randonneur has the same but its not one of those as there are no spoke holders on the stay. I don't recognise the dropouts either. I did the same wheel size change on an Evans tourer a few years ago and swapped the brakes for a pair of deep drop Tecktros which worked fine.
That halogen front light takes me back, I used one on Audax night rides in the 80's with an under BB dynamo

 

[Cycleops]

Nice buy. I reckon that it could be a Super Galaxy with those fluted seat stays. They sported Deore drive, biopace and Cantis in the early nineties.
Looks to be a bit corrosion under the paint so maybe strip it and powder coat.
You could update it with modern 8/9 speed drive train if you wished.
You might get those 32c tyres in but it’ll be close.

 

[buzz22]

Nice buy. I reckon that it could be a Super Galaxy with those fluted seat stays.
looks to be a bit corrosion under the paint so maybe strip it and powder coat.
You could update it with modern 8/9 speed drive train if you wished.
You might get those 32c tyres in but it’ll be close.

Thanks, yes it looks to have a little bit of surface rust so when it's stripped down I'll get a better look.
At this stage it will probably get a 7 speed cassette as most of my other bikes have the same, most likely an 11-32.
Hopefully the 32mm tyres will fit.

 

[Teamfixed]

I put a 7sp screw on on my Randonneur with some indexed DT shifters from my partners Galaxy (she got some RX 100 7sp shifters in return) with a Shimano deore long cage. Works a treat.

 

[buzz22]

Sounds like a great combination.
I'll be using the existing 6 speed shifters in friction mode, luckily I like using friction anyway.

 

[Gillstay]

looks very usable and i did wonder if it was a Galaxy as well.

 

[buzz22]

After some work here's how my touring bike project stands:

The driveline was stripped down, cleaned and lubed, with a new 12-32 7 speed cassette going on with a new chain.
It's impressively smooth, the Shimano 600 downtube shifters with new cables are light and accurate and with a low gear of 28 front and 32 rear it should be great on hills.

I replaced the 27 inch wheels with some spare 700c Mavic Reflex wheels (105 hubs) with Maxxis Overdrive tyres (700 x 32) that should be fairly durable.
I replaced the original Blackburn rack with a Topeak rack so I can use my Topeak bag.
With the panniers it should be ok for an overnighter.

The full mudguards went and were replaced with some original 80's short guards I had left over from another project.
The bike got a good clean and the paintwork is actually pretty good.
Overall I'm really happy with how it's turned out so far and can't wait to get it out for a proper ride.
New brake cables will come and new bar tape will go on but it's ready for a ride as is.

 

[T4tomo]

Looking good, I do like a "sports" mudguard!
Just needs the bars rotating a bit so the lower part is parallel to the ground when you do the bar tape.
The good thing about finding a "touring" model to do up on older bikes is you get sensible usable gearing, rather then finding you have 42-23 as your lowest gear!

 

[buzz22]

It's definitely got some gearing options 😁
My bars sit that way due to an old elbow injury that restricts movement of my arm- they look to be in a weird position but it's the way I have to have them.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

It is looking fab. I like friction too and it's nice to be able to just chuck a different wheel/freewheel/cassette on and not worry about changing shifters.