My stable mainly consists of audax bikes. Last year I started a project to build an fully usuable audax bike for less than 500 Euro. My starting point was a Koga Miyata Grantourer from 1987 or 1988. The only year they had classic downtubelevers. So I could easily convert it to Ergopower. My aim was not a full restauration of the Grantourer but a refurbishment to modern comfort without sacrifying the old steel comfort.
I bought the Grantourer in the Utrecht region from an old lady. The bike belonged to her deceased husband, he used it extensively for loaded touring.
Over the winter I modernised it with early generation 9-Speed Ergopowers, a leather saddle (Lepper with titanium rails) and new handlebars/stem. And of course a better front light. So I started the new season with the Grantourer as my spare audax bike looking like this:
The first serious outing with the Koga was to the Erik's classic bike fair in Neerkant. The Koga handled great on it's first ride over 150km. Only the lighting had some troubles during the return leg, the Sanyo dynamo made way too much noise to be comfortable. Luckily I had a NOS on the shelf so this problem was easily solved. By then I allready had switched to a Trelock LED light which gives considerable more output as the classic halogen light. Also the front rack was replaced with a french one, of the same style as the original Koga rack. Planned were a pair of Edco wheels but the freehub proved to be problematic, the pawls don't disengage easily enough so I'm now on the lookout for a broken Edco rearhub so I can reuse the pawls.
During this audax season I used it in total for one BRB and 2 DIY 200's. For a 200 it handles as well as my usual audax bike, a 1997 Bioracer with all bells and whistles.
Grantourer at the Crazy Bikers Brussels Tour (200km) in september
The Lepper saddle proved to be a lot less comfortable as a Brooks B17 and a lot less reliable, it broke last month. So now the Koga is outfitted with a B17. I plan to swap the crankset for a Suntour Superbe triple (the new one) and I am still looking for suitable freewheel pawls for the Edco hub. The current Decathlon wheelset will do for the moment though.
I bought the Grantourer in the Utrecht region from an old lady. The bike belonged to her deceased husband, he used it extensively for loaded touring.
Over the winter I modernised it with early generation 9-Speed Ergopowers, a leather saddle (Lepper with titanium rails) and new handlebars/stem. And of course a better front light. So I started the new season with the Grantourer as my spare audax bike looking like this:
The first serious outing with the Koga was to the Erik's classic bike fair in Neerkant. The Koga handled great on it's first ride over 150km. Only the lighting had some troubles during the return leg, the Sanyo dynamo made way too much noise to be comfortable. Luckily I had a NOS on the shelf so this problem was easily solved. By then I allready had switched to a Trelock LED light which gives considerable more output as the classic halogen light. Also the front rack was replaced with a french one, of the same style as the original Koga rack. Planned were a pair of Edco wheels but the freehub proved to be problematic, the pawls don't disengage easily enough so I'm now on the lookout for a broken Edco rearhub so I can reuse the pawls.
During this audax season I used it in total for one BRB and 2 DIY 200's. For a 200 it handles as well as my usual audax bike, a 1997 Bioracer with all bells and whistles.
Grantourer at the Crazy Bikers Brussels Tour (200km) in september
The Lepper saddle proved to be a lot less comfortable as a Brooks B17 and a lot less reliable, it broke last month. So now the Koga is outfitted with a B17. I plan to swap the crankset for a Suntour Superbe triple (the new one) and I am still looking for suitable freewheel pawls for the Edco hub. The current Decathlon wheelset will do for the moment though.
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