London to Paris Retro Ride Help

gixxermenace

Retro Newbie
This is my first post on this forum so be gentle :)

Myself and a group of my friends did the coast 2 coast last year and are hooked, so this year we fancy London to Paris on road bikes, so i came up with the idea of everyone buying retro road bikes and doing it old school. Problem is i dont know were to start as far as retro road bikes go, we would be looking to spend up to £100 on the bike, would we get anything decent that would do 250 miles if we service and replace any required parts etc ...

any help would be greatly apprecited :D
 
choose wisely beore handing over cash , but shouldnt be to much of a problem , where are you located as i am sure there are members on here who would help , ie if close to northamptonshire feel free to arrange and come and try a couple of my bikes out for size etc etc .
 
Thanks for the help matey, I am located in the north east, frame size wise I am 5th 11 but I guess it all depends on what feels comfortable? Another reason for going retro is that it means a lot of us without road bikes can do it in budget. What models should I keep an eye out for and were is a good place to look ?
 
Hey,

This site has a lot of information on looking for and buying bikes.
Sometimes a bit overwhelming because he writes a lot, but I've got some
useful tips off there, especially the stuff about frame quality:

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/index.htm

Try local free ads papers, friends and relatives and maybe asking at a local
cycling club. All of these might be cheaper than the internet.

Don't know what the market is like where you are, but it is possible to pick
up a rideable vintage bike for €100-150 where I am, especially if you're not
too fussy about the brand.

Johnny[/i]
 
Might I suggest a 1970/80's touring type bicycles with a relaxed geometry, such as claud butler majestic, holdsworth mistral, or dawes galaxy ( early ones are cheaper than the slightly over priced later ones ). I use a 1974 Holdsworth Mistral, with modern components to do auduxes, and usually the norwich 100 and its fine. Also you want to consider the contact point, I use a well bedded in brooks saddle and have no issues with distance riding. Thanks Terry
 
The second one is tiny - it's about right for a 10 year old.

The first is a bit more suitable, but hard to determine the exact condition from the photos - you'd probably want to put a more comfortable saddle on if planning to ride it for extended periods. The problem with some bikes if not maintained are things like seatposts and stems gets seized - something that's been left in a damp garage for 20 years may need some 'deep' maintenance
 
Back
Top