Wanted: 26" tourer? MTB frame suitable for approx 6'2"

looking for 26" tourer frame or suitable MTB frame for my friend's expedition tour.

i.e hard all round, long chainstays, long wheel base (42' ish or more ), relaxed headangle 71/72 -steel

any 531 all terrain MTB frames especially interested.

No6, can I be grumpy and advise against this plan? I've tried twice and failed to make old mtbs worth the effort.

The geometry and horizontal chain stays make some of these bikes best left alone, even supposedly good ones.

The extra money you spend on an LHT is massively worth it.

how do you mean the horizontal chainstays ? - giving a higher BB ?

and the geometry's wrong - on the steerer angle ?

thanks

still looking for a 26" tourer then at least LHT would be nice and ideal but something cheaper would be better.

just saw your avanti pics - they look great - what's wrong with them ? that was just the sort of thing i was thinking of.

what problems did those bike have ? wrong angle / BB height / chainstay length ?

The Avanti was loads of wrong. I'm not sure how the head tube/fork rake/trail figure/castor effect work together, but the steering was 'floppy', the braze ons were all in the wrong places and the wrong sizes, and it just didn't work.
The Mirage was much better as a bike and was ridden for a year before becoming the N+1.
But both had little or no bb drop, so when set up to be ridden you could hardly touch the ground when stationary.
Light green frame is all yours if you want, but its 501, and no forks as I had to butcher them.

Loads of stuff like that on retrobike.co.uk/forum , if you do want to pursue it. My personal recommendation (if one comes up) would be a 90s 21" Orange P7.

36x18 - thanks loads for the kind offer of the frame - it looks great , i love the colour it looks the part certainly - - but my mate's gone for a trek 850 frame off ebay (50 quid with postage - paint is good ) now and we'll build it up and just see how it goes. and we're in Manchester so it would be a post job - we can braze on any extra bits needed. i've never had to touch the floor whilst still - but then i've never carried full panniers either..

is floppy twitchy or too stable - or something different?

i'm not entirely sure the relationship between all the angles etc. either - head angle and rake seem to be interchangeable to some degree to give the right wheel base over a range of frames.

but i know if it's too twitchy we can get some forks that are a bit longer (axle to crown - maybe some rigid suspension replacement forks, they are longer than standard. ) this will increase wheelbase and tip the head angle back a little but bring up the bb a tiny bit too. or maybe get some with less offset -

i'll get up a pic and report -

we need to get it fully loaded and up to 30mph down a hill to really really know i guess. i won't be on it when that happens

he bought dedicated 26' tourer for 500 odd quid now - orbit

thanks for the info. though

had a bit of whack at this myself - just for seriously bad weather days/shopping/pub/family rides etc. (but i reckon this would world-tour quite well ) and got this sorted for c. 100

seems to handle well (and weigh in c. 15kg! ) BB height, wheel base, chain stay length, head angle etc. etc. all seem to match almost perfectly with my 700c harry hall tourer, putting everything tin the same place - but with smaller wheels

36x18 - maybe the stems on yours are'nt long enough? i tried to get my brake hoods roughly directly over the front axle - mimicking my other bikes - should make it less floppy and bit more sporty in the handling. (although yes the saddle must come forward too )

it's based on this:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17735

one of which i picked up for 12 quid on ebay - nicely made and good geo (though i wish they'd used butted tubing ) it's tange MTB P.G.

here

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:) looks ace for the money and purpose!

this looks interesting, 531 frame and the right size
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Claude-Butler-Spectre-Mountain-Bike-excellent-retro-/150670858357?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item2314aed875

thanks - yes the temptation is there to now source lighter wheels / frame etc. (dawes ranger looks ideal) i never saw this one go past (a real bargain):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dawes-Ranger-vintage-Reynolds-531-MTB-frameset-Tange-/190558964593#ht_500wt_1202

but i'll have to resist the temptations - the ethos was quick and cheap and expendable (bars and saddle are by far the most expensive items on it - i have another ropey-er post and saddle for leave-around-town use ) - if it's too top notch i'll become fair-weather with it - it has to be somewhat sacrificial or it won't fulfill it's purpose

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