Touring / Racing bike recommendations

So, off on my first cycling holiday around the south of France in August and need a bike, either racing or a tourer. My budget is between £350-450 so would like to get something dependable, slightly above average, old or new. Searches have only yielded recommendations of Mercian & BJ but these are way out of my price range; we're talking £1800+ for Mercian starting!

I've been checking out OTP models and ebay but there seems to be a lot out there. Loads of Claude Butler, Raleigh, few Fujis on ebay - any models people have experience of and recommend?

Thanks, in advance...

s/h raleigh randonnneur, approx 80"s, 531 top of range tourer, pick one up for £200-400, depending on condition and kit. great bike especially with triple, you can climb everest with it and its a really comfy ride:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpepper/3387739525/

Nice one slowstephen. At least I can start looking at something now!

There's so much out there s/h in that price range, you should have no trouble finding something!

First things first, are you:

a) going up hills or sticking largely to the flats?
b) carrying luggage around with you?

If the answer to both these is no, then virtually any s/h racer on ebay would do the trick, just make sure it fits.

If any answer is yes, then you need to start looking at bikes with racks and triple chainrings. Which again, are quite easy to find.

E.g. ebay items 220434652110, 150351694444 250445312181 (just need wheels - easy to find!) - all are likely to go for 300-350 and all would be suitable. There are so many more around!!!

I've just sold a nice road bike on ebay for £350 and have bought various bike bits there recently so I'm pretty confident you'll find something,

Well in answer to your questions Courant:
a. mixture of hills and flats
b. will be carrying small luggage yes

Thanks for the tips. Have a load which I'm watching on the bay, some touring (Cannondale, Roberts etc) and racers (Claud Butler) so I think I'm on the right track.

I would pick up a second bike on ebay, overhaul and rebuild with other bits where necessary. Use http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO before you start bidding so that you can something close to the right fit and just have to make minor adjustments to eff top tube but shortening/ lengthening stem. I would strong recommend picking up a bike with a 73 degree head tube angle which I am finding unbelievably comfortable as it softens the ride way more than the harsh 74 degree I have been riding, for touring that is great. Most old Raleigh racing bikes seem to have nice geometry for touring .. by old I mean 50's / 60's .. in fact I have a 57cm top tupe/ 57cm seat tube 1961 Gran Sport frame with chromed fork ends spare which I was I was about to build up .. stem is currently stuck and removing the fixed cup in BB will be hard but otherwise its supposed to be a very nice frame as it was their top end tourer at the time (although strangely that year I think they built it out of non branded tubing) .. welcome to take a look at it

Cheers Welpeur. Have had a go on the fit calc using approximations done by myself. I need a smaller frame than I thought, 50-52. Must be short arms and legs! Thanks for your offer for the Gran Sport, will be too big. The search goes on!

OK, in which case, look for something with a triple and a rack. It might be worth also searching for "Audax" bikes as these tend to be steel frames, a cross between a racer (light, quicker handling) and a tourer (designed for carrying light amounts of luggage). Key things I'd look for are:

• A steel frame. Steel frames from the mid-late 90's onwards will tend to be in excellent condition and use nice tubesets. They're also good value on ebay too. Make sure the size is right, and make sure there's no rust. Buy a frame with a recognised tubsest (e.g. Reynolds someting, or Coumbus something) rather than a generic steel.

• That said, there are some newer alu frames that are suitable. Kinesis Racelight T or TK frames are excellent value and comes with mudguard and rack mountings - they're also less commonly available so the people that tend to own these, tend to build bikes up themselves, thus they tend to be pretty well maintained. Otherwise Ribble have some frames in their lineup with rack mounts, and tend to be good value.

• Get a triple and get one with a 9 or 10 speed cassette. This will guarantee the age of the components (9 speed came in mid-late 90s) and parts are commonly available. Plus 9/10 speed rear-wheels have the same cassette spacing (at least with campag), so buying a new wheel or upgradin components is easy.

• In terms of mechanical reliability, stuff on bikes tends not to break unless it's been poorly maintained. The main exceptions are: cables (which you may wish to replace, or check that new ones have been fitted recently); chain (same again); and make sure the cassette isn't worn.

Something like this maybe? Ebay 320385318106 (though it's not worth the buy it now price!). The spec is spot-on for what you need, decent frame, 9speed triple, low miles and reasonably new, good solid wheels.

How tall are you? I take it you're guy (from your username!) and 50cm tt for a guy is very unusual, unless you're short (i.e. I'd expect a 50cm tt to suit someone 5'4" or less). Best fit guide is this one:

http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/different-thought-on-frame-sizing.html
http://www.prodigalchild.net/Bicycle6.htm

The frame size chart is very rule-of-thumb, but is pretty near spot on in terms of help me + mates get bikes that fit!

Happy hunting!

Wow, thanks so much. I really appreciate all the advice.

Regarding fit, I'm a little confused as I'm 5'8.5'' but have an inseam of approximately 30'' so I'm not sure if this means I should get a smaller frame (50cm) or a stick with 53-54cm. I ride a BLB track frame to work and this is a 53cm and it seems fine. Will probably head over to Evans (gulp!) and see what they say regards to fit. Once again thanks for all the advice...

Measure your inseam accurately (e.g. it's not your jeans size): bare feet, ankles and bum touching a wall, straight legs, hardback book between the legs, push up (carefully!) to mimic saddle pressure in the crotch and get someone to hold the book/measure to the floor. Then see how it shapes up.

I'd say at 5'8" a 53-54cm top-tube is going to be bang on the money. Especially consider that's what you currently ride. But of course, it does vary a little person to person so do get advice if you're unsure. Not sure I'd go to evans to get that advice, but anyway...!

Thanks again for the advice!

Depending on your core strength, you might want to go a bit bigger

Rivendell, for example suggest a 22" frame for a 31" leg.

As long as it does not hurt standing over the top tube then you should be ok.

I got a Fuji Touring bike a few years back for about £200 and apart from the rear rim splitting it clocked up over 25,000km with no dramas at all. Was a rubbish ride with no weight on it, but load it up with gear and it was a dream, much nicer that most other bike I've ridden for touring.

Get good tyres, something like Schwalbe Marathon or if you want chunkier tyres like 700x35s then maybe the Marathon XR. The XR is pricey but you will never, ever have to worry about getting a flat as long as there is thread on the tyre - I clocked 14,000km before the first one!!!

Depending on your core strength, you might want to go a bit bigger

Rivendell, for example suggest a 22" frame for a 31" leg.

As long as it does not hurt standing over the top tube then you should be ok.

Yeah, but you've got to get this in context. It's the top tube length that's the critical dimension, otherwise you're too stretched out or too bunched up. The seatpost goes up and down far more than you can or should adjust a stem.

The reason for Rivendell's suggestion is that, with a traditional horizontal top-tube bike and quill stem, a longer seattube equals a longer headtube, which reduces the handlebar drop. This is fine (and desirable) as long as the top-tube length fits! And it's rendered slightly out of date by sloping top tubes (thus freeing the head-tube length from the constraint of the seat-tube) and stems which come in a range or angles, allowing the bar height to be tuned.

When I look for a frame that might fit, the key dimensions (in order of importance) are: top-tube length; head-tube length; seat-tube length. Unfortunately, most bikes are labelled by seat-tube length alone, when it's the other two that really determine whether you'll be comfortable on the bike, and which can vary quite a lot.

54" frame, but you do need to try it ! 531 steel, triple front and considered back, i ride 14-32.
remember, size to handlebars is as important as seat tube length. sheldon brown ! you lso need mounts for rack and stff, not found on racing bikes, audux would be fine.
tyres......bit like saddles.. i have used spesh all terrrain armadillos, years, get punctures but not too many, esp if i keep it above 100psi

I bought a Bob Jackson Audax End to End about 6 months ago of the peg and the sizing was spot on for me as I'm all legs. (5'11 1/2, 35" inseam). I ride a 60cm frame and the top tube is only around 580cm if even. I wanted my bars around saddle height without a crazy amount of stem showing . Most 60cm frames I looked at were far too long for me.

^I love that end to end BJ.

^I love that end to end BJ.

Ooh er misses.

dawes galaxy -- an amazingly comfortable bike. seem to have been a model that has gone on for ages.