I wrote:
> > Very little was available as far as mass-produced, purpose built
>> tourers until the early '80s.
>>
>> High-end bespoke tourers were available to those who could afford
>> them, but most touring cyclists used modified "sport touring" bikes,
>> a.k.a. "tenspeeds."
Joe Bender-Zanoni wrote:
>Sheldon is basically right. The Schwinn Sports Tourer was sort of
>half-baked. Poor derailleurs, fairly flimsy rims. By the time the
>derailleurs were right, the cranks were not.
I don't generally consider a bike to be a "purpose-built" tourer
unless it has a triple chainring and cantilever brakes.
>
>The first decent off the shelf tourer might be the Fuji America. 1976. Other
>examples?
The America had caliper brakes, not great tire clearance. It had a triple of sorts, but it wos one of those 110 BCD 3-on-1 rigs with 34 tooth minimum chainring.
The name "America" always struck me as rather bizarre because that bike came with 622 mm (700c) wheels, which were distinctly oddball in the U.S. at the time, and highly unsuited to touring in the U.S. because replacement tires were about as hard to find as 650Bs.
Subsequently, that all changed, and the 622 size has become the norm, but when the America was a current model, that was not the case.
My current major touring bike, however has only one chainring, and runs 559 tires:
Sheldon "Roll On..." Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
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