I'm not an expert, but there seems to have been quite a few builders making very nice Touring Bikes in the late 70's and early 80's.
Sam Braxton - developed his own style in Montana based on his experience with Bikecentennial and the 1000's of Touring cyclist's who came through Missoula. He also developed an early Mtn Bike using 650b wheels, before the Mtn Bike boom, for riding the bike trails in and around Missoula.
R&E has built great touring frames for years with all the fittings for lights, racks, fenders and dyno's mounted under the BB. I have one from the early 80's.
Bruce Gordon
FM Assenmacher
Jim Redcay
Personally, I think toe clip overlap is a mistake on any bicycle. Tony Oliver wrote in his Touring Bikes book that British Standard BS6102, forbids toe clip overlap on mass produced bikes.
Brian Van Baush Evergreen, CO USA
It occurred to me that many KOF builders today, had
begun perfecting
>their art during the waning of the 1970s. By that
time [...] were
>ALL truly designed as Racing bikes. ~ So, could this
not have had a
>significant influence on what was perceived as
>a superior overall design for a bike?
I think that is absolutely true. Throw in that
mountain bikes began
as Schwinn cruisers, with geometries that were not
developed for
performance riding, and the art of how to make a great
cyclotouring,
randonneur, etc., bike was lost. Note the separate
thread on under-BB
cable guides... done before, but off the radar for
Americans until
recently.
>What I definitely have noticed is that I've seen
little to indicate
that
>anyone (in the US, at least) had ever even attempted
to follow in the
>traditions of the French constructeurs, for example.
Masi as a style
>model?... Definitely. But Herse?... Well, not that I
know of.
There were some, R. T. Jansen, Bill Vetter, a few
others, but they
didn't get much press, few orders, and it fizzled out
after a few
dozen bikes each. The bike boom was about racing
bikes, even for
touring.
>I should modify that last comment by saying: I have
not seen this
UNTIL
>rather recently - because I have now seen [...] at
least one
>gorgeous Randonneur by
>Peter Weigle