Budget Randonneuse

A non-randonneur friend of mine saw the pictures in the post about the SIR Mountain 600k and was curious about my bike and the way it’s set up. It definitely doesn’t look like the typical mass-market racing oriented bike, so I thought I’d write a thing or two about my bike and why it’s set up the way it is.

First of all, to understand my bike you have to understand something about me. I’m basically a cheapskate. I think my bike has worked pretty well for the few brevets it’s been through so far, but it’s far from the dream randonneuring setup. Many of my fellow randonneurs have spent several times as much money on their rides, and it shows. Anyway, here’s what I’m riding on brevets:



Frame
The frame is a Surly Cross Check. I went with the Cross Check because it had the features I wanted, it fits and it’s inexpensive. I wanted a frame that would allow the use of wide tires (more about that later) with fenders, uses cantilever brakes, has braze-ons/eyelets to attach fenders and racks easily, and is made of steel. The Cross Check isn’t the lightest frame available with these features, but it is inexpensive and has a great reputation for reliability and ride quality.

You can buy a Cross Check as a complete bike or as a frame only. I went with the complete bike because even though I intended to swap out some of the key parts, it’s still a bargain and many of the parts are quite usable.

Drive Train
The Cross Check came with a 2 X 9 speed Shimano Tiagra drive train with bar end shifters. I kept the Tiagra front and rear derailleurs, but changed out the shifters to Dura Ace ten speed downtube shifters. I like downtube shifters for randonneuring because they are about as simple and reliable as it gets. If the indexing gets messed up on a long brevet, you just switch them to non-indexed shifting and ride on. They may not be quite as convenient as the ubiquitous brifters, but it doesn’t bother me at all to have to take my hands off the bars to shift gears. The Tiagra derailleurs are nothing special, but they work. I’ll probably upgrade to Ultegra when they wear out.

Gearing
I’m using the stock Sugino crank set with the 48t and 36t chain rings on the front, and a 10 speed 12 – 28 cassette on the back. A lot of randonneurs use lower gearing than that, but this setup has worked for me just fine. I ride a single speed bike a lot, so I’m used to standing up and grunting to get up hills once in a while.

Wheels and Tires
The wheels are hand built with DT Swiss r520 rims laced to Ultegra hubs. These wheels came on another bike I bought a while back and they seem to be very reliable so I moved them over to the Surly and they’ve performed well. They are not particularly light but they are tough, which is fine because that’s sort of the theme for this bike.

I use Panaracer Pasela 28mm tires. They last fairly long and are pretty flat resistant, but what I like best about them is that they roll very smooth and cushy. So why wide 28mm tires when most of the racer bike crowd uses the much skinnier 23mm width? It’s basically a trade off between speed and comfort. Narrower tires are supposedly faster because of reduced rolling resistance and the aero advantage. Wider tires are more comfortable and generally get fewer flats. In my experience the difference in speed is minimal (if there even is a real difference). The plusher ride and flat resistance of wider tires on the other hand are very real and noticeable differences. And the smoother ride becomes a huge factor once you get beyond about 200 miles on a ride. So why do most road bikes sold in the US have 23mm tires? Because that’s what Lance and his buddies use, and what they use is sexy. Randonneuring is the anti-sexy.

Cockpit
Here’s where I did the most customizing and didn’t worry too much about cost. The handlebars, seat, pedals, brake levers, are the user interface of the bike. If you spend a lot of time on your bike, you’ve gotta get this part right. I use a Brooks B-17 saddle. Brooks has been making saddles like this since Moses was riding brevets. They aren’t light, they aren’t sleek, and they are about as sexy as Sandra Day O’Connor, but they are comfortable for many hours of riding.

I use Nitto Noodle handlebars. They have a non-ergo old school shape that allows a lot of different comfortable hand positions. Being able to move your hands around to different positions is key to staying comfortable on long rides.
I swapped out the cheap stock stem for a Velo Orange stem which is pretty and shiny and otherwise does what a stem is supposed to do.

Another reason I like downtube shifters is because it allows me to use these Tektro brake levers which are cheap, well made and very comfortable for riding with your hands on the hoods, which is where I spend most of my time.

I use Shimano SPD MTB style pedals. SPD pedals are easy to get in and out of and they make for more walkable shoes than typical road pedals, which is good when you’re heading into the convenience store for some Jojos and V8.

Fenders
Fenders are pretty much required for Randonneuring in the Pacific NW. They keep you and your bike much cleaner and drier when the road is wet, but probably more importantly, they make it much more pleasant for the person behind you when you’re riding in a pace line in the rain. My fenders are from Velo Orange and they’re aluminum. They don’t weigh much more than plastic but they’re much tougher (once again, not light but tough).

Rack and Baggage
I have a Nitto M12 rack on the front which is there to support a Velo Orange Campagne handlebar bag. There are lots of ways to carry stuff on a bike; panniers, saddlebags, trunk bags, handlebar bags, etc. I like having a handlebar bag because it can carry enough stuff for a 600k ride up front where it’s all accessible while I’m riding. I can get to food, clothing, my camera, and anything else without having to pull over. It also has a nice little map holder on top that works well for cue sheets. Carrying a full load on the front of the bike effects handling a little, but not so much that it bothers me. It probably creates a little more wind drag than a trunk bag, but the easy access makes it a worthwhile tradeoff for me.

Lighting
So far of the six brevets I’ve ridden, only three really required riding at night. I was able to get through all of those using two Cateye EL530 headlights and a couple of Planet Bikes Superflash taillights. The EL530s work okay for speeds up to about 16 mph. But I learned on the SIR Mountain 600k that they don’t really cut it for descending mountain passes at 35 mph. A lot of randonneurs use dynamo front hubs to run powerful headlights that almost rival car headlights. They’re expensive systems, but after some really scary descents in the middle of the night I’m now ready to jump on the band wagon and upgrade to a dynamo hub system. Bright lights and no more batteries to eventually end up in a land fill…

So if you put all that stuff together, you get a bike that is part touring and part racing, which is pretty much what randonneuring is all about. It’s tough and reliable and most of the parts can be serviced on the road if you’ve got the right tools and parts. Without baggage and water bottles and lights, it tips the scale at about 23 lbs. That’s a lot more than a high end race bike, but pretty typical for a randonneuse. When it’s loaded up with everything I need for a 600k ride, it’s more like 35 lbs.