Unable to afford a Rivendell or other new comfy, durable, all-road bike, I have purchased a late 80's Univega Gran Turismo. Miyata triple butted main triangle, front and rear rack and fender eyelets, rack brazons on seatstays and fork, relaxed head and seat tube angles, 44.5 cm chainstays. I believe these were even made by Miyata in Japan, making it sort of a step sister to the well known Miyata 1000. As far as I can tell it's the same frame, but with Univega decals on it. It's fairly light and has lots of clearance for decent sized tires.
The components are all original except for the pedals(suntour xc comps that I found on Big Trash Day several years ago), saddle(Brooks B-17 narrow $5 bucks brand new at a garage sale), and the entire control section(46cm Noodles, Nitto Technomic, Tektro Ergo levers, shellacked tape). I pretty much blew all my dough on the bars and stuff, so I bought an old leather camera bag and tied it down to my ugly Blackburn rack. It's no Berthoud Sologne, but it carries my lunch, tools, spare, phone, and any additional garments I may need.
I've been riding this bike primarily on the Bay Trail to Point Richmond and Emeryville and it's a very nice ride. It's not a real fast bike with quick handling, which is good because that's not what I wanted. I wanted a bike I could ride for as long as I want, and wherever I want, no matter how crummy the road may be.
However yesterday I rode it up into the Berkeley hills, Spruce St. infact, and then dropped down into beautiful Tilden Park. I then took an unpaved fireroad all the way through Wildcat Canyon to the Alvarado Staging Area in Richmond. The Arlington took me back home in time to pick up James from pre-school.
The bike handles fireroads and trails amazingly well. A pair of Michelin World Tours are on the way and they ought to smooth it out a little more.
There's alot more places you can go on an $80 Univega than you probably thought, and I'm gonna find them.
