Gemini Randonneur

[peachy]

Hi all,
Today I made my regular pilgrimage to the tip shop for a rumage and I spotted this Gemini Randonneur. $15 later I brought it home, made a google search and it turns out to be Australian, ripper! can anyone tell me a little more about it?

[timbo]

The Gemini Randonneur (later World Randonneur) was a good value for money touring bike back in the 1980's.
Yours looks like it was one of the early ones.
They didn't change very much during the years, and were quite popular amongst the touring crowd.
I had one in the mid 1980's which was up to 21 speeds by then but basically had the same style of cantilever brakes and straight gauge cromoly frame.
A good find and well worth doing up.

[austy37]

i have the later one. its not the latest bike but very comfy. mine has a bit of rust here and there. currently has cross tires for some fireroad riding

[il padrone]

Current incarnation (built by the same builder) is the Vivente World Randonnuer

[find_bruce]

And there is one on flea bay starting at $40

[munga]

there is a few on ebay at the moment, all from the same seller. if anyone local could ship the 56cm one to me, i'd bid on it.

[Saro28]

[quote="munga] if anyone local could ship the 56cm one to me, i'd bid on it.[/quote]

PM'd ya

[BillP]

Did the World Randonneur model have 650B wheels? For some reason I thought so = Bill P

[LG]

Some were built for 650B and some of the early models 27"/700C. I have a world randonneur I've just re-sprayed which was 650B, had the canti mounts lowered 13mm to run it with 26". It's worth confirming whether they are 650B before purchase, as the rim/tyre availability is currently a tad limited.

[austy37]

i am going to try to put 650b on mine with some wider tires. having trouble sourcing wheels though.

[BillP]

Hi LG & Austy37

I've had 650B for years and I think the tyre availability nowadays is better than ever. It seems to now be a minor fad in the US, which augurs well for rims & tyres. Have a look http://groups.google.com/group/650b/topics

Bill P

[austy37]

my lbs called velocity re some rims and they didnt have any. must be all going to this google group i guess?

[LG]

Thanks Bill, I did look into getting some 650B rims at the time (about 12 months ago). I can build wheels myself, but the price of some velocity rims was around $100 each and similar for rims from velo orange, add tyres onto this . At the time I already had some spare suitable 26" wheels, it cost $50 to lower the mounts and the frame needed new paint anyway. I hope I don't live to regret the change, but the canti mounts can always be brazed back into their original position again if needed.

[BillP]

Yeah LG, Austy37 . There's a "conversion cult" about for fitting 650B wheels into 700c and 27" frames- I've never heard of anyone going from 650b to 26" before! Sacrilege!

I gave up riding 650B in the late 80's as I just couldn't find tyres anymore- and that was after using wheelchair tyres too . There's some beaut tyres about now thanks to globalisation & the internet!

There's usually some cheap Weinmann wheelsets on US ebay if you want to try the goodness. Bill P

[austy37]

most of the wheels have disc only hubs, i want machined sidewalls with 130mm hubs

[peachy]

i have the later one. its not the latest bike but very comfy. mine has a bit of rust here and there. currently has cross tires for some fireroad riding

Thats a neat set up. Ive never owner a tourer so it might be a good place to start . Mines going to take a bit of elbow grease, the cassette is stuck and theres a grinding coming from the the wheel, BB and headset bearings.. yikes

[verbs and nouns]

Seen this bad boy?



More at http://www.fyxomatosis.com/index.php/18 ... stop-watch

[peachy]

quick update, ive done her up and she rides great

[singlespeedscott]

Very nice but damn that's a lot of seat post for a randonneur. This is accentuated more so by the very low stem.

[BRLVR.v2]

Very nice but damn that's a lot of seat post for a randonneur. This is accentuated more so by the very low stem.

Very unrandonneur like in it's set up isn't it.
I guess for $15 correct frame size doesn't count.

[peachy]

Thanks for all the input guys, its probably going up on ebay soon. As you can tell its a little too small for me

[Thoglette]

Very nice but damn that's a lot of seat post for a randonneur. This is accentuated more so by the very low stem.

Does anyone know what size the seat post is - I have a frame, sans post. It seems to be either 26 or 26.2.
I'd love an official response as after all these years it's a little hard to get a clean read on the micrometer (and I don't have a seat post guage, nor spare posts around that size)

Thanks!

[maccayak]

The best tool i bought recently was a digital Vernier Caliper from Total Tools for less than $20. If anyone is going to play with bikes then get one of these. Measures inside and outside dimensions of things like seat posts. When some posts are say $40, you dont want to get too big a post by 0.2mm.

Geoff

[Hoopdriver]

I have some great memories of commuting into work in Melbourne many years ago on an early-80s vintage Gemini Randonneur (15 speed) which I'd bought new when I was at Sydney Uni

[LG]

Does anyone know what size the seat post is - I have a frame, sans post. It seems to be either 26 or 26.2.
I'd love an official response as after all these years it's a little hard to get a clean read on the micrometer (and I don't have a seat post guage, nor spare posts around that size)

Thanks!

.

My gemini randonneur takes a 26.4mm seat post.