Bikester Magazine EN Winter 2021

© CARLOS MEYER
HOMEMADE RANDONNEURS
Modern road bikes have wider tyres, and
many have disc brakes. Both features are
perfect for randonneuring, so you don’t have
to buy a new bike to take part – it’s easy to
prepare your existing bike for some longdistance
fun.
The first thing to do is fit mudguards: Getting
wet is no fun, and many events take place
during the colder months. There are plenty
of lightweight mudguards designed to fit road
bikes, and these are a good start, although
they can quickly reach their limits in heavy
rain. If you have mudguard mounts, it’s wise
to fit something sturdier.
Lighting is trickier; hub dynamos and fixed
lights are reliable, but getting them set up
with a new front wheel can be expensive. For
beginners, using rechargeable lights with long
battery life is a better option.
Nowadays, you don’t even need a rack if you
want to carry luggage on your bike: There’s
a vast range of bags you can affix within the
frame triangle, to the seatpost or to the
handlebars. Nor do you need to take all your
camping gear; some tools, hearty provisions
and a few items of clothing will suffice for
your first foray into the world of brevets.
ARE GRAVEL BIKES THE NEW
RANDONNEURS?
Gravel bikes have room for larger tyres and
normally have mounts for mudguards and
racks, making them pretty good randonneurs,
though there are some differences.
Randonneur bikes are most at home on the
asphalt, and their geometry is designed for
smooth roads instead of mud and gravel; the
rider also sits more upright than on most
gravel bikes.
FROM STEEL STEEDS TO
ENDURANCE RACERS
Genuine old-school randonneurs with steel
frames, racks and high-volume tyres are
relatively rare these days. Travelling by bike,
on the other hand, has never been more
popular. The surfaces on which people ride
their road bikes today are much more diverse,
and the bikes have evolved accordingly.
Aluminium and carbon bikes are usually
lighter than steel but just as strong. Framebags
have made luggage racks less common,
and even racing bike tyres are getting wider.
All these developments can be traced back to
the randonneurs and brevets of the last 100
years. As more people get into cycling and
decide to focus on distance rather than speed,
it’s looking more and more like we have a
Randonneur Revival on our hands!
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