General | The Route | Equipment | The Bicycle | Report 1 2 3 4

It is a Koga-Miyata 'Randonneur Extra', a so-called touring bike.

Bought in 1990, did it carry me for close to 70.000 Km (42.000 miles) through
history. And never really left me stranded.

It got sold with high quality components only - and I try to keep it at
that stage. After all, the last thing you'd probably want is a broken bike while
cruising some remote place.

More detailed..:

The propulsion technic is mainly made up of Shimano XT parts. Both
front and real derailleur as well as the front and rear hubs as well as the
headset.
I use only the Shimano HG-90 cassette. It can be dismantled (bolted,
not riveted!) to exchange single used-up cogwheels only instead of the
whole cassette.
The bottom bracket is a high quality one from Stronglight. Prefer it
to the sometimes strange designs of Shimano.
Of course the most important part of the bike is the seat (saddle). It should
only a leather seat be used. In my case not a Brooks but an Ideale
'Diagonale 92'.
Did use Mavic 'Module 4' rims for a long time but they aren't available
anymore. Since then I use Mavic 'T261' - known as "bulletproof". Because
they are hard to get nowadays, too, I stocked up on Alesa 9019 'Sputnik'.
Didn't try the often praised Mavic 'T217' so far.
What would be a touring bike without its carriers ? The rear one has been
a Koga-designed one for a long time but it needed to be replaced. Went for a
Tubus 'Cargo'.
Both the lowrider and front carrier are selfmade. There simply was and is
nothing available on the market that would fit my needs. So I designed them
by myself. Welded by my brother.
At last: the tyres. Schwalbe Marathon tyres only. They last depending
on the road condition between 6.000 and 10.000 Kilometer (as far as my
experience goes) and are extremely reliable. Not yet any experience with
the new Marathon XR.