I want to kit myself out with a ‘new’ bike to take with me and keep at my static caravan, and to this end, I have been browsing ebay for old road bikes.

I would like whatever I end up with to have drop bars and to be capable of handling gravel and cobbles as much as regular tarmac, and I want to spend as little as possible (by which I mean, I would happily assemble something from free parts if I could).

In any case, I have been looking at old steel frames, and wonder how they measure up against modern ones. I am 5’10” with a 31″ inside leg, and normally look at 56cm road frames. Would I be looking at something similar in an old steel Peugeot frame?

Well, I suppose I could find the information out for myself, but I’ll try to bump this just once. 😐

Your caravan; is it periwinkle blue?

You sir, require a 56 cm Peugeot PX10. Accept nothing less. 22-22.5″ in old money. Carbolite is not 531 and never was (Had a Carbolite 103 framed Peugeot as a student).

You might just fit a 23 but more likely a 22. I’m 35 inside leg and ride a 25 in old money, but a 61 on a new bike.

However, your biggest problem for gravel and particularly cobbles will be breaking rear axles. I broke one on last years Eroica and replaced the QR with a solid in the hope that will be stronger. They’re only supported by 2 bearings, not the 4 on recent bikes.

Steel Peugeot frames are quite nice but the tubes are odd sizes so seatposts etc are a PITA. Find an old Raleigh Royal, not too old though as it’ll have 630 wheels not 622 (although 630s do ride nice).

Pick up an un-cool commuter hybrid and convert it to drops?

dya like dags?

Probably best to seek out an old tourer like a Dawes Galaxy. Try to find something made from Reynolds or Columbus as there’s lots of old gas-pipe out there masquerading as ‘classic’

You won’t get a Galaxy cheap. The whole Eroica thing has inflated the price of old bikes. Molgrips answer is the best.

In the ’70s I did a week’s tour of the Queensland outback on a skinny tubular equipped PX10.

I thought it was a bit rougher than the rides I used to do on the Wade’s roads in Scotland on my 1960s 531 British bike, so my choice would be a quality UK made 531 frame with that era’s geometry – and there would be room for slightly fatter tyres (I used 38mm back then).

But really the best thing to do is buy an old 29er (before HAs went slack) and set it up like a road bike. You’d be amazed at how fast 2.35″ Big Apple tyres are, and how capable they are offroad. (I’ve done long loops 50+ miles on mixtures of forestry roads and singletrack on mine).

Pick up an un-cool commuter hybrid and convert it to drops?

Not much of anything on ebay right now to be honest. But how realistic do you think that is? I think when you and I were talking, it was established that converting something like my current commuter to drop bars would cost far more than it was worth.

In any case, that’s certainly what my LBS thought when I was chatting with them about it.

If realistic, though, I will keep my eyes open for more than I have been.