New bike day! Gilles Berthoud Epervier Randonneuse

Euro-Asia Imports was a large West coast importer of high quality bikes and parts for many years. They recently closed their doors and a large part of their inventory was purchased by Ben's Cycles of Minneapolis, MN. Ben's has started putting some of this new inventory on their eBay store and while perusing that, I found a 58cm Guilles Berthough Randoneering bike frame, the "Epervier".

I knew the name Berthoud, it is best known for it's high quality bike bags, but also as a small builder of fine bicycles. After a few days of thinking it over I got the okay from Shelly to buy it! Here it is:

Gilles Berthoud Erpervier

Ben's description of the frame had indicated that a 26.8 seatpost and 22.0 (French) handlebar stem was needed. I was resigned to looking for some high quality French parts for it, but on inspecting the frame I found that a standard 27.2 seatpost fit and the stem size was actually the standard 22.2. This frame was built in France but I guess by that time, (late 90s or early 2000's), the builders had transitioned to an international standard. Or maybe it had been specified by Euro-Asia, I don't know but it worked out well for me!  The description stated a 28mm tire was the max, but I've fitted 32mm Gravel Kings with plenty of room. I may have to go down to 28mm with fenders, but we'll see.

Frame construction is of top quality; filet brazed joints for most of the frame except the bottom bracket, which is lugged. Some of the nice features of this frame include; an internally routed rear brake cable, a chain hanger on the seat stay, a chrome chain guard on the chain stay. It has a threaded eyelet under the rear brake bridge for a fender installation. It has another eyelet on the back of the seat tube which I think is also for fender installation. (I have purchased some Berthoud fenders for this bike but haven't tried to install them yet.)

For the build, I took most of the components from my Mercian Olympic; Stronglight 86 BCD crank, Shimano 105 hubs and rear derailleur with 10 speed cassette,  my Simplex retro friction shifters, Nitto Bar and Techmomic stem and Campy Nouvo Record seatpost with Velo Orange Mod 6 saddle. Finally, I fitted Campy Nouvo Record Calipers, (the longer reach ones) with Tektro levers.

Here is the bike with the old Rivendell/Carradice Boxy Bag.

There were two other subtle features which weren't included in the description which both worked to my benefit! 58cm is on the small side of my optimal bike fit, but this frame also features a sloping top tube which raises the bars. Also, there is a 1 centimeter extension on the top of the head tube which also raises the bars. As a result, the bike fits more like a 60cm, the perfect size for me!

The proof in the pudding is in the riding and I lost little time on getting the bike on the road. The cockpit set up was good and I felt very comfortable on the bike almost immediately. It was responsive. I believe this bike has a relatively short trail so the front end should feel lively. On a fast descent the bike felt quite planted which sort of surprised me. I switched to a handlebar bag because the old Velo Orange Saddle bag had developed a tear. Handling remained solid. The bike is easy to ride no-handed.

Generally, the bike feels fast. It makes sense since this was designing for fast touring. I might even say that it planes! The light Dedaccia steel tubing probably has something to do with it, but mainly, I'd give credit to the designers and builders at Berthoud

This view shows the slope of the top tube and head tube extension. Also note the handlebar bag now installed.

All in all, this turned out to be a lucky find for me. It's definitely a keeper! However this means I'll have to let one of my bikes go...looks like my Raleigh Pro will be up for sale now!

January 2026 What's up?

At Camp Far West Reservoir, April 2025.

It's been a while since I've posted here, so I thought I'd add a short recap of last year's riding and a few updates on my current bikes. 

I ended 2025 with a total 4105 miles, not too bad considering I missed most of June, July and August due to our road trip to Alaska! I did have to push myself a bit to get over the 4,000 mile mark at the end. I also managed to do my century, May 2025 century ride. 

2025's century ride, May.

Equipment-wise, my experiment with 10-speed cassette friction shifting continued with mixed results. On my Olympic, the shifting with Simplex retro-friction shifters and a Shimano 105 RD was very good. But shifting on my KOM, which used SunTour Barcons and a couple of different derailleurs had a problem in one particular gear, the third largest cog was difficult to find and tended to skip to the adjacent cog. Eventually. I got tired of the problem and switched back to 8 speeds. At the same time I added my Shimano indexed bar end shifters for fun. The result has been successful and I don't miss the trouble I had shifting, although I still don't know what caused the problem. Future experience has caused me to suspect the Bucklos cassette, more on that later.

Around the end of the year I got the urge to do some mods to my Ritchey. I decided to give the 1X transmission fad a try. I picked up a massive Bucklos 11-42 10 speed cassette, a 38T narrow/wide chainring, and a Microshift Sword RD. I made the mistake of ordering a Microshift 10 speed upgrade kit for my Microshift 8 speed bar end shifter.

It was a very interesting exercise getting the bar end converted and it gave me a lot on insight as to how they work, however, the barrel diameter of the 8 speed shifter is not compatible with the Sword RD, there's not enough cable pull. I finally had to order a Microshift bar end specifically designed for that type of RD. 

That wasn't quite all I needed to do, however. I could not get reliable indexed shifting. Eventually, I noticed that the derailleur was not bottoming out (in the highest gear, outermost position). I added a 1mm spacer to the drive side axle. This pushed the cassette away from the frame just enough to get everything aligned properly! 

At this point the shifting was more reliable but still a little noisy in a couple of gears. In frustration, I ordered a Shimano 11-42 cassette and installed it, just to see if the cheap Bucklos was the problem. The noise has abated and shifting is now pretty reliable! Could it be that the cheap cassette was the problem? Well, it's hard to say for sure, some time in the future I'll re-install it and see.

Here's the Ritchey with it's new 1X drivetrain.

A close up. The M/S Sword equipment seems pretty nice.

One thing I had to get used to with 1X is the position of the rear derailleur while in the largest cog; It's almost parallel to the chainstay! I had to double check online resources to ensure I had the proper chainlenght. This is the new normal I guess, but it looks alarming at first. 

This derailleur position is okay!

Another change to the Ritchey is the tires. I've given up on tubeless technology. It is just a pain to keep going, especially on a bike that isn't ridden all the time. So I pulled the 47mm Gavel Kings off and install the tubed 42mm's for now. I'll have to find some tubes for the 47's some day as they are still in fine shape.

And so, that's the recap of a less than remarkable year! I hope to get some more interesting rides in during 2026, so stay tuned!

On Rioso Road, May, 2025.