British Eagle Touristique?

[troutmask]

I think it will make a good Audax bike. Over the years I have had a Revel Elite (which back in the 80's was described as a "Fast tourer", a Dawes galaxy along with a couple of traditional road bikes. The Touristique frame and forks rides very much like the Elite rather than the galaxy but has slightly stronger forks with braze ons for front panniers. I have put a very strong (DT 7.1 Rims to XT hub) wheel on the back but am planning on putting a racier DT 1.1 Rim on the front to replace the aged original. Without much luggage it is already a lot faster than my old Dawes but with luggage it still plods steadily along. A very good compromise between an out and out Audax and a traditional touring bike.
I have done quite a few miles on it already and it is very comfortable, climbs well and goes great. The Argos paint job certainly seems the business and they are very helpful with bits on bobs (they fitted new adjusters on the rear drop outs, straightened the forks and fitted new guides under the BB).
Mine came with a Biopace crankset as well. I replaced it with an old 170mm mountain bike one with new Stronglite rings.

[wotnogears]

Hi all, I'm pleased to hear that others have a good opinion of this bike as I bought one off ebay a couple of years ago for a hack. It was in a tired state, but a new BB, wheel bearings and a few other works bought it back to life, although a paint job would still help (I patched it up with hammerite!).

Since then I've used it to commute for a while and also on some much longer rides as it is so much more fun than my expensive but sedate tourer.

The components are date coded for 1987, so it must be c.20 years old now and depending on the system, the frame number (3*0001) suggests it could be number 1! (The first that day, month, year, ever?)

When funds allow, I'm going to get the paint job done, but in the meantime can anyone suggest where to go for brake-blocks for the Modolo cantilevers please?

[graham joyce]

This brings back memories for me as i used to work for the government agency that provided the grants and built the factory for British Eagle in Wales. I used to visit the factory regularly and bought a Touristic frame 'ex factory' to replace a damaged frame. I built the bike but it was never used. I let it go at the York Rally auction for about £175 - somebody got a bargain. They did make some half decent MTBs for a while and imported frames from Taiwan for assembly in Wales. I remeber that Barry Hoban was Director for a while in the early days. He took over from Ernie Clements, I think.
I still have a Ernie Clements road bike built in the Wales plant. It has Campag Record throughout and sprints. It was built for a trade show and I bought it direct. It has been used twice in 25 years ! I may be interested in selling it if anyone wants a quality classic British road bike in 'as new' condition (met blue/chrome)! SEE PICTURE
In their last few years they were owned by a company from Leigh (Lancs) called Townsend, I recall.

Graham[/u][/b]

[94inchandy]

british eagle was a company working out of newtown powys, it was run by barry hoban (9 times TDF stage winner)and helen simpson (tommy`s wife) we where a small company, i was one of the mechanics that worked for the company, we had nothing to do with falcon we had more links with the clement`s brothers as the company was formed by the brothers

[Ayesha]

Earlswood Lakes?

[Gearoidmuar]

My first touring bike was a coventry Eagle touristique and the second a British Eagle Touristique. I later had a great MTB, a British Eagle Shadow made of 531. My son now has it.

I've since put a Dawes Galaxy to the sword and now have two other tourers..

[Elizabethsdad]

I have a British Eagle Ranger languishing in the garage. It is an old bike of mine that had been stored in a loft for some years. I retrieved it last year and stripped it down and cleaned it up. I built it back up earlier this year with new cassette, chain, crankset, tyres and brake bolcks. It runs OK though the twist grip shifters are a bit stiff and I think the front deraileur needs a bit of final adjustment. Mostly keeping it out of sentiment, but also as a spare bike that I could loan out as well. Sometimes I think I should sell it but probably wouldn't get back what I spent on new parts for it.