I'm intrigued by the idea of doing one, posting to follow the thread.

I haven't done any eroica events, but... it seems like this is ultimately a philosophical question.

If you're trying to take the "heroic" part of "l'eroica" to mean "use a bike with all of the disadvantages of old racing bikes", then you'll have to HTFU.

If you're merely trying to stay within the rules, though, it doesn't seem like you've got much to worry about: non-ultra-high gears weren't invented by modern racers. Derailleurs date from the 1890s, and were adopted by touring and randonneuring communities long before they became accepted in road racing. Wide-range cranksets have existed basically forever, and loads of old derailleurs can handle drivetrains that use them.

The easiest approach here is probably to get an early MTB derailleur like a SunTour XC 6300 or a Shimano Deerhead M700, and then throw a crankset with an adequately-small inner ring at the bike. With vintage FDs, double vs triple is usually just an issue of adjustment.

I have ridden L´Eroica six times, the original Eroica in Gaiole in Chianti, Italy. I have gone there for the first time more than ten years ago, always with the same friend, traveling just over the weekend from Germany.

The first time we had absolutely no idea what to expect and had (prudenty) registered just for the 75km route. We simply brought our old racing-bikes from the mid 80s with new 23mm-tires and the traditional 42/25 gearing and were surprised by the steep hills and the deep gravel. Many people were walking up the hills pushing their bikes, and so were we.

The atmosphere was fantastic and so we returned the next year for the longer 135km route, with wider and sturdier 28mm tires and with 39 teeth in the front. Still walking a lot.

After that I have always ridden the long route (for the "eroici" ;-) ), that is 205km long and is said to have 3600 vertical meters. I have used different bikes, that could accomodate tires up to 32mm and changed the cranks to 46/33 and 48/33 and the seven speed cogs to 12(or 13?)-28 and a 12(?)-30. The shorter the better for me. But there are many extremely fit people who can ride the Eroica with truly old bikes without changing the gearing.

Abolutely fantastic event! If it hadn´t been for corona we would have gone there for the 25th edition two weeks ago ... Well, next year!

Thanks for the well-written information- been interested in this for a while!

The Eroica Britannia has taken place the last few years just up the road from me here in mid-England (literally 20 miles up the road, based at a place I ride past regularly). Obvs not this year tho.
Whilst I've not done it, many friends have. All basically thought it's been a great day / weekend (luckily also have had good weather on most of them which makes a big difference of course).
Not particularly cheap, but very well organised (hey and compared to MDot a veritable give-away), and just all round 'nice'. Good food stops, interesting routes you'd probably not take your regular carbon racer on (though probably could) - some trails / 'white roads' - truly Strada Bianchi. Some quieter roads and some rails-to-trails too (which are cinder or limestone hard pack).
Gearing...usually totally unsuitable !
But suck it up 🤣
Age hardening of flakey 1960s aluminium handlebars and quill stems always gives me the jeepers on those bikes, but if you're OK with that (or just blissfully unaware of what that is) then no problem.
I'm sure all the friends who have done it (inc one guy i know did the last one with his 12 or 13 year-old son on the shorter route) would very much recommend.

Thanks for the excellent information. My current gearing is 52/42 with a 23 in the back. These just seems like a recipe for walking a lot and I want to actually enjoy the ride.

I've ridden the L'Eroica California twice...the first time in 2017, where I did the "Heroic" course (on an '86 Bianchi Sport SX), followed up by the inaugural (in CA) Nova Eroica event (Coastal Course - done on my Stinner Aero Camino) in 2018.

One thing to remember about the L'Eroica event is that it's basically a "fashion gathering", so as long as the equipment you're using looks the part, you should be just fine...and it's not like there's any tech inspection or judging of the "authenticity" of the bikes (unless you enter your bike in the Concours D'Elegance judging, that is ;-), so some upgrades, especially to gearing, should be just OK. Heck, the organization even licences the name for manufacturers to use on BRAND NEW bikes that are allowed to be run, so IMHO, a bit of "correct looking" upgrades doesn't go against the spirit.

For example, on my '86 Bianchi, I use a newer Truvativ polished aluminum touring crank (Touro) which has compact chainrings (50/34). Totally looks the part. Also, since I didn't have a decent wheelset for that bike, I decided to build up a more modern set of 32 spoke, low profile wheels. Ended up with a polished aluminum hubset from Origin 8, H Plus Son TB14 rims, and silver Sapim CX-Ray spokes...shod with Specialized 26c Turbo Cottons. Again, totally "looks" the part. Since I had previously upgraded the original Shimano 6-speed SIS shifting to 8-speed Dura Ace, I threw on an 8 speed 13-30 cassette, which works fine with the DA derailleur with just a minor "B" screw adjustment. The 34-30 low gear was much appreciated on the Cypress Mt. and Santa Rita dirt road climbs.

BTW, I actually ran that same bike (with different pedals and wheels) in the 2016 Belgian Waffle Ride as well. I've often wondered if it's the only bike to have ever done both BWR and the classic L'Eroica ;-)

It's a fun event...and make sure you take your time at the rest stops. The food (especially for the classic event) is typically quite awesome.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

I was lucky enough to get my old racing bike back from the guy i sold it to.I was in fantastic shape as it hung in a garage for about 35 years. His kid stole off most of the Campy parts but the frame was beautiful. I rebuilt it up with 42/24 small gear.

Back in 2002 I did the Gaiole event and it was a blast. There were only 250 to 300 folks in the ride and 90% of the people were Italian and only about 1/4 of them spoke English. They were amazed I came to their little ole event all the way from Hawaii. Literally 1/2 way around the earth. It was for my ahem, aaaa XXXX birthday on the day of the race. Every rest stop someone came up with a glass of wine and toasted my being there and birthday. I was about 2/3 drunk by the end of the ride. Now like Ironman there are lots of L'Eroica events around the world and they have several thousand riders and a lottery to get in. I am thinking about going back to Gaiole for my 20 years later birthday if I can get in and Covid is under control. Surely will be a way different experience that time.

The Gaiole course is plenty hard. I must have walked a dozen or so times. I have since mounted a compact 50/34 crank and have a 28 tooth freewheel. I have ridden the Montana Cino Heroica course with the better gears and often take the old 1974 bike out in the local fire roads. It would be nice if you find a bike that can handle 32mm tires. My old bike can slide 32mm in, but 30 mm seems to me be a little safer on the clearance. I also have an 82 vintage Colnago that has to live with 28mm tires. After about 1980 most frames were looking at running 23-25mm tires. I can not speak for most of the rides but small gears and older riders seem logical.

The really cool thing about the Gaiole event was from what I could tell a lot of the riders were on bikes they raced on in the 40s 50s and 60s. For some of them it was their daily rider and only bike they owned. One funny thing I learned from all this is that friction shifting really works. I have placed 8,9 and 10 speed right bar end shifters on several of my modern bikes and gone to single front chainrings. With the friction mode I swap Campy to Shimano rear wheels/cassettes no problem. I sort of like the bar ends over brake lever shifters for some reason, especially on rough stuff riding. It is nice to have 10 gear choices in the back over the 5 and 6 speeds in the L'Eroica bikes. 14-28 with only 3 stops in between 14 and 28 misses a lot of ratios.

Bottom line I would give the L'Eroica experience a double thumbs up for a fun experience.

I haven’t done one of these but I recently did a gravel grinder on my Dads 1980 colnago. It had some steep climbs. The original gearing is a 52/42 up front and 14-25 rear casette with 5 cogs. A number of companies used to make triplizer rings to add a third ring up front but no companies make them anymore.

I found this guy who machines them :
http://www.redclovercomponents.com/about-triplizers.html

I got his triplizer and had to try a few different bottom brackets to get the spindle length right and put a longer cage on the rear derailleur fabricated by soma for that purpose this era bog bikes. I put a 24 on the front :) so there was a lot of slack in the chain but the longer soma cage took up the slack.

It worked. It still needs a little work to shift well to the small chainring. I got some spacers for the bottom bracket that should take care of it I think.

I had a blast on the gravel grinder - did the dirt diggler in North Carolina. Had some steep stuff and even 2 miles of single track at the end. I was definitely the only guy with shifters in the Downtube.

It worked though. Ended up 6/15 in my age group just messing around having fun