Another touring "what bike" thread - Sub 1K

[nickyboy]

Ok, this is probably off topic, but have you considered a trailer? Something like the ExtraWheel?
Yes, it's heavier but it means you get to carry gear on your road bike, the one you know, trust and are comfortable on.

Or a bikepacking setup with minimalist gear?

Minimalist bikepacking is what we are doing for our LEJOG this year as three of the four of us only have carbon road bikes that won't take panniers

It's helped by the fact we aren't camping and we will return home after 5 days and then do another 6 days

I've got my total packing, including bags down to about 5kg

Would be lovely to buy a specialist touring bike but it just adds unnecessarily to the expense. Subsequent tours (this is our first) we will try to do on this setup unless our LEJOG is a disaster

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I'm with @Vantage 50 on any sort of tourer is sheer madness.

and I'd say the 30T at the bottom is too high for a bottom.

Raleigh couldn't have known what they were doing then, because my Royal has a 50/36 crankset and, IIRC, a 14-32 5-speed freewheel on the back.
OK, I don't use mine for lugging heavy touring loads loads, but I do use the 50T front ring the majority of the time I'm riding on tarmac. I'm not a particularly lightweight rider either.

 

[Blue Hills]

Hi skipdiver.
Quite, you aren't a tourer.
You maybe also don't climb too many hills.
Most of london is flat.
I live up a great big hill (dead end so no other way home) and frequently carry loads of shopping up it, as well as camping loads. The bikes i use for heavy loading go into the 22T ring at the bottom of the hill, which I think means the big ring can be no bigger than 44. By the same token a big big ring means you have to have a big small.
I do have another bike with a 48 big ring but that isn't used for heavy touring, just shopping and day rides. Wouldn't dream of touring on it.
I promise to take a pic of my extravagantly loaded exped bike sometime.