Gearing for touring

[RedBike]

While you're saving up for the Thorn you could always invest in an OLD second-hand MTB?

I'm thinking more along the lines of the older steel frame, V-brake/canti brakes, horizontral top tube, rigid fork etc.
Anything except the modern duel suspension supermarket rubbish.

You should be able to pick something up in good condition for under £50, and this sort of bike can often relatively easily be adapted to carry large loads.

It might be worth keeping an eye on your local paper / car boots etc as well as Ebay. in general bikes always seem to fetch premium prices on ebay at the moment.

 

[thistler]

Thanks - I would certainly consider an old mountain bike.  I will admit I have been tempted to get a Kona Smoke while they are going cheap, but I am trying to resist because I know I will get much better value for my money buying used, and something not so new and shiny will be a lot less attractive to thieves.

I've already got MTB mudguards and a rack, so if I got something for £50-ish, I wonder how much I'd need to put into it to make it tour-worthy...

 

[RedBike]

I had a Kona smoke. It was a cracking piece of kit for the money, but not my cup of tea.

My blog entry.
http://redbikes.blog...oke-review.html


I adhore 29er MTBs in general and I wanted a touring bike so the Smoke seemed ideal, but alas it was just too heavy for me. The frame and forks were lovely,but to get it in at under £200 Kona have fitted some industrial weight parts to it. I sold mine (having done one tour on it) for more money on ebay than I'd bought it for new!

I've already got MTB mudguards and a rack, so if I got something for £50-ish, I wonder how much I'd need to put into it to make it tour-worthy...

If you are planning on buying a touring bike sometime in the near future then there really isn't much point on spending a fortune on this MTB. I was recommending it as a cheap solution to get you by while you're saving for your dream machine. Something you can sell off in a few months time and get most of your money back.

I would recommend fitting a set of good quality slick tyres, say £20each and your favouite saddle.
With luck these parts can be transfered from the MTB (when you come to sell it) and re-used on your new 26" Thorn

 

[thistler]

Thanks again. I don't know how long it will be before I can afford a LHT or a Thorn - it could take quite a while to raise the funds, but I will likely keep the MTB (or whatever) as my daily errand/shopping bike. I won't be doing any touring until late spring so am in no real hurry.

Glad to hear about your experience with the Kona, it has put that thought out of my mind. I appreciate all your help!!

 

[mcshroom]

The weight thing always confuses me. I weigh nigh on 18st and wouldn't have any worries riding on a road bike, so unless the combined rider/luggage weight is looking like that sort of weight (maybe a little less for the rack being on the back rather than in the middle of the bike) I fail to see what the real problem is.

 

[thistler]

The weight thing always confuses me. I weigh nigh on 18st and wouldn't have any worries riding on a road bike, so unless the combined rider/luggage weight is looking like that sort of weight (maybe a little less for the rack being on the back rather than in the middle of the bike) I fail to see what the real problem is.

are you saying my Secteur won't explode under the stress?    

 

[mcshroom]

are you saying my Secteur won't explode under the stress?

Er I'll remember to read page 2 before answering next time

I was responding to whether the bike you have should be able to carry the luggage that you are looking at carrying on it. I just think that most frames are a lot stronger than they are generally given credit for.

I may be wrong, but unless you are looking to go on a long camping expedition with masses of stuff then I would have thought that your bike should be able to carry the stuff you want. The wheels would need a bit more looking after as they are more likely to be knocked out of true and the spokes may have a greater chance of snapping (although I've never snapped one myself) but for road touring I would have thought it would be ok, if not as happy as a dedicated tourer might be.

 

[thistler]

Thanks - I did get the handbuilt 36h wheels from Spa so would hope they could handle it without spokes snapping.....   but I guess I won't know until I try.

I wouldn't even know what to do if a spoke snapped......so much to learn!!! 

 

[Crankarm]

How about one of the original Trek 7500FX bikes? Not a sniff of carbon anywhere on it. A very strong and light aluminium frame, solid front fork, bosses front and rear so one can fit racks to carry panniers. Supplied with 35C tyres so lots of space to fit serious touring tyres and mudguards. You could fit your own handbuilt wheels and some decent touring tyres. Rugged go anywhere bike. Deore LX components, powerful V brakes. I am sure you could even have the frame modified to accept disc brakes if you so wished.

 

[thistler]

How about one of the original Trek 7500FX bikes? Not a sniff of carbon anywhere on it. A very strong and light aluminium frame, solid front fork, bosses front and rear so one can fit racks to carry panniers. Supplied with 35C tyres so lots of space to fit serious touring tyres and mudguards. You could fit your own handbuilt wheels and some decent  touring tyres. Rugged go anywhere bike. Deore LX components, powerful V brakes. I am sure you could even have the frame modified to accept disc brakes if you so wished.

That sounds great - I'll keep my eye out for one.  Any idea what they go for? 

 

[RedBike]

Don't worry, loading the bike up (even fully loading it) is highly unlikely to result in the frame exploding. Provided you're not carrying everything including the kitchen sink there there shouldn't be any issues at all with using the Secteur.

When the bikes over-loaded you will start to get handling issues such as speed wobbles or the front wheel lifting etc; You will also start to get problems with pinch flatting and wheels buckling long before the frames in any danger of failing.


In extreme cases HEAVILY loading the frame will increase the rate the frame fatigues at. Imagine bending a paper clip back and forth until it snaps. It's the same thing with a frame, the more you bend it then the quicker it will eventually snap.
Under nornal riding conditions most modern frames should easily last a life-time. The problem comes when you abnormally load the frame, so that when you hit a bump the frame gets bent that little bit further than it's supposed to go, ie you start to bend the paper clip that little bit further that its meant to go. Your frame wont break/explode the moment you put the weight on it, just as the paper clip doesn't break the first time that you bend it. It will take time.

The problem is we can't even begin to estimate exactly how long "It will take time" is. We might be talking 2 years, but we could just as easily be talking about 200 years worth of use.


Just to re-iterate the above, provided you're sensible with what you pack and how your ride then there shouldn't be ANY issues with using the Secteur for touring.

 

[thistler]

Thanks again - I may use the Secteur if I can't find anything else suitable before next spring. 

I will still need an errand/shopping bike so it makes sense to look out for something that can take front and rear racks and mudguards. An old mtn bike or hybrid would be great. I haven't sold my other bike yet so don't have any funds atm, but hopefully will soon.....

 

[jimboalee]

There are formulas to help decide gearing on ANY bike.

Firstly, weigh the bike, the luggage and everything else it will carry except the rider,, in lbs.

Reciprocate this number ( lbs ) and multiply it by 1000.

E.G. 40 lb of bike, luggage and accessories. 1/40 * 1000 = 25. The gear the bike needs to climb a 10% hill comfortably is 25".

Check the route. For every 2% steeper gradient, take off 3", so now if there is a 16% gradient, our 40lb bike will need a 16" gear.

20 ring to 32 sprocket is a 16" gear. 58 rpm is 2.8 mph. It'll be 220 to 240 Watts.

 

[thistler]

Wow - thanks!!!!

 

[jimboalee]

When one goes cycle touring, one lays out on one's bed everything one wishes to take. Then one puts half of it back in the cupboard.
One packs one's bags, panniers etc.
One fills one's bottles, mounts one's lamps and fit's one's Garmin.

One weighs oneself on one's bathroom scales. One weighs oneself again while holding the fully laden bike off the ground.

One subtracts the first result from the second result. One reciprocates this and multiplies by 1000 to get the gear inches for a 10%. One subtracts six ( we won't bother with riding up 16% hills ) to find the basement gear for the bike.

Then one researches rings and cassettes to achieve this gear.