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In looking for touring / touring bike pics, I noticed Google created this highlight reel from my last tour. Flits through the pics rather fast, but cute pastiche of touring https://photos.app.goo.gl/b4sFcRB1WvNRifxg9 Feel free to pause and dissect.
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Jul 25, 2020 17:24
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Bottom Liner posted:Steel hardtails or rigid bikes in general are a good pick. Way smoother ride than aluminum Alan of CyclingAbout (a very good touring resource) gives an impassioned argument on how little frame material matters past a certain tire size, owing to deflection coming from the dominant soft spring in a system: https://www.cyclingabout.com/why-impossible-steel-frames-more-comfortable-than-aluminium/ Ignore the clickbait title.
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Jul 25, 2020 17:46
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Casual Yogurt posted:Fav set up ever! On our tour of the PCH, there was this kid with some old road bike with one skateboard bungeed to it, and we passed him back and forth on the road over multiple days. We assumed he was stopping at every skate park on the way and catching up. Keep grinding, Skate Kid.
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Jul 25, 2020 18:50
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Bottom Liner posted:That might all be 100% correct for normal touring but I have ridden steel, Alu, carbon, and Ti off-road and on single track and the frame material definitely matters.especially with hard tails or rigid where your frame will be absorbing a lot of hits. And again, with bikepacking you have more concerns like frame rub and such. For rigid bikes, I partially disagree. Yes, for actual rocky off road, you quickly max out the "travel" of your tires and then you're delving into the flex of the fork and frame. At that point, however, I would say the fork plays a bigger roll in feel than the frame. And IME, fork harshness goes like this: - really lovely steel forks - aluminum forks - touring steel forks without front load - overbuilt carbon forks - nice carbon forks - touring forks with front load - nice road steel forks A $50 3 pound steel fork paired with a really nice steel frame is still gonna feel like poo poo. Off road, I'd much rather ride on alu frame with a legit touring fork with some load over a mediocre all-steel frameset. There are alu frames with a bunch of flex designed in, but I dunno that I would ride them for extremely long bikepacking tours. My Slate doesn't feel harsh at all between the flattened chainstays and 3cm suspension fork. CopperHound posted:Please, big soft tires are no substitute for the torsional flex in my noodly frame. Flexy alu frames make you fear for your life. Thankfully (?), that was without any load.
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Jul 25, 2020 19:09
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SimonSays posted:I'm going on a week-long tour in two days, now I feel mighty, thanks for the inspiration, thread.  your setup.
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Jul 25, 2020 19:45
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Gonna post the evolution of my touring bikes. All meant for >1 week, majority on-asphalt loaded touring. First touring bike, a couple days into the first tour:  Standard 4 pannier setup, with tent items on top of the rear rack. I had one full load test ride before, but still swapped the pannier locations of a few things early on in the tour. This was a 2010 Jamis Aurora Elite, a transitional touring bike with 9-speed groupset but also disc brakes. The gearing was 50/39/30 x 11-34, which was just barely adequate for some of the grades we hit. The bike came with fenders, rear rack, and that neat NVO adjustable stem (which I futzed with by a few mm early in the tour, and was happy to leave it alone after). It was new old stock in 2013, so I got it for 1100ish? Only things I added were the front rack and a (pointless) rim dynamo. You can see the junction box on the top tube, and my phone electric taped to the GPS. If I wanted to take a picture from the bike, I would unmount the GPS and hold it with the phone for the pic. No regrets picking this over a Long Haul Trucker, between the brakes and the brifters. I would buy this bike again and throw on an MTB triple to lower the gearing, and a low rider front rack. Ugly as they are, I actually really loved the Ritchey anatomic bars. kimbo305 fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Jul 25, 2020 |
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Jul 25, 2020 20:50
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SimonSays posted:
Do you only do two panniers? have you tried one front, one back, or both front?
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Jul 26, 2020 04:43
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The pannier placement is a good segue into the next step of my touring bike evolution. After the PCH tour, I sold the Jamis to some hipster in SF. My two primary goals for the next bike were lower gearing and bigger tires. I caught some marketing campaign for the Specialized AWOL, and that it ticked the bill for bigger tires. I managed to find a base one on eBay pretty cheap. This is pretty much the stock bike with a low rider front rack and some rear rack I had lying around. I managed to get my gear into 3 Back Rollers, so just one on the back:  I also thought about a saddle bag and a bigger test:  I never had too much on the back, so I downsized to a Tubus Fly Evo. Also went to smaller 42mm Soma Cazaderos and bamboo fenders:  The wheelset had a real dynamo instead of that rim nonsense, with the charging all happening in the gastank bag. For the next tour starting in Jasper, AB, CA, my other Boston friend and I decided to ship the bikes but check in and fly all the gear. As fate would have it, we made our flight, but our gear didn't. 3rd friend from Atlanta carried on his gear and bike, and it all made it. The only thing I carried on was a Back Roller with my bike shoes (thank god) and normal clothes. This was HIGHLY suboptimal, and yet exactly what touring is about -- taking things as they come. My friend and I spent $2k CAD at MEC and Atmosphere (CA camping store) to re outfit our bikes. The spread of hastily assembled replacement gear:  Thank GOD the stores were open, as this was that August long weekend holiday in Canada. The panniers I picked up didn't latch well to the racks, but we didn't really have much offroad riding, so it was fine. Final bike setup without panniers:  Final gearing was 50/39/24 x 11-36. Big improvement over first tour, and I rode in the granny gear for a few hours of the tour. Notice bear spray in some climbing chalk bag. That Raceface Diabolus seat post was the only replacement part I picked up on the way -- my undersized carbon post was splitting pretty uglily by the time we got to a bike shop. One thing I like about the AWOL frame is that it has a low top tube. This is actually a size Small, but at 55cm ETT, it still works as a Medium for me with a normal length stem, instead of the new short stem gravel trend. Anyways, that low top tube makes it a lot easier to lift the bike, since your arm is straighter. View from the saddle:  This is where my handlebar bag would be if it had showed up. I opted not to suck it up and not get a replacement. I think I used the bar mount for a couple of aero tucks in windy flat stretches. The charging junction gadget was also in the gear box, so I was lugging around a very heavy front hub that did nothing. The Campy 9-speed worked well, shifting the Shimano triple no problem, and the 9-speed Shimano RD with a Shiftmate converter. I would like to tour on Campy again. I think I just really prefer the hood shape.
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Jul 26, 2020 05:25
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Do yall consider walking the bike a defining aspect of bikepacking? Any time I see <100% riding time for a bikepacking route, I'm bummed out. I guess it's kind of arbitrary as far as difficulty of the route, but I don't want to do hiking in my bike shoes (yet another bikepacking gear decision, I supposed).
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Jul 27, 2020 01:56
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Seeing that makes me want to consider updating to 46 or 50t. Just in case.
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Jul 27, 2020 02:38
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CopperHound posted:I don't know about you, but I think I'd have to shift down to my 40t chainring to make it up that hill <  > oh yeah, what front ring.
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Jul 27, 2020 03:15
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What's the max tire clearance? You think you could fit 2.5? https://surlybikes.com/parts/extraterrestrial These are still on the fast rolling end, but they're supposed to be excellent at shedding mud. Have not ridden them in the mud, but decently fast on the road.
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Jul 27, 2020 23:29
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Clearing out my phone and found a pic of the box with all my gear, labeled for TSA convenience.  I think next time, I might try to get everything onto the flight.
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Jul 31, 2020 02:26
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Bottom Liner posted:is that iso fuel? didn't think you could even check that Nothing that looks round is a fuel canister. The most round thing is just a water bottle (with stuff inside; I didn't waste space!).
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Jul 31, 2020 20:48
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SimonSays posted:660km altogether over five days. I usually tour in the autumn and I was amazed by how many daylight hours of cycling there are in the high summer! I've only wild camped once, but it'd be so tempting right now. If you're fresh in the deep afternoon, there's still 2-3 hours of riding left.
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Aug 3, 2020 05:20
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Found the old pics of the template I used to have a frame bag made. I can't remember which company gave the basic instructions, but it's pretty intuitive -- label everything where a strap can't go:   Between pictures and having the template on hand, should be able to sew a bag to the right dimensions. At this point, I was talking to an acquaintance who was trying her hand at making bikepacking equipment (her day job is a camping gear engineer), and I thought I would get more out of a custom bag. We thought of making a radical bulge out front to increase volume. I was confident my knees would clear it. It worked -- fit was a little short toward the BB, but pretty drat good elsewhere.    I have a pretty small 3 season sleeping bag, and it fits nicely into the bulge. I'll discuss that fork swap on my touring bike later.
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Aug 11, 2020 18:52
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CopperHound posted:What are the loops at the end of the zippers for? Is there another slide that we can't see in the pictures? I think they're just meant to hold while you zip closed? Tbh, that's one of my annoyances with the bag, as they tickle my calf a bit if they're not perfectly tucked tight. You can see it in the top-down shot.
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Aug 11, 2020 19:40
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Most of the traditional 4-pannier touring bike frames will use cheaper tubing that’s stiff and will only ride nicely with the extra load. I went with a Jamis Aurora Elite because it was sturdier than the LHT.
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Aug 15, 2020 18:52
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i say swears online posted:weird, the framesets come with an aluminum fork. iunno how to feel about that or whether it matters all that much They do have engineers designing the things, and while aluminum forks might see more fatigue than aluminum frames, it should be good enough for however long Trek thinks you’ll own it, which is a high bar for the 520.
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Aug 15, 2020 23:37
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Bottom Liner posted:The chain stays of a LHT completely disprove the idea of surly frames being overbuilt lol. They crush like a beer can. Pics?
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Aug 16, 2020 05:08
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Writeup of a tour from Paris to Mussoorie, India in 1972: https://ridewithgps.com/ride_reports/4601-paris-to-mussoorie-by-bicycle-part-1-fra?otu=
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Aug 21, 2020 09:00
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What are you gonna do, return/sell them? I say spend the extra time to dial them in as part of your install. You can always detach them later really quickly.
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Aug 24, 2020 18:21
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I’ve not toured on the setup yet, but have commuted quite a bit with Dynasnaps: https://www.dyna-snap.com/ If anyone is desperate for a gimmicky quick connect system.
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Aug 27, 2020 08:17
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Trek put out a 520 variant, the Grando: https://bikepacking.com/news/trek-520-grando/ I've ridden with 2 low rider panniers, frame bag, and saddle bag. It was totally fine. Weight distribution isn't all that different from 4 panniers.
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Aug 30, 2020 21:54
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nm posted:I'd be curious what the tire clearance is on that as they only put 40s on it? It's the same frameset as the latest 520, which is officially 700x50, but CyclingAbout said Trek designs more clearance, so you might be able to squeeze in 2.2" tires.
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Aug 31, 2020 01:23
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God Hole posted:so I'm planning on training for and competing in the tour divide sometime within the next couple years (or whenever it comes back) so I'm looking for a good mountain bike that I could use for that, but also something that I can gently caress around on just doing normal bike tours on and maybe some easier mtb tracks. the only bikes I currently own are road. What do you want to spend on a bike, and how much more do you want to spend on gear for the tour? I can't remember what your on-road setup was like and how much of it you can recycle.
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Sep 7, 2020 00:08
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Was about to ask if this saddle worked well
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Sep 7, 2020 23:29
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4 panniers give you 4 spots to randomly put stuff up top for quick access.Sigmund Fraud posted:* It's a hassle to get into my panniers for frequently used items such as my wallet or snacks. I'm considering a small front bag. What are good mounting locations? Brands? I like the Banjo Brothers' handlebar bag for its ease of installation and no frills functionality. I used the bigger waterproof one, even though the clasp is dumbly front-facing. https://banjobrothers.com/collections/handlebar-bags/products/quick-release-waterproof-handlebar-bag-large There's also a mid size one with a zipper on top. https://banjobrothers.com/collections/handlebar-bags/products/quick-release-handlebar-bag-medium The BB mount primarily relies on friction, with the tension cable as a backup. Ortlieb, afaict, is just the tension cable, which is such a ball drop from them.
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Sep 10, 2020 02:34
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Coxswain Balls posted:Can it take SPD cleats? It can do that and carry a spare set... of cleats and pedals.
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Sep 20, 2020 19:11
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Found these pics when cleaning up Google Photos. First day of my first tour, from (as captioned on my jacket) Seattle to San Francisco:  These two old guys were doing the Seattle to Portland ride, and one of them had the same getup as me -- pink Brooklyn cap and glasses mirror. Once in a while, you'd see the ACA sticker for the route we were riding:  This one was particularly poignant cuz I'd just taken a picture of that geography: 
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Nov 3, 2020 16:53
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DR AIDS posted:These photos are awesome. I'm planning to do Seattle to San Diego via highway 101 in 2021 and I'm nervous as hell, as I've never done anything longer than a few days. From what I've seen the route looks cool though. It’s mostly scenic and safe, but there’s a few stretches where the shoulder is narrow and the logging trucks are fast. You’ll love it. My fave stretch is the 150mi north of SF, but the variety absolutely delivers.
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Nov 4, 2020 00:55
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i say swears online posted:i use axiom panniers and i like the bungee system. i got a pair of ortliebs a couple months ago and haven't used them yet because they don't clamp down very securely to my rack at all compared to the axioms. Is it just that the hooks are loose? Do any of the adapter shims fit? I've taken to building up rack tubing diameter by wrapping electric tape around the mount points until it gets the clip snug to the rack. Helps with the rattles.
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Nov 15, 2020 23:00
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i say swears online posted:yeah it's just loose, not a tight fit at all That’s pretty easy to fix then. And would rattle less than another hook.
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Nov 18, 2020 00:55
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Planet X posted:You should allow a minimum of 3 days. This is roughly 60 days of riding each day which was plenty. https://mobile.twitter.com/FullContactMTWF/status/1033507314198667264
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Dec 28, 2020 23:59
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Dean (of biking with Nala fame) seems to have run into a lot of that this past year, staying as various people's guest when lockdowns get announced.
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Jan 23, 2021 11:40
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This is what I dread and why I have a 24x36 gear. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKvLCHClhNi/?igshid=pcoq74txkcvz
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Feb 1, 2021 08:03
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The Real Amethyst posted:But I'm wanting to buy a new bike this year and would like to make it work this time i.e. getting something fit for purpose that will be good to hit the hills and trails without much screwing about. Which country are you in? There's some decent direct sale brands out there, but shipping is gonna make or break that. And also there might be a slight inventory problem. quote:Despite that I did cycle that thing hard all summer and took it some amazing places.
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Feb 6, 2021 01:01
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There's no wrong way to set it all up as long as nothing breaks; just evolve your setup as you do more tours.
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Mar 10, 2021 19:18
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Yeah, if you're mounting square panniers (as opposed to tapering toward the bottom) on a bike with normal chainstays (my touring bike is 445mm), you'll probably get some heel rub unless you slam the panniers aft on the rack. Which might feel extra unwieldy handling wise until you get used to it.
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Mar 16, 2021 05:11
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 01:26 |
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Bikepacking just put out this huge comparo and visual shopping for half frame bag options: https://bikepacking.com/index/half-frame-bags-and-wedges/
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Apr 7, 2021 15:43
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