Light touring on a road bike
Comments
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I'm no expert on posting pics but I seem to do it more than anybody else. So...open a free account at Photobucket.com. Then upload photos. Photobucket gives each pic an IMG code. Then copy the IMG code into the post.<hr>
<h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>0 -
Thanks for the tip. Here goes lets see if it works.It does. Great stuff. The wheels are not the ones I use now. I have a new set and I have positioned the saddlebag more under the seat. I carry 3.5 kgs on each side at the front and between 5kg and 5.5kg on the seat, depending on food. All up on the road with me on the seat total weight 90 kgs. It is so smooth and comfortable. Drop the luggage off and you have a nice light climbing machine.
Cheers Brian
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Looks good! How have you managed to attach mudguards and a lowrider to your carbon forks? I can't see how the lowrider mounts. What model is it? And how are the rear mudguard stays attached to the bike? Does the saddle bag ever rub the rear wheel? Does it sway much? How would you compare the bag support with the SQR system? What's the weight limit on it, and is all the weight taken by your seat rails?<hr>
<h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>0 -
Do the front panniers not affect the steering?
A long time ago when I used to do lightweight stuff I preferred just to have stuff behind me.
(But then I still do as I have a BOB trailer)
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No they make it handle as it does with nothing on. I spent hours on the internet looking at the designed weight distributation on bikes. Around 55 to 60 % on the front and the remainer on the back. Check out your bike put the front wheels on the scales with you on it, note the weight. Do the same for the rear. Add the 2 together to give total weight the work out the percentages. Load the bike and do the same. I think you will find with reat panniers only it will be way out. As I said I have decended a hill here at 81 kph with one hand on the bars, with the bike fully loaded. The other hand was holding the speedo close to the sensor. It was as solid as a rock. I have swerved sharply at speed, 50kph and it just does what it is suppose to be. It is not my idea I got it off a young lady on another forum. If I was going use rear panniers I would go with 4 small ones, 2 at the front 2 at the rear, to balance the bike. That is my theory. Interesting tho.
Cheers Brian0 -
Just looking at your pics though, what size tires have you got there, fitting under mudguards? Just interested, although I may have different forks than yours.
Also, is that the same headset that came with yours, or an extender? I've thought about raising mine a bit to get rid of neck pain over long distances0 -
Eurostar wrote:Looks good! How have you managed to attach mudguards and a lowrider to your carbon forks? I can't see how the lowrider mounts. What model is it? And how are the rear mudguard stays attached to the bike? Does the saddle bag ever rub the rear wheel? Does it sway much? How would you compare the bag support with the SQR system? What's the weight limit on it, and is all the weight taken by your seat rails?
I brought a uncut, so I could position the stem where I wanted it, Bontrager Satalite plus fork, off the Pilot 5.0, which already has eyelets. I bolted the Tubus Ergo rack onto them. Made up some clamps with spacers, so as not to crush the carbon, added the suppot so all the weight is taken by the eyelets and the clamps just hold it in position. All the Pilot range has eyellets at the rear for mudguards and long drop brakes. The tyres are Continental Contact 28*1.25*1.75 or 32 * 622. They are tight but mud clears its self fine. The saddle bag never touched the back well. Can't comment on SQR. Max weight is 10 kgs I have only had around the 5kgs in it. But with no noticable sway even when climbing out of the seat, all the weight is taken by the seat rails.
This bike is great to ride both in touring mode and normal mode. It is soooo smooth and comfortable and very versitile. I just don't want to get off it and look for any excuse to go for another ride.
Hope all this helps.
Cheers Brian
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Brian NZ wrote:I went with the front pannier and Longflap saddle bag option. Total weight including panniers, saddle bag, tent, carried over food and every thing else to be fully self contained comes to12.5 kg.
I have checked out the weight distributation loaded and unloaded and they work out almost identical. I have done 81 kph solid as a rock. I have tried low speed, I can get dowm to 3.8kph before she starts to wobble. I can climb out of the seat with no trouble at all. Dodging potholes at speed, no problem. I am wraped. Hope this helps.
I would attach a photo of her in touring mode but can't fingure out how to do it.
Cheers Brian & Sue
Brian NZ, nice approach to your gear. The 12.5 kg for "loaded" touring is an achievement. I use a Longflap on the back, strap my tent under the saddle, a zipped roll on the handlebars carries my valuables and a I strap a small compression sack on a front rack. Weight including food for 2 days and 2 litres of water is 11kg.
What tent, sleeping bag etc are you using? Here's my gear
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Your better at it than I am to be down to 11kgs. I have a a few comfort bits. a thermorest seat frame, and a larger than normal tent.
The sleeping bag I use is about a 20 yr old Macpac Neve. 400 grms down on one side only with a sleeve for the thermorest on the other. The tent is a Sierra Designs
"Iota" which is quite a large single person tent. It has a very large vestibule area and weighs in at 1.8 kg. I can open up the front on sunny days or wet days for prtection from the sun or rain and cook etc in there. The rest of the stuff is normal. The only other fancy thing is a Titainium pot with it's frypan lid. It is the one we use when there are 2 of us but it fits the cooker etc in side so takes up not too much extra space.
Cheers Brian0 -
Brian NZ wrote:Your better at it than I am to be down to 11kgs. I have a a few comfort bits. a thermorest seat frame, and a larger than normal tent.
The sleeping bag I use is about a 20 yr old Macpac Neve. 400 grms down on one side only with a sleeve for the thermorest on the other. The tent is a Sierra Designs
"Iota" which is quite a large single person tent. It has a very large vestibule area and weighs in at 1.8 kg. I can open up the front on sunny days or wet days for prtection from the sun or rain and cook etc in there. The rest of the stuff is normal. The only other fancy thing is a Titainium pot with it's frypan lid. It is the one we use when there are 2 of us but it fits the cooker etc in side so takes up not too much extra space.
Cheers Brian
I thing you're doing pretty well to keep your total to 12.5kg carrying a 1.8kg tent. My bike, with racks, comes in at 11.5kg, gear, water and food adds another 11kg so I'm on the road at 22.5kg (50lbs), now all I have to do is drop 10kg myself and I'll be set.
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Nun, what's your saddlebag? Make, model and volume please!
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<h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>0 -
Goodness - that pic of all your stuff reminds me of touring with my brother - every blinking hostel/hotel/tent was subject to the 'laying everything out so you can find everything quickly - except he once lost his razor - it got caught on teh bedspread and ended up under his pillow!!! It took him 3 hours of intermittent cussing to find it and then he accused me of hiding it... :roll:
I am impressed by you gents' asceticism tho' - couldn't do it myself (tho i'd like to try one day....0 -
ut_och_cykla wrote:I am impressed by you gents' asceticism tho' - couldn't do it myself (tho i'd like to try one day....
I have a tent, a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad and a stove. Some guys use a tarp, bubble wrap as a pad, and go without a stove, now that's spartan0 -
Your bike looks awesome loaded up like that. I am fortunate in that I only weigh in at 65 kgs so all up, the bike gear and me come in at around the 85 kgs. But I have chicken legs so it needs to be light.
Cheers Brian0 -
Brian NZ wrote:Your bike looks awesome loaded up like that. I am fortunate in that I only weigh in at 65 kgs so all up, the bike gear and me come in at around the 85 kgs. But I have chicken legs so it needs to be light.
Cheers Brian
Well I have a long way to go in the personal weight stakes. I'm a rotund 95kg so all my weight saving on gear etc is a bit like "pissing in the wind" if I don't drop around 15kg and get back to my weight before middle age spread took over.
But back to gear weight, I really don't think my gear is particularlly spartan, what I've tried to do is to get 90% of the comfort I had with heavier gear while keeping the weight below 10kg. The kit isn't suitable for winter touring, but I don't do that anyway. I have a single walled 680g tent that is comfortable and keeps out all the bugs, a 500g sleeping quilt, a Thermarwst pad and an alcohol stove.0 -
I'm reading 'The great bike ride - around the world in 80 days' by Nick Sanders at the moment, and from the photos, he was riding a racing bike with only 2 front panniers on his trip round the world!0
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I've met Nick a few times and he'd be the first to agree that he's a special case (raving looney?) and not to be used as a role model.
He went on to set round the world solo speed records on various totally unsuitable race replica motorcycles - taking 10 minutes naps by the roadside whenever it got too tough.0 -
Sadly Guinness scrubbed his 80 days record when they rewrote the rules: an overland circumnavigation now has to be 18,000 miles+ by land, another 8,000+ by sea or air, via 2 antipodal points. Backtracking distances don't count. Nick's trip was all in the Northern hemisphere (I think) and roughly 13,000 miles.<hr>
<h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>0 -
Bazhorn wrote:I'm reading 'The great bike ride - around the world in 80 days' by Nick Sanders at the moment, and from the photos, he was riding a racing bike with only 2 front panniers on his trip round the world!
The Crane Bros "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" is another good extreme cycling story. They used 2 small rear panniers to ride over the Himalayas, acoss TIbet and The Gobi to the spot on the Earth furthest from any Ocean. The had no stove, no tent, and carried little food or water relying on finding shelter and supplies along the way0 -
nun wrote:Bazhorn wrote:I'm reading 'The great bike ride - around the world in 80 days' by Nick Sanders at the moment, and from the photos, he was riding a racing bike with only 2 front panniers on his trip round the world!
The Crane Bros "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" is another good extreme cycling story. They used 2 small rear panniers to ride over the Himalayas, acoss TIbet and The Gobi to the spot on the Earth furthest from any Ocean. The had no stove, no tent, and carried little food or water relying on finding shelter and supplies along the way
Agree, the Crane brother's account on barely modified raleigh racing bikes with skinny tyres and tiny panniers on some at times pretty dreadful roads is certainly an interesting read. It's actually available on the net:-
http://web.archive.org/web/200412110455 ... net/crane/0 -
Nick Sanders's achievement knocks Mark Beaumont's ride into the shade. Do the maths - Nick's 13,000 miles in 79 days is over 160 miles a day compare to Mark's 92 miles a day. They both would have lost a few days with transfers which would pushed Nick's average up by more than Mark's. And from what I remember, Nick's ride was also unsupported. It's not his fault that the record criteria were changed.
Don't get me wrong, Mark's ride was very impressive, but basically it was a very long tour. I wouldn't like the pressure of riding 100 miles a day for 200 days but in my time in cycling I have known quite a few riders who can comfortably ride 90 or 100 miles a day, day after day, indeed longer distances than that. Look at most pros in training.
So, the way is open for someone to seriously take this record apart! Any takers?0
