Which Bike?

goose07

I am planning cycling LEJOG next year with my son. We both have hardtail mountain bikes which could be converted into tourers. We both have road/racing bikes and have a dilema, is it possible to get panniers for road bikes, I have a specialized allez tripple and my son has a Cube Attemp tripple. Is it possible to complete lejog on roadbikes carrying lightweigh camping equipment or would the sensible thing be to kit out the mountain bikes. We plan to take approx 14 days, camping and hosteling. Any comments would be gratefully received. Thanks

xilios

HI,
There are a couple isues you should think about. Do the bikes have eyelets to hang the panniers? Are the rims strong enough to handle the weight? And the length of the chain stays, too short and you could hit the panniers with your heels. Most touring with road (race) bikes pull a trailer.
I would recomend taking the mountain bikes, the gears are right and you'll also be able to do a bit of dirt track if you wanted.
cheers

nun

Why not use saddle bags and handlebar bags on the road bikes.

harpingcyclist

Depending on the weight of luggage you take, it may be okay to use the road bikes but the strength of the wheels will need to be a factor. As regards the Allez, more recent models have eyelets for panniers on the back. I presume your Allez does not have eyelets. If you want to avoid any risk of problems due to weight, it may be wise to use the mountain bikes. I am bemused by the number of people I see road touring on mountain bikes when such bikes are so obviously unsuitable. Compared to proper touring bikes, mountain bikes are slower and heavier.

vernonlevy

harpingcyclist wrote:

Depending on the weight of luggage you take, it may be okay to use the road bikes but the strength of the wheels will need to be a factor. As regards the Allez, more recent models have eyelets for panniers on the back. I presume your Allez does not have eyelets. If you want to avoid any risk of problems due to weight, it may be wise to use the mountain bikes. I am bemused by the number of people I see road touring on mountain bikes when such bikes are so obviously unsuitable. Compared to proper touring bikes, mountain bikes are slower and heavier.

Mountain bikes might be heavier and slower but if that is all you have got and your budget doesn't stretch to purchasing a touring bike as well, touring on an MTB makes sense.

In many ways the mountain bike is better equipped for touring than a road bike in that the gears will cope with just about every hill the rider is likely to encounter.

Not that many folk contemplate buying a tourer as their first bike compared with the number of folk buying MTBs road bikes.

If the original poster can get the weight of his touring gear down (at considerable expense for lightweight stuff) the road bike wheels will cope.

priory

I put about 12kg on a rack on my giant scr2 and it did not feel good ( the frame was not stiff enough and the the bags a bit close to my heels)so I used my heavy bike instead this year.I expect the allez would be similar.
But if it is a bandb tour take only a tiny amount of stuff on the road bikes.I tend to use a large bag so there is room to pack without fiddling much, but really a single rack top bag should enough.

meagain

Not necessarily the case that "mtbs" (or "atbs" for that matter) heavier - nor even slower - than "tourers". Depends on the bike(s) in question. I have at leat one 26" wheeler rigid (admittedly old) mtb that is certainly lighter than say a Galaxy. And with x1.2" slicks I can't see wht it would be any slower - at least not for most riders. Only problem with it is that is (or was!) an XC race bike - and no mountings for racks/grds - tho' I'm about to experiment with P-clips!