End to End Road Bike?

martinojones

Hi I'm new to this forum, so please excuse what must be a frequently asked question.
I want to ride End to End. However my bike is a Trek Carbon road bike. I do not really wish to purchase a Tourer just to complete the trip.
Would it be possible to use a road bike for the end to end and if so, what modifications would people recommend I make to my road bike to make it more suitable for long distance riding?

AirTime

hi, it is possible, i'm planning on doing it myself.
check this guys site out who did it on a roadie...

http://www.freewebs.com/2wheelsgood/lejogimages.htm

looks like a seat post rack and a handle bar bag would be good enough.

martinojones

Air time. Thanks for that, interesting, though I dont think I could be so mimimalist with my Kit? I think I would possibly need to look at the full rack option on the rear only. with a handlebar bag up front. I is nice to see that his road bike looked quite standard though.
Good luck with yours.

amaferanga

If you plan to take camping gear then you'd need something more like a tourer - I wouldn't fit a rack to a carbon road bike anyway. If you're staying in B&Bs then a rack bag and bar bag is possible, but you'd likely have one set of cycling clothes plus one set of civvies and would need to wash them every couple of days. Not for everyone.

That guy has a Giant SCR2 that actually has mounts for a rack so quite why he chose to use that rack is beyond me. The weight would have been lower and the bikes handling much better with a proper rack and rack bag

robthehungrymonkey

I've looked at a seat post rack for my road bike.

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Topeak-Beam-Rac ... k_1118.htm

That seems the best option (But with the side panels), which may enable you to use some panniers. I'm not sure as i've never seen the rack in the flesh.
With the top peak bag designed for this rack, the wide panels flop down almost like panniers, and you can strap a tent to the top. All the other camping equipment could be more of an issue though

volvine

i did it on a 2004 trek madone so yes it is possible but i'm biased cause i love my bike.

as for equipment the best thing we had which was ireplacable was a camper van act's as your bed for the night all your spares shower cannot imagine doing it without it.

martinojones

Thanks for that, I too have a Madone. But again I wish to as far as possible do it without the luxury of support vehicles etc.
So will be looking at trying to fit a rack with panniers, if its possible.

flashman469

You could possibly consider something like the Carradice Camper Long flap saddlebag with the QR bracket. I use this for work and weekend touring and can get loads of gear into it and it also has fairly minimal effect on handling (in comparison to panniers). They are also very easy to resell on the CTC forum as they are very popular with the audax and touring community.The whole system clamps to the saddle rails with the saddlebag then attached to the bracket.

http://www.carradice.co.uk/saddlebags/c ... ebag.shtml

http://www.carradice.co.uk/racks-and-at ... dard.shtml

martinojones

Some good likes their folks, Food for thought. Thanks

tardington

Well good luck with it then! Saw a lot of LEJOGers when I was up thurso way - if you're staying in B'n'Bs a bar bag and big saddle bag should be enough if you're super-minimal.

Could you post things to places your booked to stay?

Btw I only just realised what LEJOG meant when I looked at that site. :oops:

jmcdowall

If you don't have mounts for a rack on your bike, couldn't you just use some adapters like these?:

http://www.tubus.com/vergroesserung.htm ... 12_05_47_5

http://www.tubus.com/vergroesserung.htm ... 12_06_36_5

martinojones

Thanks for all these tips, Plenty of food for thought.

martinojones

Sorted this one. Although I could convert my road bike quite easily for this as stated. I took the easier option of buying a Touring bike instead. (Not so easy on the Wallet though.) But I'll use the tourer for commuting to work, to leave my Madone for the nice Fast Sunny day blasts.