MTB Bikes suitable for Touring

gorillapower

Hi Guys,

I am about to start off on my first bicycle tour, in all honestly I havn't gone more than 20km on a bike! So I all ready to start my first tour ;- )

Its going to be a long one, I want to stay on the road for atleast 2months. But obviously as I am new to the bicycle touring, I dont have the experience to notice a good deal or a quality buy so I hope you guys can help.

I have scoured the internet for adventure cycling tips and guides and was told that to go touring on the cheap I should convert a MT Bike - namely a Trek, Cannondale, Dawes, etc. So I have bid on ebay for this bike
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330328955743&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:GB:1123 Its a Marin Lite Eldridge Grade about 10 years old and at the moment seems to be at a reasonable price (£113)

What do you think the maximum price for this should be? I thought £250. And could this bike endure a long tour? I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that will do the job, a trusty steed rather than a supercar.

Thanks for your time, any suggestions would be welcome. What I really want to do is to prevent getting ripped off or doing something amateurish.

Regards,

Martin

amaferanga

I wouldn't pay £250 for that! I'd say that its price now (£113) is probably what its worth, but old steel mtbs are trendy these days so they do go for silly money on ebay. Saying that, the bike would probably do, but without knowing what sort of condition the wheels, gears, etc. are in its impossible to say whether or not it'd do for a long tour.

A quick look on ebay brought up these:

Trek 830 for buy-it-now for only £75 (220414294849)
GT buy-it-now only £109.95 (270390841846 )
Nice looking steel Raleigh currently at £7.24 (360153877703)
Scott Summit frame plus some bits currently at £25(140319142370)

You might want to keep a look out for an Orange P7 or an older On One Inbred (the new ones don't have braze-ons to take a rack). I have an On One Inbred from 2004 and I rate it highly for touring on rough roads.

If you're budget will stretch a bit you could look at the 2008 Marin Muirwoods which can be picked up new for about £400.

gorillapower

Awesome! I dont know how you found those so quickly, I literally looked for the last 2-3 days straight and found very few.

Thanks so much, I must just wait to see if anyone outbids me on the Marin and then I can start really looking.

dilemna

Or withdraw your current bid......

gorillapower

Thanks for the replies, there is so much to choose from on Ebay I dont know where to start!

I will take amaferanga's advice and just look for a On One and an Orange bicycle. I have owned a GT Oupost before so I might choose it aswell. Any other suggestions?

andymiller

amaferanga wrote:

You might want to keep a look out for an Orange P7 or an older On One Inbred (the new ones don't have braze-ons to take a rack). I have an On One Inbred from 2004 and I rate it highly for touring on rough roads. .

The 'not-sliding-dropout' Inbreds (vertical dropouts to you and me) have braze-ons for racks (or at least if the picture on the On-One website is to be believed). The 456 also makes a good off-road touring bike (it's what I use). At £185 both are pretty good value new. Maybe you could buy and ageing but decent MTB and cannibalise the parts?

bigjim

Hmm. there is a coincidence. just put my steel 80s MTB on e-bay. Type in peugeot mtb/tourer.

Jim

gorillapower

Are there any makes that I should avoid? What about this trek 830? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220414294849

tardington

Not so sure about the bike, but the seller gives me a bad feeling. He sells a lot of used bikes? And wants cash only? Hmm....

Marins have a good frame warranty... But as people have said, a decent steel frame will do you. Maybe tyres with a puncture proof strip? I find the ones with complete, all over puncture protection a real pain to fix when they do (an they will!) burst.

Certainly get front and back panniers at least, especially if you are camping. I took a plain 2 person tent with me for my last tour. Not so light (I wasnt racing though) but I did have the option in extremity to have the bike in the tent with me. Plus the room when tent bound (MIDGES) was great.

What sort of touring, and where are you thinking of?

gorillapower

Thanks for the info. Im looking to tour for quite a long time, for the summer at least, camping mostly hopefully. Going Ray Mears style.

Im currently in East Anglia, so im not sure where I'll go from there. Just planning to pick and choose when I get closer to the time. Any notable places in the UK and surrounds?

Planning a trans Euro trip after the initial UK probably, hopefully. Cant wait!

tardington

Hey that sounds smart! Ray Mears stylee is cool as well. 8) There are lobster/crayfish pots on eBay that are pretty lightweight - you just fill them with rocks when you get to the river. Fifteen quid tho for a possible 'no food' result. Just eat local animals...

You can get bottles of liquid soap to wash <i>everything</i> you can think of from lifeventure, but www.minx-girl.com do a similar thing for about a quarter of the price. Plus public loo's - and you'd be surprised at how much of yourself you can wash in a musuem toilet. :shock:

psmiffy

I used a Marin eldrige for touring for ten years - did the job admirably - word of caution I had mine from new - end of the bikes career was when I lifted it onto my bike rack after getting of the bike bus at the end of a tour in france and discovered that the chainstays had rusted through and were cracked on one side the other side was so thin in places that finger pressure was enough to make a hole

gorillapower

haha, so £15 for a lobster pot and potentially no food costs? Awesome!

Just an update, I made an offer for the Trek 830 and it went through so my first tour now has its main piece of equipment.

tardington

Hey nice one!

How hard core are you going to be then? A tent? Or camping - or wild camping??

I can lend you a book about flint knapping!

gorillapower

I havnt really thought about it, I suppose whatever comes my way, but Im definitely hoping to camp a lot, so probably a bit of all three! Flint knapping?

I dont think im going that hardcore tho, but I do plan to fish and camp. But definitely keeping a Mears book near by to practice some skills! Ultimately Just planning to 'gun it'.

Any weather tips in June/July/August? My first time in the UK from South Africa.

tardington

Probably be nice but 'probably' is the best anyone can do. Bring a brolly.