Touring Bike groupset

harpo

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a decent retailer for a touring groupset of say Shimano XT level? I am finding it hard to get a set which is road/touring bike specific and not mountain bike/flat bar spec. I'd rather not buy a pile of parts separate and have to cobble it together but if needs must....

Any ideas welcome.

Radioactiveman

I thought LX was more aimed at touring/trekking 26/36/48 iirc ?

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... ranks_T661

Anonymous

Have you seen the new Sram Apex set?

huuregeil

TBH there's nothing wrong with cobbling bits together, especially given that a touring bike tends to have quite specific requirements and touring cyclists quite strong preferences. For example:

- What brake type do you have?
- Crankset, are you after a standard road triple or something like a 28/38/48 touring set?
- Shifters? Downtube, bar end, ergos? If ergo, shimano or campag or shimergo?
- Mechs and cassette will follow lever choice but it's pretty open! But mechs are mechs, doesn't matter whether it's road or mtb as long oas you've got the levers to match.

Not much else to a groupset! Try Spa or SJS Cycles for lots of touring specific stuff.

acorn_user

You could try Merlin and sub in some 9 speed STI shifter or barcons for the flat bar levers. You'd need a road front mech also. Or just cobble it together. Stronglight XD crank is pretty decent. Or just buy a Campagnolo triple group, if you can find one.

crankycrank

harpo wrote:

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a decent retailer for a touring groupset of say Shimano XT level? I am finding it hard to get a set which is road/touring bike specific and not mountain bike/flat bar spec. I'd rather not buy a pile of parts separate and have to cobble it together but if needs must....
Any ideas welcome.

What range of gearing are you interested in? Caliper brakes, long reach or short, Cantilevers, V's? What size wheels? I think it would be hard to know what to recommend without having this info.

harpo

OK some more detail.

I'd want STI shifters/brakes
Want it to be shimano hub compatible
Brakes have to be either mini V brakes to be compatible with levers or V brakes with power adapters or cantilever brakes
I've got some 700c wheels already
I think a standard road triple might be a tad too big so a 26-28/36-38/48 would be better.
Takes an English BB and 32mm band on front derailleur

Was looking for a groupset as thought cost was be cheapest that way,

Not seen the SRAM Apex groupset but just had a look and it doesn't seem to be out for a while (end June).

huuregeil

Cost - there's not much in it and it starts to become irrelevant once you start making the necessary mix-and-matching.

9 or 10 speed? What ratio cassette will you be running on the rear?

Things to beware: with STIs, the front mech must be a road model, and also some mechs play with varying easy with wide ratio cranksets and cassettes... having the ability to trim the front mech will make your life much easier! Thus:

I think the best solution for a touring bike is either to run a Shimano 9-speed drivetrain (e.g. XT front and rear mechs and cassette), crankset of choice (e.g. Stronglight, Sugino) with either downtube shifters or a shimergo setup (campag 10speed shifters driving the 9speed rear mech). You get: less hassle with the crankset/front mech; more robust chain; better availability of 9-speed mtb parts, no matter where in the world you are.

Brakes - pick whatever, there are a few good canti choices e.g. Tektros.

Why not simply give someone like Spa (no link, just a happy customer!) a call and let them put together a package that they know will work together and see if you can negotiate a deal?

harpo

Cheers for the pointers.

One more question. I think having LX on the front and back would give too small a gearing so do you think I'd be better putting a 28-11 cassette on the back with a standard road derailleur and a LX type touring triple crankset on the front or a wide range cassette like 13-34 with LX derailleur and standard road triple crankset? They will give very similar gearing but which way round would be best to set it up?