Race bike to light touring ... what to do?

TipsterStu

Hey guys

I've got a Condor Squadra that I've had for over 4 years now and I bet it's not done 1500 miles ... injuries, crashes, broken noses from face to road and eventually broken arms from a fall kept me on and off the road in equal measure

So in the end I ride my single speed to work each day and I weekend tour on a hybrid ... the squadra is and has become a luxury

Now when I bought it I had an ambition to do organised amateur road races like The Dragon and Etape du Caledonia et al ... however I'm no nearer doing that than I was the day I bought it

My dilemma comes from doing much more touring ... which I tend to do on a crappy, but reliable alu hybrid ... my thought now after much consideration is to take the campag veloce off the squadra and put it on a steel, touring frame that will see many more miles because of the utility aspect ... I'm not a pack, peloton rider - I tried that and never took to it ... love going out on rides in the country though with friends ... so don't think I'm unsociable

Firstly, what could I expect to sell my 2006 Squadra frame, forks and wheels for? Any suggestions on best route/is ebay effective?

Secondly, what up to £1,000 steel frame and forks would people recommend for credit card touring ... two panniers at most ... doing E2E summer 2011 at the very least ... but without the panniers a little zip won't go a miss

Thanks in advance for your advice

Stuart

scruffyduncan

don't write off the squadra yet. Look at carradice's range of saddlebags, they can make light touring very possible on a road bike. I did LEJOG on a Tarmac S works with one. Add a small handlebar bag and you've got everything you need for credit card touring. You also get to keep your nice road bike for bashes around the lanes in summer.

It's probably easier and cheaper than the route you are thinking of.

vorsprung

You have 4 points here

You have a racing bike you don't use
I understand it doesn't seem suited to the sorts of rides you currently do. And you've tried a few "racey" kind of events and they didn't float your boat
But I have to agree with scruffyduncans analysis to some extend. Despite the Squadra being a "full on" racing bike if it was fitted with 25mm tyres and a carradice SQR saddle bag ( http://www.carradice.co.uk/products/type/sqrtour ) it could be fun to tour on

You do use "a crappy, but reliable alu hybrid"
I have a rather nice Cotic Roadrat with Alfine hub gears I use for commuting and touring

You like touring

Therefore your plan is to to pinch some bits off the Squadra to make a better touring bike
This bit doesn't quite add up. A campagnolo touring bike sounds like it would be fun but
as campag isn't widely used for touring you will encounter problems. For example campag do not make a 36h hub and 36h wheels for campag are very difficult to get hold of

You ask what steel frame and forks you could get for 1000 quid. You might be able to get a custom frame and forks from Roberts for that price, not sure. Cotic do a complete steel framed bike with Alfine gears for less than 1000. I'm sure there are other nice complete bikes you could get that were suitable

You ask what the going rate for a used Condor frame on ebay is..sorry no idea. But it isn't a good time of year to sell

Hoopdriver

I agree with the post above - check out Carradice stuff. I have done a lot of touring using their Super-C handlebar bag, and their Super-C saddlebag, with a bagman quick release support. That is plenty for credit card-B&B touring - I have done LEJOG, Lon Las Cymru, C2C and Hadrians Wall with just this set-up, and toured Orkney as well. The Super-C is bombproof and about 23 litres capacity; they also make a Longflap Camper that is slightly larger (24 litres) and then you can take the stuff off, when you're not touring, and have the zippy get-about you like.

And yes, a Campagnolo touring bike does sound nice, but the poster above is quite right - it just doesn't work in practice.

TipsterStu

Advice much appreciated ... never thought I could get 25s on the squadra and a couple bags saddle and bars is much more affordabel ... off to Carradice's site

It's why I always come back to Bike Radar - the advice always makes sense and squares the circle on my clouded naive cycling ambition

Best

Stuart

TipsterStu

scruffyduncan wrote:

don't write off the squadra yet. Look at carradice's range of saddlebags, they can make light touring very possible on a road bike. I did LEJOG on a Tarmac S works with one. Add a small handlebar bag and you've got everything you need for credit card touring. You also get to keep your nice road bike for bashes around the lanes in summer.

It's probably easier and cheaper than the route you are thinking of.

What did you take with you for LEJOG that fitted in just those two bags?

TipsterStu

Hey ... check this Carradice demo too .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09OJfLKeWM8

TipsterStu

Hoopdriver wrote:

I
And yes, a Campagnolo touring bike does sound nice, but the poster above is quite right - it just doesn't work in practice.

If that is true am I going to struggle touring with the campag kit on my squadra

Stuart

huuregeil

Rubbish about touring with campag!!! There's no issue at all and a fair number of tourists use campag ergo-shifters anyway for ease of fitting handlebar bags. (If you hadn't guessed, my touring bike is campag equipped :-) ). OK, I say at all, the only time campag touring bikes might be an issue is if you head off the lesser travelled places in the world, where campag parts are less available, but I stick to europe. Plenty of 36h hubs available, both new and NOS.

Actually, I'd advise the opposite to most people here. The squadra is a pretty racy frame - I took one for a test ride and currently have a very similar alu/carbon mix as my race bike. While you could tour on it, sure, I'm much happier doing long jaunts like that on my tourer. And, actually, if you don't get a full blown tourer, but something audaxy, closer to a race frame with more chill geometry and mudguard rack mounts, you've got the best of both worlds - a pretty snappy ride but load carrying ability and long-distance rideability. Don't have to spend £1000 either - at the cheap end, you can get new frames for £500 or less (Bob Jackson, Surly, Mercian), and a whole range of custom makers who can build you up a frame to suit your requirements exactly and fit like a glove for £500-1000. Or, even cheaper, a decent secondhand frameset will be less than £200.

blackhands

Campag stuf is not difficult to find - for instance \miche do a 36 hole campag rear hub and 36 hole rimes are easy to find. Campag also do a triple chainset.

That said I would always go with a Shimano set-up with down-tube levers. I don't find it necessary to change gear that often and just push a bit harder if the road goes up a bit anf=d freewheel going downhill.

scruffyduncan

I had a carradice pendle on the back, in which I had a spare pair of cycling shorts, top and socks. I also had a water proof, two spare tubes and basic tools (tyre levers, multitool, chain tool, zip ties, patches, a bit of spare tyre and a spoke key I think) The tools all fitted in the side pockets of the saddle bag. For evening wear I had a t shirt, undies, a pair of crag hopper convertible trousers and a lightweight fleece. Footwear were flip flops. On top of that I had about 30 pages of road atlas. The handlebar bag was a small one, about the size of a camera case, It contained money, tickets, mobile phone, painkillers, skin cream, maybe an energy bar or two, spare sungalss lenses and a hankie. I may have had a spare t shirt and boxers, I cant remember. I remember thinking I'd got it just about right, any less and I would have been cold during what was a poor summer or have had to wear wet gear.