Is there a true 21st Century Touring bike..?

andymiller

I suspect your Suntour forks are tougher than you think ('service intervals - you mean I'm supposed to service them?') but in any case, if the weight is being carried on the axle/fork leg then I don't think it's actually going to increase the pressure when the fork is compressed (OK. if I was an engineer I'd probably say that it would affect the total momentum of the bike when it hits an obstacle so it must have some indirect effect on the forces acting through the fork).

Hoopdriver

An aside here but why do people tour with suspension forks? I don't get it. It is just one more thing to have to maintain on the road and hope stays in good repair, and really, do you need it? It seems to me people were doing bicycle tours all over the world, and for a very, very long time (myself included) without such fiddly things and somehow getting by just fine.

andrewjoseph

flester wrote:

...
I'd day a Ti frame rides pretty nicely??

It rides very well. No other experience of Ti, but these were designed to be comfortable when fully loaded, so are over-designed for day rides. This leaves them stiffer than what I understand normal Ti tubes would be, they feel more akin to my old alu boardman with carbon forks.

So great at touring, great at day rides.

mz__jo

andymiller wrote:

I suspect your Suntour forks are tougher than you think ('service intervals - you mean I'm supposed to service them?') but in any case, if the weight is being carried on the axle/fork leg then I don't think it's actually going to increase the pressure when the fork is compressed (OK. if I was an engineer I'd probably say that it would affect the total momentum of the bike when it hits an obstacle so it must have some indirect effect on the forces acting through the fork).

yes but the post to which I was replying concerned carrying the weight on the bike over the fork, not on the fork lowers. I doubt my fork seals are as strong as you think. Suntour put enough exclusion clauses in the guarantee! Probably other makes are a bit stronger My Fireeye rigid forks on the other hand are built like the Forth bridge -but too rigid for comfort off road, even though I used to use them for trail riding.
I would have a doubt about hanging pannier carriers on the magnesium lowers of my sus fork but it is probably only me being cautious.

Dr U Idh

My Ti tourer

deal

GyatsoLa wrote:

I think a combination of hydraulic disk brake at the front and rim brake at the rear works well on rough roads.

hydraulic disk brakes on a touring bike? I would stick to cables.

andrewjoseph

I don't understand this aversion to hydraulic brakes for road/touring bikes. When touring the weight difference is negligible. I have had hydraulic disks on my mtb's for several years with little if any maintenance needed.

On twin piston hydraulic disk brakes, the pads are self centering. On my cables disks I have to adjust a few times on a long tour.

I have not had a hose rip out during a ride or because of a fall.

If a hose does have a problem, it is admittedly harder to fix than cable, but I have only experienced this once in 12 years of using hydraulic systems, and that was on the first ride with a new brake.

I have cable disks on my tourer because there is nothing else comparable for the price that will fit on drop bars. Once they bring out a suitable hydraulic system I will probably change over.

GyatsoLa

Hydraulic disk brakes are great for the front wheel. If riding rough descents with a big load, they are very effective and efficient, especially if its wet and muddy when rim brakes can quickly wear out, or for that matter, wear out your rim. But they mean a stiffer (and possibly less comfortable) fork - but in compensation, you get lighter rims (no need for a breaking surface). A disk brake is more problematic at the rear - there is an issue with clearance for racks, so its probably overkill. My rough road touring bike has an Avid Juicy disk brake at the front and v-brakes for the rear - works well for me.

http://downthegreatdivide.wordpress.com ... interlude/

deal

nice frame bag, bought or diy?

blorg

Plenty of tourers in titanium and aluminium. Did you even look? Most people outside the UK probably tour on aluminium. I have a titanium bike myself but I really doubt it makes any difference once you are running wide tyres.

GyatsoLa

deal wrote:

nice frame bag, bought or diy?

Made for me by Scott of Porcelain Rocket - he makes fantastic custom frame bags and other goodies.

http://theporcelainrocket.wordpress.com/

oysterkite

[img][/img]
bike by oysterkite, on Flickr

alwaystoohot

Cant see the point of posting a pic if you dont tell us what it is???

lemoncurd

Alwaystoohot wrote:

Cant see the point of posting a pic if you dont tell us what it is???

It's a very nice picture of a Genesis Day One.

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/cross/day-01/day-01-alfine

alwaystoohot

Grazie mille !!

mz__jo

oysterkite wrote:

[img][/img]
bike by oysterkite, on Flickr

Very nice bike but still loaded with the weight behind the axle of the rear wheel (presumably compensated by the low bar position throwing the rider weight onto the front wheel). I know its all the fashion but it wouldn't suit me!

pangolin

I've just bought one of these which might suit you if you are ok with hub gears. Similar to the Genesis Day 01.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOPOMPETVERSA/on-one-pompetamine-versa

I've not really made up my mind if I like it though. More fettling with brakes and bars needed first I think.

I also did LE-JOG on this frame

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FRPXK/planet-x-kaffenback-frame

built up with a road double (ultegra) groupset. This was geared too high (my ankles hurt at the end!) but a similar thing with a triple would have been about perfect I think. Room for mudguards and rear rack. I had plenty of room with 2 panniers and a handlebar bag, fairly minimal camping equipment included. Nothing strapped to the top of the rack.

Those are both steel though. Any reason you don't like steel?

For titanium you might try one of the following, but they cost a fair bit more than mine!

http://www.sabbathbicycles.co.uk/bikes/september

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s143p2323

http://vannicholas.com/8/Yukon/bike.aspx

geoff_ss

Pretty well all of our cycle camping trips were done using 531 Mercian bikes built to our specification with low rider lugs on the forks and rear pannier lugs on the seat stays. We used normal derailleurs and TA chainsets. Of course they had non-indexed down tube shifters because they were the norm. We had cantilever brakes. Never had any problems in either the Alps or the Pyrenees. The bikes were used for all year commuting/club runs etc as well except when it was icy when we rode trikes.

Friends of ours used similar set ups and a lot of their trips were in Scotland doing quite adventurous off-road journeys. 2 lads from Derby rode to Everest base camp from Derby also.

Don't see any real need for suspension on a touring bike unless you're intending to do some very difficult terrain. I'm sure any comfortable lightweight bike with clearance for mudguards and moderate frame angles will be perfectly serviceable. I think for serious touring I'd still go for a handbuilt, tailor-made steel frame.

unixnerd

Don't see any real need for suspension on a touring bike unless you're intending to do some very difficult terrain.

I once ended up having to ride a tourer with 32mm tyres over a rough path for five miles with lots of gravel sections, it was murder compared to my mountain bike. It CAN be done but it's no fun, less safe and far slower. But it depends on just how bad the terrain is. I can think of a lot of non-tarmac roads with a hard packed surface where it'd be fine, but I'd still rather my mtb.

geoff_ss

One of our best days ever cycle camping was up to Andorra from Lavorsi in Spain via a Land Rover track that passed through the village of Tor. (it's a faint line of the 1:200,000 Michelin maps) It was mostly rideable but we walked stretches near the top so we could appreciate the scenery. We'd actually camped wild about half way up. We were on 28mm tyres on our Mercians and I don't think suspension would have helped much.

Where it might have helped was crossing the Crown Range in SI New Zealand but it was such a small proportion of our tour and the only rough stuff we rode it was fine on our roadified mountain bikes.

Of course if you're intending to ride long stretches of unsurfaced road in far away places then suspension may well be worth having.

jay_clock

I am not sure that the 21st century tourer necessarily needs drop-bars

Agreed 100%. German and Dutch tourers manage fine doing massive mileages with flat bars or butterflys. I have Koga Miyata World Traveller with flat bars and bar ends. I can do 60-80 miles a day in comfort.

Don't be sucked into the 1950s plus four style of bike - not essential in my view. The major disdvantage for me was the quality of braking with cantis vs my V brakes.