Novice road tripping round Europe - what bike should I get?

Huntos

Right, first of all let me start by saying I am a complete novice when it comes to road cycling, I know nothing about the bikes and gear and am looking to learn. I have been in to mountain biking in one way or another for most of my life but never felt the attraction of the road previously.

A friend of mine has proposed taking a few months out to go cycling around Europe in the spring and I fancy giving it a go but need educating in what type of bike and gear I should be looking for. I am assuming as we will be covering alot of distance carrying a fair bit of gear I will be looking at some kind of touring bike rather than a racer, what are the differences?

I would say the main things I will be looking for in a bike will be that it:

- covers the ground as efficiently as possible
- is suitable for carrying the weight of panniers etc including basic camping gear
- is reliable
- is comfortable over long distances
- isn't too valuable or bling as there is a good chance I won't always be able to park it in properly safe locations, so probably looking at a second hand bike a few years old

Any advice is appreciated, if you can suggest example models of bikes for me to look at that would be most useful so I can get my head around the type of machine I should be looking for.

Also you may tell me that this is totally unsuitable, but I have an old mountain bike in the garage that belonged to my dad which has a very large and long skinny frame with narrow wheels and is fast on the road (for a mountain bike anyway!) and also has a pannier rack fitted. Is it worth considering upgrading and converting this with skinny road wheels and all new running gear or would it not be suitable at all?

MichaelW

Old school MTBs make excellent tourers. Before you pour money into upgrades, make sure it fits you and that it is of sufficient quality. Do you have a brand/model?
The classic English tourer is Dawes Galaxy. They are pretty common and you see one on every Cyclists Touring Club group ride. Traditionally they use cantilever brakes which have enough tyre clearance but little else to recommend them. V brakes are more common on newer models. A modern stye threadless headset will cut down on the tools you need to carry.

You need to figure out your load and your max tyre width. I managed on 32mm wide tyres but I would have preferred a bit wider on rough trails.
I did a few months touring in N Europe with 4 panniers and a barbag. I took a sizeable repair kit, solo camp/cooking with too much food, too many maps/guidebooks and some very foul-weather gear for Norway. With 2 people sharing kit you should travel bit lighter.

Huntos

MichaelW - thanks for your response, some very usefull info.

I quite like the idea of building up my own bike from the old MTB if it proves to be suitable, not sure on the model but it is an old Raleigh of early 90's vintage. It has has hardly ever seen any use as my old man bought it when we were kids so he could join us on bike rides but never really got into it, so it has spent most of its life in the garage with me taking it out for the occasional pub cycle ride etc when I didn't want to take my expensive mtb.

Apart from marks from storage the frame is basically in perfect condition. It is pretty much the biggest mtb frame that I've seen, maybe 21" or 23" but will check. For reference I am around 6' 2" and 12.5-13 stone, I normally ride a 19.5" mtb although this is definitely too small for me for road, I would say my dad's bike is probably about the right size for me. I also have a late 90's 21" GT frame kicking around somewhere which could also be worth considering?

Will get some details and pics of the bikes at the weekend for discussion purposes.

Any further advice is appreciated, including what bits of gear are essential and what I should leave at home.

MichaelW

You can find lots of packing lists online. In "bikeshop country" you don't need to carry everything, you can buy stuff as you need. I find the biggest decision and space hog is footwear. In the end I just used a pair of cheap Hi Tec trainers and some sandals.
If the Raleigh frame is good enough, then consider fitting trekking/butterfly style bars. GT make nice frames but the rear seatstays tend to be very low. A luggage rack requires very long metal stays to reach the eyelets so the system is not as rigid as it could be. Maybe this is OK on large frames.

andymiller

I'd suggest that the first thing to do is get the Raleigh back on the road and check whether it's comfortable for you for say a longish day ride. If it's a runner, fit a rack and 'slick'(-ish) tyres and take it out for a weekend possibly overnighting in a B&B and then go from there. If it's too big you could consider cannibalising it and using the parts on a frame such as the On-One Inbred or 456 (or a Planet-X Kaffenback). If you can afford it, I would definitely recommend investing in a set of wheels from a specialist wheelbuilder - or at the very least get your LBS to spend some time servicing your wheels.

The Raleigh sounds like a good starting point, but take a long hard look at which components are still in good nick and which aren't. There may be a point at which it's cheaper to buy a new bike rather than buy individual components.

I would strongly recommend doing some short tours in the UK to get a feel for what works and what doesn't work. It's easier and cheaper to do this in the UK where you have easy access to your LBS, or your own workshop. You can buy stuff en route, but my experience in France, Italy and Spain is that bike shops and shops selling camping/outdoor clothes and equipment are often few and far between in rural areas, and unless you are able to find a Decathlon, they have limited stock and are relatively expensive.

Huntos

andymiller - Thankyou very much for your advice. The bike is pretty much roadworthy as it is, hasn't been used in a year or two but other than a basic service and some air in the tyres it would be fine as a cheap run-around in current condition. The only real faults with it (last time I used it anyway) is the cantilever brakes aren't the sharpest and the thumbshift gears are a little clunky but both are perfectly useable. I would certainly be looking to upgrade these items if I am to seriously consider the bike for long distance. I have taken it out on a days ride in the past and it was absolutely fine and comfortable enough for me, plus it certainly ate up the road alot swifter than my usual MTB would.

I think I will take your advice and start by just giving it a service and sticking some slicks on it to use as a commuter for a while to see how I find it. If it all seems good will take it for a weekend away and see how it goes. I really love the idea of spending shoe-string money on a bike that I got free anyway and going all round Europe on it as it kind of makes it a bigger adventure - but at the end of the day money isn't really the driving factor for me and I do want something that's going to be suitable, so if this bike isn't I would consider buying something more specialised.

What would I need to consider if I were to change the straight handle bars to something more suitable for touring? Are drop bars the best choice (which I assume means new shifters/brake levers anyway) or should I be looking in another direction?

Huntos

Well managed to find out what the old bike is by stumbling across one on ebay, it is a Raleigh Massif like the one for sale here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mountain-bike ... 500wt_1141

A few google images below (not actual bike), do you think it could be suitable or a waste of time an money? It would give a bit of added interest if I were to build a bike myself and this has been in the family since new as well and probably only done a max of a couple hundred miles in 20 years!

nicktheluddite

Like Andymiller says - give several short tours a go - then you'll work out what stuff you need and more importantly what you don't need.

If you are planning on camping and cooking for yourselves (best way to keep costs down) then you'll probably want to have a bike which can take front panniers. (In my signature you can see how much I take when camping . but I'm not that good at travelling light).
While the Raleigh looks reasonable, if you can afford a new bike you'll probably get a better fit and also get a bike which is designed for touring. This would probably cost at least £500. I have found 2nd hard tourers hard to find - I don't think people upgrade as often as they do with road bikes or mountain bikes.

andymiller

The bike looks fine to me - or at least no obvious reason to rule it out. You already know about the brakes - which could be the main downside. Apart from that the fork steerer is 1 inch as opposed to 1 1/8 inch on modern bikes, but SFAIK that should be liveable with.

It has mounts for a rear rack. Lots of people tour quite happily without front racks but you can get front racks which clamp onto the fork leg.

So if it's not too big or too small I'd give it a whirl.

Huntos

Thanks for the advice guys

nicktheludite - what bike is your tourer based on? Looks like a mtb frame? How do you find it for touring and why the mtb basis over a road tourer?

I'm now thinking maybe I should pick myself up a cheap old tourer for £100ish, like an old Dawes or something and get some miles under my belt on it to see what I think of this type of bike. If it proves to be good enough I might just modernise it a bit and use that, otherwise will look at converting a mtb or buying a new tourer.

Popped into Specialized at lunch as its down the road and talked to the bloke, he recommended their Tricross model which is a bloody nice looking bike starting at around £700 which isn't too bad really. I'm sure it would be perfect but I still have the feeling I actually don't want a bike that looks too modern/nice/expensive - AKA steal-able!

Maybe I'm just being paranoid though and should just put my hand in my pocket.

random man

If I was going for a few months I'd want a bike that I could rely on. I bought one of these this year and it's brilliant.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 155c018343

You'll have to check they've got your size. If you decide you don't want to keep it and sell it, it still won't owe you too much. The only issue I had was with the saddle but if you've got one you like just swap it.

nicktheluddite

mine is a 2001 Ridgeback Meteor under all the stuff - a hybrid which works fine as a tourer. I bought it (mostly for commuting) on the basis of a friend's recommendation. I've had it 10 years and used it for commuting, B&B touring and camping touring. When I have enough storage space I'll buy a 'proper' tourer but for now it's great.
I wouldn't get a tricross - whatever the sales rep says - he wants to sell you a bike, and the tricross is designed for cyclo-cross, not touring. I'm sure it's a lovely bike, but if you can afford to spend that, go to Bike Workshop (Colston Street - 5 mins walk for the Specialized place). I don't think the Tricross front forks have the lugs for front panniers, and those cyclo-cross levers for the tops can make it hard to fit a bar bag. I'd also recommend Bike at the top of Park Street because one of my mates works there.

El Gordo

The Tricross can take lowriders on the fork and if you wanted a handlebar bag those interupter levers could easily be taken off but I'd agree that if you want a bike just for touring then a tourer is (unsurprisingly) the way to go. A Tricross is more of an all-rounder so respectable at most things but excellent at nothing.

From what I remember of Raleigh Massif's they are pretty weighty bikes. If you are heading for the Alps then that might be hard work but if you're in no rush then it will do the job nicely.