Mountain Bike for Touring?

leeleclercq

I'm retiring next Spring and plan to do the UK 'end to end' ride from Lands End to John O'Groats. Not fast, but as an enjoyable tour probably taking around three weeks. So I started looking around at touring bikes.

Then I looked at my old (about 5 years old) 26" wheel Giant XTC3 MTB and wondered whether this might fit the bill, modified with suitable road tyres of course.

But I'm looking for some advice on this because I really don't know. What do you think? Would it do the job?

Grateful for any advice.....

FunBus

It will 'do the job' but that's all. At the end of the day, you could do Lands End to J'O'G's on a BMX if you wanted to.....it would do it, it just wouldn't be the best bike for the job.

If you're comfortable on your Giant, then new tyres and some pannier racks should set you up. There's no exact right or wrong answer here. If i were you, i'd buy some decent touring tyres (Schwalbe Marathon Plus would probably be my shout) and go for some rides to get a feel for how the bike will be on a long distance ride

paul.skibum

The key to chosing a bike for touring is making sure it is fit for purpose.

You need rear pannier mounts, rare on modern hardtails. On One bikes come with them, not sure about your Giant and since you can go and look easily I am not going to trawl the internet to find out for you.

If you dont have pannier mounts and have disk brakes fitting a rack becomes tricky, there are racks that havemodified lower mounts to make room for discs and attach to the seat post but fitting and strength tend to be compromised to some degree.

If you can fit a rack then you also are going to need a reasonably strong wheel. A light weigh xc wheel might stand up for road oriented riding but you might prefer something a little sturdier to be sure, I'd get soemthign wih a decent rear hub and definitely have an older wheel fully checked/serviced before hand.

Consider your load - how much you taking with you, do you also need fork pannier mounts (small panniers can be mounted alongside the front wheel) - they tend to affect handling as they have a lot of drag and to be hoenst if you are carrying so much you need rear and front panniers you are carrying too much.

Another option to consider is a trailer - Bob Ibex or similar is a great alternative especially if you are road/smooth trail touring - little more hassle and you have to think about its weight when stopping/startign a little more but you can chuck everythign in it and it might even serve for two people so you can vary who tows it day to day or hour to hour depending on strength/fitness.

I have doen a few touring trips varying from one small pannier and guest houses/hostels to two panniers and a loaded top rack for camping - I'd go a rear rack or a trailer if I was going again. Mate of mine did a roudn the world trip recently with only a rear rack and a bar bag.

leeleclercq

Thank you all for your sage advice. Much appreciated. Looks like the Giant will have to go to help fund a decent tourer.

And that will be another question but I can see it's one that has been asked many times on this site before now......

Levi_501

A friend did JoG to LE on a 1930′s Grundle Model T butchers bike with only a single gear and rod brakes!

http://www.greatbritishfoodcycle.org.uk/

paul.skibum

The On One Inbred is 139 quid for the frame - much of your old components would transfer over from the Giant and the Inbred takes a rack. The downside of the inbred is its slightly twitchy steering and short top tube - a longer stem would solve both of those, you could even chuck bull horn bars on to give you a long road ride position.

Another option and cheaper is the Handsome Dog XC02 http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/127331.html at 99 quid - has bosses for rack mounts too and is a cheap as chips frame to chuck your components on to for the ride.

Personally I would probably get some rigid forks and run a pair of largish road tyres on there to soften the ride.

passout

I have a spare 18"" inbred frame going if you want it for a fair price. It's the slightly older version so can take v brakes or discs as well as rack etc. Great bikes. Your present MTB may well be fine though - can you fit a rack is the main question. Apparently discs can get in the way with this. Also does if fit OK? If so, just consider set up, saddle & tyres. If you want that frame Please PM me.

Jenny Taylia

Hi.

I did a 600 mile road trip down the west coast of France this year, on my 1998 Rockhopper! It has V Brakes and I fitted a rear rack, added panniers and some long mudguards and a handlebar bag and also a pair of Butterfly bars (Ultimate touring essential accessory ) I fitted continental Travel Contact tyres, which were superb but other than that, it was a std mountain bike. It was comfy and performed faultlessly and I am not a cyclist! I get out maybe 10 times a year, for a 20 mile family trail ride (I just fancied an adventure!)

I was hammocking my way around, kipping in forests and anywhere where I could find suitable trees. I was carrying approx 7 stone of luggage, inc my top tube tool bag! :shock: My rear wheel, old as it was, snapped 3 spokes and started to pull out 3 more spokes from the already cracked spoke holes along the way, though I was doing a fair bit of bumpy forest / woodland trail riding.

My recommends to you would be:
1. Butterfly bars
2. Long mudguards (I have a brand new set, unused, for sale) and they will fit round your sispension forks with a mod.
3. Handlebar bag (I have a brand new, unused one of these too, for sale)
4. Conti Travel Contact tyres (Surprisingly, I have a brand new set of these for sale too :roll: )

Good luck with your planning and your adventure and your retirement.

If you are interested in any of my bits or further intrigued how a total novice tourer got on on a mountain bike, PM me and I'll be happy to give any advice / tips that I picked up

But, in a nut shell, my feeling / experiance is that any bike can be made "More" capable of being a dual purpose machine with a few simple mods, keeping the costs down too.

All the best

paul.skibum

You took more stuff for that trip than my mate took round the world!

Jenny Taylia

paul.skibum wrote:

You took more stuff for that trip than my mate took round the world!

Yeah, I guess the little pink rabbit was excessive and the helmet was never used :shock:

. . . . . but hey, I wanted for nothing and I lost 16 lbs over 10 days!

YeehaaMcgee

Jenny Taylia wrote:

paul.skibum wrote:

You took more stuff for that trip than my mate took round the world!

Yeah, I guess the little pink rabbit was excessive

Since you're carrying round that much weight, and you mention cracked spoke holes, do you think it would make sense to go for some pretty tough DH rims? They're surprisingly light these days compared to what was on offer back in the late 90s.

paul.skibum

The OP and the fella with the pink rabbit are different people. Plus DH rims only work if he has discs, I doubt there are many rim compatible DH rims?

As for excess luggage - it was the map that worried me! As a man you should know where you are going at all times.

Jenny Taylia

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Jenny Taylia wrote:

paul.skibum wrote:

You took more stuff for that trip than my mate took round the world!

Yeah, I guess the little pink rabbit was excessive

Since you're carrying round that much weight, and you mention cracked spoke holes, do you think it would make sense to go for some pretty tough DH rims? They're surprisingly light these days compared to what was on offer back in the late 90s.

Yep, I reckon my excessive weight (And the extra luggage ) could be what snapped the spokes, though the rims were corroded slightly and had little cracks before I set out, the weight stressed the alloy just that bit too far.

I've replaced the wheels with a set with eyeletted rims, which would be stronger but I reckon that any double-walled wheel in good condition should stand up to the trip. Make sure you take a spoke key and check the tensions regularly, especially after any "Bumps". Keep a couple of spare spokes in your kit bag, along with the kitchen sink and you should be fine.

Jenny Taylia

paul.skibum wrote:

The OP and the fella with the pink rabbit are different people. As for excess luggage - it was the map that worried me! As a man you should know where you are going at all times.

I can confirm that, as the pink rabbit traveller, I am different

I agree with the map thing for men. I needed the map and the GPS you can't see near the stem :roll:

Seriously though, a tip is to have your route sections of your map photocopied and enlarged to fit your map holder and to big scale, so you can read it clearly whilst riding - invaluable to me.

paul.skibum

On our tour in Austria my mate had to buy a new back wheel but his old one had already done a fair bit of riding in the UK and a tour across the pyrenees so failing a week or so into our trip wasnt unexpected - didnt break spokes just went egg and taco shaped to an extreme degree (touching the inside of the seat stays and the seat tube at the same time is always wrong).

We carried no spares at all - had a punctrue repair kit, one spare tube and a few basic tools. 2 sets riding clothes, pair of shorts for evening wear (August in the alps it wont be cold right? Wrong) and a few t shirts. We had a washing line and used the bikes to hold it up, had one rear light and one head light between us (ride ina train), one stove, one pot, two plates, two sets of cutlery, couple of sharp folding knives and two 1 man tents and bedding and those micro towel things (brilliant for camping but get smelly fast as they dont dry quite as well as they suggest if they are folded). We bought food each evening before our camping stop or went into town to eat (more the later as we got fed up with one pot cookery and salads).

I cant remember what we used for a map, seem to think we had a Danube guide book and a map of the Salkamasgut (spelling) which covered the bit from where we turned off the Danube to Munich. I can heartily recommend the Salkamasgut for touring - spectacular scenary, courtious drivers and beautiful women!

Jenny Taylia

When I went, I was travelling on my jack , a solo adventure.

I flew the bike to France and had to carry the polythene wrap and protective wrap etc all with me. I had a full tool kit inc latex gloves, spare chain, 2 x tubes, 2 riding shorts, 4 riding shirts - the clean one for night became the next day's riding one, swim shorts, a pair of crocs for all other than riding, no cooking gear or utencils (I lived on bananas and cereal bars & water which I got every other day). I carried my hammock, tarp and 2 x sleeping bags (One for under the hammock) in the yellow ortleib bag. I had loo roll & wet wipes, maps and copies of maps, GPS, F&R lights, head torch, hand towel for the baths in rivers I took (And the sneaky campsite showers I stole), a cargo net to hold shopping or clothes that got peeled off in the heat or waterproofs or the towel as it dried and the crocs. I had the camera, full waterproof gear, gloves, helmet and 4 pairs of riding socs.

I tried to cover all the "What if" angles (Hence the amount of baggage) as I was solo and travelling on well planned, very small lanes most of the time and was sleeping rough, wherever I could find 2 trees and no people once I was too tired to ride any longer. Had there been more than me on the trip, the "Essentials" could have been spread between the party I suppose.

I hope you have as much fun and adventure as I did. Travelling solo is the best way to meet people and have adventures (Speaking as a vteran of 18 years solo motorbike Alpine & Pyneneean adventuring). You're on your toes and notice so much more of your surroundings, I love it and can't wait till my next adventure.

YeehaaMcgee

paul.skibum wrote:

Plus DH rims only work if he has discs, I doubt there are many rim compatible DH rims?

I was just asking out of interest about rim strength. I actually have a rim-compatible DH rim on the rear of my bike, I think it's an EX 721 (can't be arsed to unlock the garage to check.)