Touring/All rounder type bike

Carpe Diem
Carpe Diem Posts: 238
edited December 2007 in Tour & expedition
I,m looking to purchase an all rounder type bike ie. touring/Audax, slight off road, bridal paths/gravel type roads etc,

I,ve looked at the thorn range and I,ve got a headache with the choice on offer.

I,ve also looked at this, http://bikefix.co.uk/index.php?unique=f ... id=209#a81

Its got everything I,m after, lights/rack/Rohloff/disc brakes.

Has anyone got a experience of this bike or any of the features ie. would you advise Disc brakes (Hydro or cable)?


Any advice greatly appreciated

Comments

  • Carpe Diem wrote:
    I,m looking to purchase an all rounder type bike ie. touring/Audax, slight off road, bridal paths/gravel type roads etc,

    I,ve looked at the thorn range and I,ve got a headache with the choice on offer.

    I,ve also looked at this, http://bikefix.co.uk/index.php?uniqu...sgl_id=209#a81

    Its got everything I,m after, lights/rack/Rohloff/disc brakes.

    Has anyone got a experience of this bike or any of the features ie. would you advise Disc brakes (Hydro or cable)?


    Any advice greatly appreciated

    You are asking a lot there!

    Audax/light touring bikes are generally drop handlebarred bikes with 700c wheels and are speedy rides.

    A more rugged bike like the one that you have highlighted will cope admirably with the off road stuff and shorter Audaxes i.e. 100km rides.

    I'm not sure if it would be an ideal bike for 200+km rides.

    Disc brakes work OK and cable discs though having their critics worked well enough to stop 21+ stones of me on steep descents. I personally wouldn't dream of trying to do all of what you want to do with just one bike.

    I use a Dawes Galaxy for Audaxing and touring thopugh there's plenty of bikes of that genre available from Trek, Cannondale and even Thorn (their Audax bike). I've used my Galaxy on reclaimed railway track beds gravel paths on the C2C and W2W but would draw the line at the more challenging bridle paths.

    You need to identify where you will do the bulk of your riding and by a bike that's more suited to that than trying to buy a Jaclk of all trades. They simply don't exist.

    FWIW, I have five bikes:

    A Dawes Galaxy Tourer for hilly Audaxing and touring.
    A Raleight R100 road bike for flatter Audaxes.
    A Trek MTB for the really rough stuff.
    A Ridgeback hybrid for mixed surface use and short weekend tours.
    A Trevor Jarvis Flying Gate fixed wheeled bike just to make a statement :-)
  • Thanks....5 bikes!!! you must have a very understanding other half :D
  • [raises stakes]
    MTB
    hybrid
    Galaxy
    Sardar
    Road bike
    Tandem.....
    If I had a stalker, I would hug it and kiss it and call it George...or Dick
    http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3 ... =3244&v=5K
  • Sell me the Sardar and save me alot of money :P
  • No way! Not made any more....
    If I had a stalker, I would hug it and kiss it and call it George...or Dick
    http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3 ... =3244&v=5K
  • No way! Not made any more....

    Just got back from Spa cycles........with my brand new Sardar (last of the 631 tubed one's). It takes Disc's if I choose to fit them and I can also retro fit a Rohloff aswell.

    The bike was £540 which I thought was not alot for a bike like that, it also leaves plenty in the budget (compared to the silk road bike) to fettle it and pay for a tour 8)

    Happy days

    Thanks for all the replies :D
  • Ive just had a group out with focus cyclo cross bikes and we have been riding everything on and off road except the rocky descents. They seem a great all rounder.
  • Cunobelin
    Cunobelin Posts: 11,792
    [raises stakes]
    MTB
    hybrid
    Galaxy
    Sardar
    Road bike
    Tandem.....

    Raise you a tandem trike....

    But back on topic.

    My wife rides a Thorn Raven Tour. The SPort is slightly lighter, have you considered Thorn?
    <b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
    He that buys flesh buys many bones.
    He that buys eggs buys many shells,
    But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
    (Unattributed Trad.)
  • The Sardar willl do you well, as long as you allow for the greater twitchiness of the 26" wheels. It has a spoke carrier on one chainstay and is set up for discs. Main problem is with the v-brakes. The front one is prone to squealing unless carefully set up.
    If I had a stalker, I would hug it and kiss it and call it George...or Dick
    http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3 ... =3244&v=5K
  • The Sardar willl do you well, as long as you allow for the greater twitchiness of the 26" wheels. It has a spoke carrier on one chainstay and is set up for discs. Main problem is with the v-brakes. The front one is prone to squealing unless carefully set up.

    I plan to get the front wheel re-built with a shmidt dyno disc hub and fit an Avid cable disc to the front and leave the back as a v brake, then I dont have any problem putting a strong rack on and I have the best of both worlds with the braking.

    I might also fit a mountain bike chainset as the existing one might be a little highly geared for loaded expedition touring, the granny is a 28 with a 34 cassette...........anyones thoughts appreciated on this!
  • I ride a Dawes Sardar and I have found the original gear ratios plenty low enough for loaded touring and steep hills. On a gear of 28 x 34, you could go down to walking pace and still not feel overgeared.
  • The Sardar is well geared for expedition work.
    If I had a stalker, I would hug it and kiss it and call it George...or Dick
    http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3 ... =3244&v=5K
  • andymiller
    andymiller Posts: 2,856
    Pretty straightforward to lower the gearing, but you'd need to replace all three chainrings. As with all things there's a trade-off to be made: where you make that trade-off depends on where you will be riding, and your personal preferences and riding style. Might be best to see how you get on with the stock setup then change if it doesn't suit you?
  • Thats what I intend to do.....ride it for a while and see how I get on :D

    One thing I will say though..the hubs are shimano Paralux, and when I was setting the bike up on the turbo, the rear hub sounded as rough as a bears ar$e on the over run!

    Are these hubs stripable? if not when I get Paul Hewitt to fit the front dyno hub, I might aswell get him to rebuild the rear with a decent hub..at least I know both wheels should be sorted then.
  • andymiller
    andymiller Posts: 2,856
    I've not heard of Parallax/Paralux hubs, but assuming they are a normal freewheels non-geared hub then I would expect that you should be able to service it. Brief how to here:

    http://www.mountainbikerides.co.uk/fett ... no_hub.htm

    You can download a pdf of an exploded view from the Shmano website:

    http://www.shimanousa.com