Bike for long distance cycling, touring.

[Legion]

I'm thinking I may "need" a new bike for touring and long distances. Something with more than one gear, which is what I commute with most days. It needs to be sturdy, with racks for panniers, or at least with the attachments to put them in place, and available in a XL frame size for my long legs.

What do you guys think is the best stock bike out there right now for that? I'll be potentially going on one or two week camping holidays on the thing, so reliability is paramount.

 

[thebikingengineer]

The Surly touring options are great and pretty much ready to go. Depending on your terrain they've got the Long Haul Trucker (for more pavement-oriented adventures) and the Fargo (for everything really). They've got mounts for front and back racks, a stock frame bag, and solid construction.

 

[Groat]

The Surly touring options are great and pretty much ready to go. Depending on your terrain they've got the Long Haul Trucker (for more pavement-oriented adventures) and the Fargo (for everything really). They've got mounts for front and back racks, a stock frame bag, and solid construction.

The Fargo is made by Salsa, which is owned (along with Surly) by QBP along with a host of other bike manufacturers.

 

[Legion]

Surly components seem to have a good rep. A lot of pictures I've looked at of people touring in far flung regions, the people are on surly's.

 

[cbird]

A used Schwinn Voyageur (one of the lugged chromoly steel ones made when the Schwinn family still owned the company) can often be found on ebay. These are true touring bikes, designed to have racks and panniers. They would come with simpler, more rugged components than what would usually be found on today's bikes.

 

[thebikingengineer]

Salsa, yes, that's what I meant. I always mix those two up. I was thinking of the Salsa Vaya, which has a similar mission to the Surly Long Haul Trucker.

Lately I've been very interested in the more offbeat bike designs (monsterbikes, fat bikes, SS 29ers). I feel like the Fargo, with a variety of tires, could do pretty much anything you could ask.

 

[JeremySeattle]

You can check the Novara Safari:

http://www.rei.com/product/807245/novara-safari-bike-2013


or Novara Randonee:

http://www.rei.com/product/816068/novara-randonee-bike-2013

 

[fast14riot]

If going touring, I would strongly suggest you look into used Miyata bikes. Great steel tubing for a strong smooth ride,excellent geometry, long-ish wheel base for a steady ridewhen loaded, and all standardized componants so you can upgrade to modern quite easily, unlike a vintage schwinn. Go for a mid 80's model, something like the numbered models (700 series or better would be my choice), you can often find complete bikes for under $300 and just upgrade the wheels, throw a MTB cassette and rear derailleur on with a modern compact double crank or the original crank (if decent) possibly a triple.

These bikes were built when bike touring was popular, they are great bikes and purpose built. I would also check out Nishiki but be careful, they made a lot of lower end bikes. Look for flat crown forks, at least 1" of space between rear tire and seat tube, make sure bottle cage holes aren't stripped or rusted, check bottom bracket shell for a tapped hole to take an external cable guide and also frame alignment. I can explain an easy way to check alinment if needed.

The two biggest factors in touring, equipment wise, are going to be your wheels and brakes. I suggest good old Open Pro hoops laced 32H3X minimum, 36H3X would be better, but 40 might be overkill. Good strong hubs with sealed bearings. Don't be tempted to go with really wide tires, you're going to be loaded so contact area will increase anyways. I say stick to 28mm wide and less. Brakes, if you are going to be heavily loaded or in hilly country, I might suggest a drum brake with independant lever control and good quality dual pivot road brakes. Some new frames use V-brake mounts for canti's or V-brakes, I dislike this. V-brakes are hard to reach for adjusting with a loaded rack.

I have built several touring bikes that have gone at least once across the US when I was managing bike shops, I can say that I have never had one customer complain about any of the choices they made after a little direction towards what type of gear to choose. Some of it might be overkill, but which would you rather have?

If you don't go with steel, I strongly suggest you go mixed material. I greatly dislike all aluminum for touring, way to harsh of a ride. If you go Al frame, get a carbon seat post and carbon front end. At the very least, carbon bars. Hell, if you can't find any cheap enough, shoot me a PM, I have a set I'll get to you very cheap.

Touring is all about comfot, the right gearing, and rock solid performance. You don't want to be babying the bike when you should be looking at the scenery.

Just my two cents.


-Xander

 

[Legion]

Thanks Xander. All good info. I'm thinking second hand might be out for me, as I'm 6'3 with long legs. In Australia there does not seem to be a huge amount of used touring bikes around, and bigger sized ones are as rare as rocking horse poo.

That is another thing that is attracting me to Surly, big frame sizes are available. I'll also be needing panniers, and every bike shop I go into says Ortleib... Full stop. are there other... slightly less pricey options that are worth considering, or should I just accept that they are the best and take it? Oh, and on that subject, the Surly LHT claims to have really long chain stays. I'm thinking this would be a good thing, since I have a size 13 shoe. Am I right in thinking this will help me not hit my heels on the panniers?

 

[Legion]

The Fargo is made by Salsa, which is owned (along with Surly) by QBP along with a host of other bike manufacturers.

The Salsa Fargo seems to be exactly the type of bike I ride now, but with gears. I currently commute with a SS 29'er rigid mountain bike, disc breaks, but with road(ish) tires, a rack, and a Brooks saddle. So I am totally open to that concept as well.

 

[gmrv4]

Lots of good advice here already.

I have a Surly Long Haul Trucker. I just clicked over 6000 miles on it. I have used it for loaded solo touring, commuting, and as a grocery getter. Lots of ways to attach panniers, fenders, and racks of all sorts. Very versatile machine. Couldn't be happier with it. I expect it to serve me well for years to come.

 

[fast14riot]

Good paniers are generally out of the way of your feet anyways, even flipper sized feet like yours and mine! (I wear 12-12.5). I don't think second hand should be totally written off, maybe not concentrate your search on it, but do keep an eye out. Surly does make good frames, though the only one I rode fo any amount of time was flexy in the bottom bracket area and I didn't like it.

I think a shop should let you try out some panniers for a week or so to see if you like them or not. At least a rear set. Back to frames, have yourself measured properly, your standover, your inseam (actual, not pants length), know what your preferred bottom bracket to seat height should be, seat to steer tube, stem length, bar width, crank length, etc. This will make every mile on the bike so much easier. You want your new bike to fit like you've ridden it for years.

For a new bike recommendation, I suggest you look at the Trek 520. Ready to go, serious touring bike. Just switch out the contact points (seat, pedals, bars/tape) to your liking and add some panniers. It is allready set up for fenders as well. Low mounting is nice too.


-Xander

 

[Groat]

I've got a set of Ortlieb back rollers. They were easy to set up and haven't needed adjustment since the first time. They have kept my stuff dry through some storms. They attach to the rack very securely. I'm sure that there are other good panniers out there. I'd suggest avoiding anything super inexpensive, though.

I had a buddy who spent about $80 or $90 USD on a set of Topeak panniers that were constructed well but didn't attach particularly securely to the rack. On a three day trip over mixed terrain, he had them fall off probably a dozen times.

I don't know if they sell Kona bikes in your end of the world (I'd assume they don't, actually), but the Kona Sutra is another to look at. It's arguably specced better than the Surly and Trek touring bikes and at a similar price.

 

[Legion]

I've got a set of Ortlieb back rollers. They were easy to set up and haven't needed adjustment since the first time. They have kept my stuff dry through some storms. They attach to the rack very securely. I'm sure that there are other good panniers out there. I'd suggest avoiding anything super inexpensive, though.

I had a buddy who spent about $80 or $90 USD on a set of Topeak panniers that were constructed well but didn't attach particularly securely to the rack. On a three day trip over mixed terrain, he had them fall off probably a dozen times.

I don't know if they sell Kona bikes in your end of the world (I'd assume they don't, actually), but the Kona Sutra is another to look at. It's arguably specced better than the Surly and Trek touring bikes and at a similar price.

Yep, google tells me they're about four Kona sellers within cycling distance from my place. Thanks, I'll check them out as well.

 

[deoxy4]

+1 for Miyata. The mid to late 80's Miyata 610 and 1000 were incredible touring bikes and can be found very reasonably on the second hand market. I have a Univega Gran Touring from the mid 80's which is indistinguishable from the 610/1000 depending on the year. Many Univega bikes were made from high end Miyata tubing. I am not sure but I think Univega only imported to the USA market. I am 6'3" and have a 25" frame which is very solid with minimal flex and great geometry, as fast14riot mentioned. I have replaced the wheels and tires but all the running gear is still functioning flawlessly. High end Suntour and Shimano were tough stuff.

Mid 80's Specialized Expedition were also exceptional touring bikes very similar in built quality to Miyata/Univega. I have not owned a Nishiki but they have a very good reputation. They used steel butted Tange tubing. I think the touring models were Cresta and International. Lotus is another quality built steel butted tubing frame you might look into for touring. I think Odyssey and Éclair might be their touring models?

If you look hard enough and are patient you might find something great and very inexpensive. Many times large frames are easier to find. I bought my Univega for $150 which was a steal. It was hardly ridden.

 

[rxonmymind]

I second Xander on steel bike as a choice of bike. I've ridden to Canada and back twice and while I had a full steel don't laugh, Univega it had top of the line Shimano parts. Beautiful ride. I've owned a CF bike thinking lighter was better. Sold it in the first year. Had Cannondale aluminum bike with the big fat diameter tubes. It was stolen. Didn't even report it stolen. It was a blessing: P Something about steel for comfort and don't be concerned about weight as the right gearing will help you move along. With that Univega and gears I climbed a 13%-15% grade without a second thought. (That wasn't easy either!) Go steel.

Don't want to date myself but just for laughs I've owned the following and see if it rings any bells...
Schwinn, Shogun, Sekiai, Univega, Cannondale and Trek.

 

[Legion]

Went shopping today and rode the Surly (liked it), a Jamis Aurora Elite (looked like good value, but the frame I tried was too small. I will have to go again and try a larger size) and I looked at a Vivente World Randonneur, which also seemed good value, given what is included.

Any thoughts on these choices?

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/disc_trucker/bike_specs

http://www.myjamis.com/SSP Applicat...l?year=2013&model=Aurora Elite&cat_grp=road_9

http://www.viventebikes.com/main/page_technical_technical_frame_design__materials.html

 

[deoxy4]

Maybe a better forum for your journey.

http://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php

 

[Legion]

Maybe a better forum for your journey.

http://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php

There are other forums??