In comments we’ve been discussing touring bikes and the proper setup thereof. My interest stems from an e-mail chat with Michael Deme, editor of Adventure Cyclist magazine, about maybe banging out some word count for his unsuspecting readers. Never having toured, I set about doing a little research (thank Buddha for Al Gore’s Ethertubes) and discovered a whole new world of gear and guidelines for turning a retired racer into a two-wheeled tortoise.
Seems nearly every major manufacturer makes a “touring bike” these days, though some are clearly cynical attempts to be all things to all market segments (“It’s a ‘cross bike, a touring bike and a sporty club racer!”). Kona, Cannondale, Trek, Raleigh, Fuji, Rocky Mountain, REI — I’m tellin’ ya, practically everybody makes one, and somebody must be buying ’em, because the Adventure Cycling Association has 45,000 members.
Lots of steel out there (mostly Reynolds); some disc-brake models (just one more thing to go wrong between here and there); and some overly optimistic gearing options (like 50/39/30 chainrings and 11-32 cassettes). Some of these product managers either have legs like tree trunks or live in Nebraska. I have a low end of 34×28 on my Soma Double Cross, and it feels like the granny of all grannies when it’s just me and the bike going uphill, but add 15-20 pounds of this and that and I expect I’d want something a lot more like 24×32 or even 22×32.
If I decide to dip a toe in the touring pond, I can probably get by with the Double Cross after a little velo-surgery (granny ring, triple front derailleur and maybe a long-cage rear with an 11-32 cassette). But if I were to get serious, I wouldn’t want to start swapping parts straight out of the box — it seems smarter to go with the small outfits that specialize in touring machinery. Bruce Gordon builds some nifty bikes; so do the folks at Co-Motion, though they hit you a little harder in the wallet pocket. And of course Rivendell is another class act, targeting the deep-pockets retro-grouch.
Oh, goody, says Herself, just what we need; another bike in the garage. And that ain’t the worst of it, toots — I think we’re gonna need a bigger garage.
Mad Blog Media 
“I think we’re gonna need a bigger garage.”
You hunt sharks from the garage?
Sounds like you’re really going to wade in & try the touring water. I look forward to learning more. Wish I was a better bike mechanic so’s I could at least swap wheels and set the cables up correctly. Guess I’ll have to attend the Saturday morning bike seminars at the local Trek box.
Fun fun fun. Outfitted the Soma with a pair of Vittoria Randonneur Cross wire-bead tires, bolted on racks front and rear, plus fenders, added a pair of Jandd Economy panniers to the rear rack, chucked some light stuff in ’em, and went for a two-hour ride on rolling terrain.
First thing to go has to be the Pearl Izumi baggies. Those dudes are OK for short hops around town, but chafe the thighs on longer rides. Ditto the Shimano SH-MT40 shoes, which aren’t all that comfy and have such a long toe box that they clip the fenders. Can’t do a trackstand in those bad boys, especially if my feet hurt, so how am I supposed to impress the girls? Right back to the Descente bibs and my thousand-year-old Sidis. Sure, I’ll look like a bike dork instead of Joe Casual, but hey — I am a bike dork.
I’m not sure about the Vittorias, either. They weigh a ton, were a sumbitch to get on, and I’ll bet fixing a flat is gonna involve bloody knuckles and bad language. Still, they roll just fine on pavement and dirt.
As to the gearing, now, I wasn’t in the 34×28 very often. But I also wasn’t carrying much weight (other than the legendary Big Irish Ass), and didn’t tackle any really big, long hills. I’m thinking that XT crank needs a 22-tooth granny. But swapping out the rear derailleur and cogset doesn’t seem critical at the moment, whereas not getting shot by Herself for setting the credit card to smoking is always high on my to-do list.
Patrick, can we assume that someone else is picking up the tab on this one?
I learned from the late great Fred Blessin a few tips on setting up a bike for touring. First, stick to a double up front. Simpler, better. No need for a really high gear, I mean you’re touring for god’s sake. If you’re going that fast (meaning “downhill”), coast. Triples are for people who only have one bike, or who don’t know any better. Second, 36-hole, 14 gauge (2.0) stainless spokes. Third, he favored 650B tires for their combination of rolling resistance, comfort and durability. I choked on that one because of cost and availability reasons. I’ve since gone with 700×32 for best result, and the added benefit is that if your wheel tacoes in the middle of nowhere and you can’t get it straight, a 27″ wheel will interchange and even a 26×1-3/8″ wheel will get you back to civilization. Fourth, if you’re gonna go with Lowriders on the front, its best to try out the bike with fully loaded front panniers on them first. Some bikes have the fittings but the frame/fork combo was never intended for that load and they get wobbly as hell. Caveat Emptor.
Having said all that, many people have a great time on complete crap, so enjoy the ride. Oughta be great.
Randonneur Pros also come in folding. I have a set of folding 35’s on one set of commuter wheels shod with Mavic Mod 3’s. Really easy to mount and dismount. They are heavy, but roll really nicely. Think they also come in 32’s.
Gearing is not for Day One but for Day Seven or Fourteen when the macho shit has worn off. Sure, I once toured Holland and England with a 53-39 double on my Motobecane Mirage, but that was flatland stuff. Back when men were men and sheep were nervous, folks ran a “half step plus granny”, i.e, something like 48-44-24 with a five or six speed rear, usually a 32 or 34 low if one could find an old derailleur that could handle it. But even a 28 low in those days gave 24×28 which is a 23 inch gear, with Berto calling for sub 20. With modern ten cog setups and 34t low cog and XT or XTR derailleur, a granny might be superfluous in most touring but that is still a 27 inch low with Patrick’s current ‘cross setup.
Bottom line is that if on Day 9 one is climbing up and over Bobcat Pass with full panniers and low riders, the lack of a granny might be a real bitch. Most modern shifters can handle it.
Hey, Jon,
Nope — ain’t nobody giving away the goods in this economy, especially to the likes of me. It would be like feeding steak to a pit bull. You’re going to get bitten anyway, so why not feed him the business end of a steel-toed boot instead?
What are you using for a chainring/cassette combo if you’re riding a double up front? I originally set up the Soma as a fairly typical cyclo-cross bike, albeit with old-school, eight-speed bar-end shifting and fairly low gearing (46/34 in front, 13-28 in the rear). I suppose I could dump the old Shimano 600 rear derailleur for a Deore (it’s only about 20 years old, f’chrissakes) and slap on an 11-32 cassette, which would give me a little more range.
And I’m not gonna be traveling heavy, in any case. The idea is to have fun doing something different, not murder myself.
“Gearing is not for Day One but for Day Seven or Fourteen when the macho shit has worn off.” I gotta go with Khal on this one.
Imagine you’ve been touring for a week, you’re cooked inside and out, you’re slogging your way up a long, long climb over one of those Colorado passes, and, just for good measure, it’s raining. Now what kind of gearing do you want?
So set it up low would be my recommendation. Worst case scenario you have an extra cassette on the back you don’t end up using. When was the last time you heard someone cry out on a hill, “Damn, my gearing is too low!!!”. And if you’re worried about the extra weight of an unnecessary cassette….well, then touring ain’t for you anyway.
Oh, and for tires on my week long tour this year I used Schwalbe Marathons. Sweet ride, no flats.
As for paying for all these goodies…c’mon, Patrick, you gotta have some connections in the bike business good for a pro deal or two. You couldn’t have burned all your bridges….oh, wait. I guess you could have. Forgot who I was talking to there for a minute.
Nevermind.
What I did on my Redline cross bike when I first got it was put on a triple. I actually set the front derailleur stop screw to lock out the granny unless I needed it. That can lead to more foolproof shifting.
I eventually put on a compact crank for lightness and sex appeal, but still have the triple if I ever tour on the new Salsa La Cruz. Besides, I bought the triple from Sheldon Brown.
Compact works fine for just about everything, but on a serious loaded tour, as John agrees, no one ever got to bitching and moaning for having an extra low bailout gear.
For light (20-25 pounds of gear) touring on paved roads here is what I’m using…
Gunnar Crosshair with a steel fork. This bike has been the most comfortable that I’ve ever been on. Also I’m biased since I’m a dealer for them.
Campy triple with the 30t switched to a 28t inner ring. I like having the high gears for long flat-downhill stretches and I really like to keep a faster cadence on the long 8%+ grades.
Canti Brakes with Kool Stop Dual compound pads. The pads are important on this.
700×28 Conti 4-seasons or Gatorskins. I would use the Marathons if I though interesting road surfaces might be involved.
Tried and true saddle. I have also been known to take a second saddle if I think that the saddle might be an issue…
Wheels – 32 spoke minimum with common spoke lengths.
Deuter Dry Shield Panniers. I’m biased, I’m a dealer for them. Also my parents re-possessed their old Madden panniers from me.
Old Man Mountain Racks. One simple reason. I’ve never seen one break.
Rush Carter
CS West Bikes
Rush, what is your thinking of linear pull vs. disk brakes for loaded touring?
Discs don’t fail, in my experience, any more than rim brakes. The one time in my nine years of riding disc brakes off-road that I had one fail was a warranty issue, which can happen with anything. And three years on the international MTB circuit as a wrench has shown surprisingly few brake problems – I’d guess much less than in the era of V-Brake or canti racers. Discs don’t heat the rim on long descents; they’re cleaner; they stop in all conditions; and I think they require less maintenance. If hydraulic freaks you out (although I don’t think it should), go with some Avid BB7 mechanicals (I suppose you’d have to if you wanted traditional road levers).
It’s pretty weird that touring has been the topic on this blog lately, because my lady friend and I are just about to build up some new commuter/touring bikes. (O’G, that Bianchi you sold me has been really great, but I’m going to upgrade a little.) We’re looking at Civia’s Hyland, which is a really new-school take on a utility bike. While we’re building them up custom, we are keeping the gist of the stock model intact – internally geared, disc brake equipped, flat bars, and aluminum. Old-fashioned touring rigs they’re not, but neither of us are in love with drop bars, rim brakes, or derailleurs, for that matter. After a summer in Europe we’re pretty interested in seeing what the high-end American version of a Euro bike is like, and we’re planning on putting them through their touring paces. The frame geometry is not quite traditional tourer, but neither is it quick and sporty – I think they’ll hold their own as a touring setup. The biggest question mark is the Alfine 8-speed hub. We’ve tested a few, and we love the idea, but we’re not positive that it’ll be enough range. We’re both single-speeders most of the time anyway, so we’re used to few gear options. If it comes to it, we’ll just gear it low and spin out on the descents.
“Imagine you’ve been touring for a week, you’re cooked inside and out, you’re slogging your way up a long, long climb over one of those Colorado passes, and, just for good measure, it’s raining. Now what kind of gearing do you want?” I don’t want any gearing, I want a hotel, followed by a hot shower, cold beer and an airplane ticket home! This is supposed to be fun? Sounds like trying to explain healthcare reform to Republicans, but then I’m a bike-tour operator which is to hard-core, self-contained “baggers” what Dick Cheney is to Keith Olberman. Have “fun” Patrick!
Khal – If I ordered this bike today it would have disc brakes. I think that as a system mechanical disc brakes are more reliable that Canti’s. Part of this comes from not loading heat into a tire on long descents. Also you don’t have the issues with untrue wheels that tend to happen when you get run off the road by a drunk in New Mexico… Also if were to lose a break I’d much prefer to have the one remaining be a disc break. I also live in Bibleburg and long descents are pretty common.
Rush
Patrick – I’d be looking at a Surly Long Haul Trucker. Don’t have one of those, but I have another of their’s. I’m very happy with it. I’ve seen lots of folks doing the loaded touring gig on LHCs in the last year or so.
Jon P – Hey! Hope things are going well out there.
Jeff C
Patrick:
Where are you planning to go?
Aha,
Jeff asks the pertinent question. I have no idea, frankly. I got tired of racing about five years ago, and now I’m tired of riding in small circles around Bibleburg to no particular purpose. I thought I might try riding in slightly larger circles, with a couple days’ worth of cycling and civilian clothes, shaving kit, the appropriate tools/spare parts, various electronic doodads for documenting the journey, and a credit card to pay for it all.
This being Colorado, I would have to tackle some climbs regardless of which way I rode, and my preferred direction is south, toward New Mexico. It’s 6,035 feet here at Dog Central, so riding to visit my buddy Hal in Weirdcliffe involves 75 miles of cycling and a few thousand feet of vertical gain, including the ascent of Hardscrabble Cañon, which is no day at the beach (about 1,500 feet of up, if memory serves). There are a few miles of indifferently maintained gravel road to boot. I could make it a moderate ride by stopping at a hot spring just outside of Penrose, spending the night, and heading to Hal’s with a fresh pair of legs in the morning.
Once you’re at the top of that gravity well, a ride to Taos looks mighty interesting. It’s pretty much all downhill from Hal’s place to just outside Gardner, where you take a shortcut up Pass Creek Road to just beyond the summit of Wolf Creek Pass. Pass Creek is a dirt road, with some fairly steep bits and the same sort of maintenance one finds around Weirdcliffe, which is to say not much. I think a guy would have to take five in Fort Garland, or maybe San Luis, before proceeding to Taos.
All this implies a greater degree of fitness than I possess, so it’s probably a 2010 excursion, given the weird weather we’ve been experiencing. I’ve seen Pass Creek in a snowstorm and not even cross-country skis would help. But a test ride through Penrose to Weirdcliffe and back is a possibility before the snow flies. I need to load the bike and tackle a couple of the local climbs to get a feeling for what it’s like to be Orson Welles on a Schwinn Excelsior before I take the plunge, though.
Man, I was wondering whatever happened to the Fat Guy on a bike blog…and now I found it! Ride what ya brung. And get some sano sandals to ride in.
Patrick,
Sounds like a plan, but now we’ve got to wait until next year for ‘Rants from the Road’? I say go now! What’s 75 miles in two days on a bike set up your not familiar with? Think of the challenge! Besides we need the entertainment.
I’ve been thinking of a Green Mountain tour for awhile so everything on this thread has been really useful. Looking forward to reading about your test rides.
Patrick…. For training.
1. Ride Cheyenne Canyon 2-4 times a day for the next couple of weeks, remember to add 5 pounds of gear per day.
2. On the weekends add in sprinting laps of Garden of the Gods. After all we all need to kill off at least one tourist per week. I would suggest the following Sheldon Brown invention for those laps: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lirpa.html#bayonetz
3. After a week or two of riding Cheyenne Canyon feel free to kill yourself off by riding to and from Woodland Park with the other suicidal idiots…. Hwy 24 is great training if you want to take Hwy 115 South. I now would suggest a different Sheldon Brown invention: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/airbag-helmet.html
I figure that if you survive this training regimen you should be ready in a month or so. Of course the odds of surviving this is pretty close to zilch.
Of course a real die hard (read psycho) tourist would do your trip in the winter. After all isn’t that why Schwalbe makes excellent studded snow tires. And if you thought 70 miles was fun on touring tires…. Try it on studded snow tires some time.
Rush Carter
CS West Bikes
I used to tour with a RANS Stratus running 11-34 9-speed in back and 24-34-48 up front, with a 700c-28 rear tire and a tailbox that could swallow my old Army special forces ruck (I think I did stick the ruck in there a couple of times just to move it). I put sleeping bag, tent, pad, stove, pots and pans plus bike clothes and food for 3 days in that box. But then that’s exactly what I built it to do 😉 The only problem I had was having that much weight over the rear wheel made the bike prone to fall off the kickstand, would I be building the bike today I would hang the weight under the seat instead, even if it did make the aero worse. The other bad thing about the box was it would make the bike a bit dicey in heavy cross winds, such that when T-storms were brewing in the area I sometimes would pull off the roads to avoid outflow winds even when I wasn’t getting rained on.
Oh and I wasn’t special forces I just bought the ruck surplus after I got out. I use it to haul groceries from the store once a week. It’s only a mile from the store to home, nothing to it. 😉
If we can get M.O. to act his age, I see a trip in the future…
In case anyone is still following this thread. I found an excellent disk-brake specific rear rack at REI this weekend for 39 dead presidents, a Topeak Explorer http://www.rei.com/product/735847
The Old Man Mountain still looks quite elegant and would be my first choice, except it is a lot more greenbacks and I would have to go up to Taos to find one at Gearing Up.
Very impressed with the Salsa La Cruz frameset, which is now graced by that Topeak rack and is my daily driver to work. It is quite efficient but doesn’t have the teeth-rattling stiffness of the Redline Conquest Pro I’ve been riding to work. Kinda like the difference between my 1989 Porsche 951 with full race suspension and my buddy’s 2001 Boxter. Both sports cars, but his being more fun for everyday use.
Of course, the Porsche now graces a buddy’s garage. I wasn’t driving it much any more and he fell in love with the car while I fell in love with not fixing it all the time.
“Boxster”. Egads and with apologies to Ferry Porsche…