Touring - A really cheap touring bike?

Hi,

I'm looking for a really cheap touring bike to travel from the north to sout of france from the UK. Can anyone suggest one that would be adequate. I need to spend the least amount of money I can as I pretty much don't have any.

Any ideas?

Buy a used bike of any brand that fits you.

I toured on a HUFFY (the cheapest and least desireable bike made) for two years because I couldn't afford better and because I Wanted to tour.

Do you think this woud be ok? I'm a 22 year old male and weigh about 12 stone. 85 kg i think?!?

Peugeot Ecole 600 (http://www.peugeotcycles.co.uk/cgi-bin/bkwebpg.pl?idc=44&bkId=16)

Do you have a traveling bicycle doctor in your area? They often take used bikes in trade for services or do bike swaps. Why not give a call and find out of there's anything available for you in their wagon? What's nice is they load up the store and come out to you. You'll probably want something with a triple chainring that will give you wider gearing options for flats and hills and aluminum alloy rims that brake in the wet. Also check out your area bike shops. Some of them carry used and give a limited warranty. I'd stay away from garage sales and that type of venue unless you take someone along who knows their bikes.

What makes a good touring bike is rideability, a comfortable saddle and eyelets for taking on racks and panniers. Better touring bikes have either a suspension fork or a fork designed to asorb a bumpy ride. It can be a road bike, hybrid/cross or mountain. If speed is a consideration and you know you'll be sticking to paved roads, you'll want to stick with a road or cross bike with 650-700cm or 27" wheels.

Buy a good mtn bike with no suspension used. They should be easily adaptable to touring.

Specialized Hard Rock, for one. Many folks tour successfully on mtn bikes. Have fun.

Peugeot is a fairly good bike, from what I know of them. With your weight I would put 35mm tyres on it. The point is: What ever bike you choose, it MUST be mechanically sound or you'll spend all of your time on the road looking for repair shops.

In the UK, Orbit make good value touring bikes for about £500
A bike designed for touring will always be better than one adapted form some other use. Suspension forks need more maintainance and cannot easily carry front panniers.

For used touring bikes, contact yourt local Cycle Tourist Club. Their magazine always has top quality touring bikes for private sale for about £3-400

Just been to local bike shop who reccommended a hybrid because it is apparently more comfortable at an astonishing £99 or one a bit lighter at £149. Both have 21 shimano gears and the shop assistant said would be perfectly adequate to cycle the length of france.

Do you agree? They were made by a company called Venture or something.

A £99 bike is junk and wont last a long tour.

The Peugot bike is a road bike, not a touring bike The brake design limits you to narrow tyres, and the frame is not designed to carry a luggage rack. The frame is pretty heavy and the gears are too high.

Hybrid bikes can be OK for touring, esp the more expensive ones over £300, but the best type of bike for touring is one designed for touring. These are light , strong, stable and are the most useful general purpose bikes for commuting as well.

If you are limited to this kind of budget, you really have to look at used touring bikes. £200 will get you a bike which will ride much better than a new hybrid bike of similar price and will come complete with luggage rack and other useful accesssories.

My everday commuter bike is a £200 used tourer, and I have ridden it every day for the past 5 years.

Are you planning to carry camping equipment or hostel touring? This makes a difference to how you carry your luggage.

You could cycle the length of France on a £150 bike, it might also work out cheaper. If it made it, you would not have a bike worth bringing back.

A few years ago a friend did 400 miles in Holland on a £100 Halfords bike, the back wheel did not make it back, and the bike had to be carried, minus a back wheel on and off trains and boats to get back to London, it was then dumped as a decent wheel cost more than the bike was worth. Last year a friend did North to South of France (about 1,500 miles) on a new Giant MTB with slicks etc, it just made it, but needed a new rear wheel, bottom bracket, saddle, rack and brakes. The derailieur will not last much longer.

Frankly you can not buy a new touring bike for less than £500, and realisticaly £1,000 would be a more reasonible budget.

I would strongly suggest that you spend your budget on a good but second hand bike, you will get a lot more for your money

The suggestion above of getting hold of the CTC magazine (www.ctc.0rg.uk I think) it's free to members and about £3.50 to non-memebers, it always has a couple of pages of 2nd hand bikes for sale

As a benchmark use the Dawes Galaxy or Super Galaxy bike as the ones to compare all other cheaper tourers with (about £900 new). If you look around these can be got for £2-300 2nd hand

Check out the www.sjsc.co.uk site, as they often have a few good 2nd hand bikes. They can measure you up over the phone and deliver a properly sent up 2nd hand bike anyware in the country. Also they don't sell crap.

I agree with Fox. If you can't buy a touring bike, buy a mountain bike with rigid forks. You'll avoid the wiggling feeling that older, non-touring road bikes will provide under load, and you'll have a set of wheels that you can be confident will bear the weight.

You probably won't be able to use big rear panniers, however, as the chain stays likely won't give adequate clearance. And, of course, you won't have the drops.

But you'll have a sufficiently strong bike with adequate gearing. And this option is cheap.

I agree with Fox. If you can't buy a touring bike, buy a mountain bike with rigid forks.

Finally, someone agrees with me. This makes my day!!

Seriously, I do believe there are rear racks available for mtn bikes so that you can use full-size rear panniers.

I met a guy (and his gal) who had toured the world on mtn bikes and would not consider anything else. Also, lots and lots of mtn bike tourers come through Colorado!!

Have fun!!

I'm quite excited about this secondhand cannondale:

http://ebay1.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_EBAY_cefe2099f3c02ec162a82652db05a120/i-1.JPG

Cannondale T600

How much do you think it was new and how much should I pay for it max?

I think I will definitely go second hand, what would be the best british bike magazine which has a classifieds section?

That Canondale T-600 is a top quality touring bike (over £1300 new) and probably worth about £4-500. What size is it? If the bike doesnt fit you, then it will never be comfortable. It looks to be quite a large size.

As a guide I am 5'10 and ride a 22" touring bike.

Magazines to look for include Cycling Plus and the Cyclists Touring Club magazine. Your local CTC branch may have some leads on good used bikes or local shops which stock them.


On converting an MTB, you can do it, but you need to start from the right bike. Good candidates are quite rare these days, the Specialised Hardrock is a good bike at a good price.

A converted mountain bike would work, if you get the right size frame,
a lot of newer mountain bikes have weird frame geometries.
I toured several thousand km on a specialized stumpjumper I converted.
I put dropped bars and bar end shifters on it , fenders and slicks. Worked great.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/02fuji/fuji_touring.htm

Contacted the owner of the Cannondale bike. He is 5"11' and says its a little bit too smal for him. I'm 6" so he told me that it would n't be suitable. Bugger! :(

Originally posted by Brooky
Contacted the owner of the Cannondale bike. He is 5"11' and says its a little bit too smal for him. I'm 6" so he told me that it would n't be suitable. Bugger! :(

Your guy you are talking with does not know much about bike fit.

Height of your body is only a very small aspect of bike fit. Much, much more important is the length of your legs in relation to you bodies height, your arms, your riding style and the characteristics of the frame of the bike. (length of top tube, etc.)

You need to go to a good local bike shop and get a "fit" - either by computer or by someone who knows what they are doing.

To attempt ti fit a bike by body height is like buying gloves based on your head circumference. It just doesn't work.

Hi,

From what I know, the Jamis Nova is a good performace multi purpose road/tour bike. Its frame is made of reputable Reynold 631 steel

Many users give very high remarks about it. they said "it is fast, comfortable, light (10 kg) and strong. it is touring friendly too.

Well, I should say Its hard to find another bike like this at the same value"

The Price is only US$ 699 for a 2000 model. so why still want to buy a second hand bike?

there is still stock available at this online store. check it out

http://www.bicycleblowout.com/ or http://www.jamisbikes.com/
also visit this website for more biking information http://www.bikesutra.com/ Good luck

I'm not having much luck finding a secondhand bike. What do you think of this bike? Do you think it could take panniers?

Heres the link: Claude Butler - San Remo (http://www.falconcycles.co.uk/product.php?c.id=3&s.id=1&p.id=119)

Its a very nice looking bike.

That is not a touring bike. You need more tyre clearance at the brakes, more heel clearance at the panniers (ie a longer rear end) and lower gears.
I know of 3 sub £500 tourers that work well with no modifications needed:

Saracen Syline from Halfords ££500
Dawes Horizon £460
Edinbourgh County £460 from:

http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/catalogue/detail.cfm?ID=12254

The Edinburgh County is by far the best, and rated highly in the Cycling Plus review of budget touring bikes. It will last for ages and make a great commuter bike later on.

If you want to go sub £400, then a hybrid is better than a low-end road bike, but you then need a rack and fenders + toe clips. For hybrids, £300 seems the min price for a really usable one with chromoly or Al frame and chromoly steel forks (Marin , Dawes etc).

I've found a second hand Dawes bike claiming to be a touring bike locally:

Heres the advert: Adtrader Advert Link (http://www.adtrader.co.uk/advert_detail.php?class_id=126&advert_id=209213)

Is this bike really a touring bike like it claims to be? I'm not sure it is.

Check out the Dawes site

http://www.dawescycles.com/default2.htm

Dawes would not call it a touring bike, looks more in the urban mountain bike area. Having said wich as long as it can take a rack and ideally mudgurads as well then you could tour on it, I have seen a lot worse.

Right I've found a second hand immacculate Red Dawes Galaxy at £350. Its frame is 25 inches. I know that you should have a clearance of at least 1 inch between your self and the top bar when stradeling a bike. My inner leg is approx 34 inches. Before I drive 60+ miles to see this bike do you think it would be about the right size for me? I'm scared it may be a little large. I'm 6ft and the owner is 6ft1, I do have quite long legs.

Thanks for all your help so far everyone its great. :)

Measure your crotch clearance using an old LP record (Des OConnor is best).
Wearing your cycling shoes place Des between your legs and mark the top edge on a wall. Measure to the ground.
You need at leat 1" less for the distance between the top of the top tube and the ground. Ask the seller to measure.
The dissadvantage of an overly big frame is that it may be too long for you. If the bars are too far away it can be uncomfortable.

It may be about the right size, but you have to ride it to see.

Take it for a test ride. at least 10mins to get the feel of it.
Check that it steers straight, that the cogs are not too warn (sharks tooth shaped).
If it does it, it sound a good deal. Can you get any pannier bags with it ?

I have a friend with some panniers that I can borrow thankfully (although one has a hole in apparently!)

As for Des O conner I think I'm gona have to make do with ...

... "Christmas With The Stars" including "Yes there is a santa clause" by none other than Des O' Conner himself. Thank god for that, shouldn't go wrong now!

Yeah just over 35 inches! I' gona go and see the bike on Saturday. Fingers crossed! :)

Just bought a 2nd hand Dawes Galaxy for £320 and its in perfect nik. Cycled just over 8 miles in 30 mins and am exhausted. Lots of training to do now before the 900 mile tour!! :eek:

Roll on stiffness tomorrow!! :p

Try for 50 miles a week between now and the time you go, that is only a 5 mile one way trip twice a day. As long as you are fitter than the rest - no problem

Now all you need to look for are the panniers, the bottles, the new bar tape, the tools, the tent, sleeping bag, carry mat, stove fuel containers, lights, maps and the beer money !

Think I might just stick to the beer money!! Sod the rest, roll on the Kronembourg!! :beer:

Sh!te, is it legal to cycle ar*$holed in france?:confused:

Hi, Congratulation for buying your Ideal bike. It is normal to felt easily tired for your first few ride. You are doing well so far. It is also safer to try a few shorter trip before attempting a long one. this will help to test your bike and physical fitness

Another thing I need to mention is maintainance. It is important to Lube the bottom bracket, hubs, headset and chain of a second hand bike before setting off. (The previous owner might have forgotten about this for years).
Thats all. Enjoy your ride, Good luck!

The Dawes Galaxy was great! Had a bit of a wobble whilst riding standing up hills and didn't get 1 puncture with Continental Top Touring 2000 tyres!!

It was too big though and paid the price with sore shoulders and neck through-out the tour!!

As far as the argument concerning whether to tour with a mountain bike or a touring bike, both are fine. 4 of us had mountain bikes and 2 had touring bikes. The touring bikes were a bit faster due to the skinny tyres and larger gear ratio but I think that the overall riding position of the mountain bikes were more comfortable. Then again, I'm coloured by the fact that my Dawes Galaxy was too big for me!! Hit 40 mph coming down mountains to the Rhone valley in France with panniers! The mountain bikes kept up too!! :)

So where is the bike 'to big' ?

If the saddle is as low as it can go and you have problems reachen the peddles on the bottom of the stroke then the answer is to get slightly shorter peddles, but you are talking 5-10mm at best.

If the bike is too long - so you have to stretch to reach the handlebars then you get a new shorter head set - even 10mm shorter makes a world of difference - many local bike shops have loads of assorted ones in stock as many serious riders are for ever swapping the ones they have.

You can also move the saddle back and forth - again a very small change makes a lot of difference.

It was the forward reach that was the problem and having to cycle 50miles + per day felt like a knife was being forced between my shoulderblades. Not a single bike shop I came across in 1000 miles had suitable stems!!?!

Pain turned into pins and needles after a while. Very strange. Still hurt a bit sometimes 3-4 weeks later.

Well now you are back in the UK, Dawes parts should be easier to get hold of.

So tell me of your trip - how many pints of kronenburg were consumed ? where did you go etc

Millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of beers!!!!! ... And millions! ... And six drunks on their bikes!!

Two to think about (for anyone reading this as a guide) that are actually one and the same - Evans' in various places accross the South East of England had the Dawes Horizon at about 375 quid. Rebranded, it is the Edinburgh bicycle co-operative's Country and has been very highly rated as an intro to touring bikes, and they have a sale on now (Jan3rd 2003).

Good luck!

Last year, I was in a mini-triathlon with a Kawasaki mountain bike equipped with road tires. I entered the same race this year with a Ross road bike. My overall times in both 15 mile bike races were approximately the same. A good mountain bike, equipped with road tires, can do very well on the road.