Touring - My New Tourer

http://www.biostat.wustl.edu/~brad/jpeg/t520.jpg

I got this a couple weeks ago, but the crankset I wanted didn't arrive until last Friday.

It's a stock Trek 520 except for:

-Saddle: Now it has a Trek "anatomical" saddle
-Pedals: I'm not into clipless, so it now has old-style clips/straps
-Crank: It came with a very nice looking 105 crankset, but I wanted more sensible gearing and the layout of an MTB, so the shop replaced it with a Deore LX (44/32/22).

To the bike I've added:

-two bottle cages
-Sigma cylcocomputer
-extra layer of handlebar wrap along the top for comfort
-Arkel t42 rear panniers and small handlebar bag
-Planet Bike (or is it Bike Planet?) fenders

I've put over 130 miles on the bike, including a 65-miler yesterday with all the panniers.

It is a comfortable ride with the feel of a truck. The heavy rims and tires slow it down some, but the bike feels very stable with maybe a little slop in the front end at very low speeds.

The Dura-Ace bar end shifters work very well. I think STI shifters would be better, but the bar ends are supposedly more durable and offer a friction option for the rear derailer. The front is friction only, but shifts very smoothly. Plus it's easy to trim the front derailer.

Yesterday I left from my house and rode through the suburbs of St. Louis and the surrounding county out to the beginning of the Katy Trail in St. Charles, where I did another 2 miles on the trail before taking a break and then heading home.

I was fooled by what I thought was only a "gentle" tail-wind on the way out. But overall I enjoyed the ride except for the traffic near the casinos. For some reason the authorities have decided to put concrete barriers on the shoulders and squeeze everyone into two narrow lanes.

Including breaks the whole ride took 6 hours (I'm slow) but afterwards I had no physical complaints except for a little numbness in my left hand.

Now to plan a two-day trip for starters.

Serious congratulations! IMO you've made nothing but right choices, and the result could be the illustration in the dictionary next to the entry for "touring bike."

It even looks like the steerer tube was cut to order for you, putting the handlebars sensibly level with the saddle.

It's gorgeous!

RichC

Originally posted by Rich Clark


It even looks like the steerer tube was cut to order for you, putting the handlebars sensibly level with the saddle.

It's gorgeous!

RichC

No, I lucked out. I was concerned that the steerer would be too short, but it has worked out very well.

And thanks.

Nice lookin' bike!

Yeah, those "little" headwinds will kill ya with those bags (small sails) hangin' out in it.

One thing - Trek road touring bikes will start to get a speed wobble if heavily loaded and using low-rider front bags when you're rippin' down steep hills (at least the ones I've had did). Then you have to "pedal through it" till the wobble stops and then get on the brakes immediately and slow down quickly. If you need to use the brakes while it's wobbling, use the rear brake ONLY!!!! ;)

Best of luck on all of your future adventures.

Regards,

JP

What does it say on the down tube??? I can't read it in the pic.

Originally posted by JWP
What does it say on the down tube??? I can't read it in the pic.

I'm at work and the bike's at home, but I think it only says "TREK" on the downtube. What appears to be a word after that is only a cable stop.

I love my "Truck" 520. So far, 3000 commuting miles and one 65-mile event ride, which was great. I weigh 215 pounds and it handles my carcass on miserable road surfaces like a dream. I've always felt very secure and confident as a result.

I can't wait to test it out for real on a tour.

Question: I have a 100% stock version with 105 chainrings. What caused you to switch them out? Everything seems fine to me but then again I'm not one to switch components much anyway.

Originally posted by Andy Dreisch
Question: I have a 100% stock version with 105 chainrings. What caused you to switch them out? Everything seems fine to me but then again I'm not one to switch components much anyway.

two reasons:

1) Gearing. I thought the 52/42/30 setup gave unreasonably high gearing. I will almost never need a 128-inch high gear (52x11). In fact, I'll probably never *need* the new high of 108 (44x11). But the new setup gives me a few usable gears in the middle and a few more lows at the other end. I don't live in mountainous country, but there are plenty of short steep hills that I'll need a 22x32 for caring a full load.

2) Knees. Most people like the low Q-factor (pedals closer to the frame) of road cranks like the 105. I'm one of those who prefers high Q-factor of the MTB cranks. Found this out after wondering why I felt so comfortable on my new MTB versus anything else I've ever had.

Great info, bradw, thanks.

Nice 520. I've had one for about a year.

I did the same thing you did with the gearing when I bought the bike. There's no question it's the right thing to do. As it is, I've used even the new, lower tallest year maybe once on a descent with some wind. The low gears, on the other hand, have been a great relief many times.

I also swapped out the stock Bontrager rims for Mavic Touring rims. The one thing I had read in a few online accounts of the 520 was a complaint about wheel problems 5-6k miles after purchase, specifically rim cracking. Most people won't have this problem with the stock rim, of course, but rather than take a chance I spent a little more on a stronger rim. The Mavic rim is actually a bit lighter, too, so this also helped a little bit with the heavy wheel feeling.

You might think about upgrading the Trek rack some day. If it's working well for your needs, there's nothing urgent about this. Eventually you might want a rack rated for more weight, though.

A front rack is something else you might look into.

Something else: Keep a close eye on the third set of bottle cage screws on the underside of the downtube. I see you don't have a cage there. You might want to add some rubber washers underneath the heads of the bottle cage screws you have there. Those two holes are an excellent entrance point for water, whether from rain or snow.

Trek road touring bikes will start to get a speed wobble if heavily loaded and using low-rider front bags when you're rippin' down steep hills (at least the ones I've had did). Then you have to "pedal through it" till the wobble stops and then get on the brakes immediately and slow down quickly. If you need to use the brakes while it's wobbling, use the rear brake ONLY!

I haven't noticed this myself. I've rolled down some very sharp descents with a full load without any front end wobble. Over 40mph.

What would make the Trek particularly susceptible to this wobble, though? It's got solid steel front forks, and a sufficiently heavy frame to eliminate wobbling with a full load. You can make sharp turns at a good speed, for example, without any hint of the spaghetti frame feeling.

Perhaps small imperfections in the particular front rims were the culprit. Perhaps the headset's got a tiny bit of slop in it.

To move to another subject, I like the bar-end shifters fine. Their simplicity has made for no maintenance problems. The rear indexing can be slightly adjusted anyway with the barrel adjuster on the right hand side of the down tube. So, even if there were a small amount of skipping it wouldn't be difficult to fix it without going to the friction option.

STI levers are fine, but they are slightly more tempermental. Little parts inside of them can wear, or the return spring might weaken and you have to push the lever back after you're done shifting, whatever. Over time the bar-end shifter is going to be less trouble.

Enjoy!

Resonance-induced shimmy is really hard to predict. Even within the same bike range, one size frame will respond to vibration differently to another size.

I have noticed that my 520 wobbles down some hills and not others. The only thing I can think of is that I added some water weight to my front panniers to get me across the desert.

Not sure how closely related this is, but my 730 wobbles too. From the specs, the two are very close (flat bar vs. drop seems to be the only difference)

I notice the wobble more when I am leaning on the bars trying to tuck in, I suspect it has to do with the added weight in front as previously mentioned. I am aware of the problem so I usually avoid this situation.

Well, I think it's the uneven weight distribution. Tire itself creates a stability force when spinning and resists to change it's position, this force, however is probably not strong enough to compensate for the weight distribution.
My motorcycle would wobble too, at the speeds greater than 45 mph, with hands off the bars.
So, even weight on the rear can make a difference and it's hard to estimate exactly what causes the woble...

[About high-speed wobbling]

I experienced a bit of it last week while touring with my daughter. I was using the Trek 520 and towing a Burley Piccolo.

Initial loaded weights were 50 lb - 70 lb - 30 lb for front, rear and trailercyle weights respectively. It was very stable at normal cruising speeds, but wobbled a bit at 55 km/h. Besides, the bike was uncontrollable on gravel roads, as it only wanted to go straight.

I moved some stuff around and got approximately the following: 40 lb - 83 lb - 27 lb. On-pavement handling didn't change, but the bike was easily controllable on gravel and wobble didn't occur before 60 km/h (I didn't go faster).

Team weight is 170 lb + 40 lb.

Regards,

humm

Well i did a small tour on a Norco MTB with heavy paniers on the back (lot of water). at high speeds the front was really unstable (scary). so i think it is truly the weight distrubution.

the back of the bike was really heavy on the back, i had a hard time lifting the back, but the front was light as a feather.

ALSO, i am planing to buy the 520 in a short time. i hope that the 520 is a good bike to invest 1600 CAD$$ ill be doing a lot of school commutes and tours.

Turbonium,
We dropped the 520 down to $CAN 1500. So now you can buy the shoes to go with it.