Touring - Hello and HELP!

Hello Everyone. Just found this website or forums. I have been looking for as much information as I could get.

I do not have alot of Exp on Touring but my friends and I are planning a very big trip.

We are planing to go to Europe.

We are planning to 5 months but would like to stay 7.

We want to bike about 3500Km - 6500Km.

We are going for sure one way or another but what we are looking to find out is:



1. What is the cheapest amount that we can spend on a fully finished Touring bike, without sacrificing any quality. (Panniers, spare tires, 2-4 extra tubes tools for Bike only and some on or however many of each you would need?

2. What would be better for Touring for the money and for the Exp... A touring road bike or a Recumbent...

3. If I set my personal budget to $1000 could I get a recumbent Touring bike... or Road Touring bike?

4. Is there anyone that Lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada that would want to hang out that knows alot about Biking and or could help me learning alot more about Bikes and prices and building my own and so on.


We Should be leaving In May sometime and coming back to September'ish.

There will be three of us all above 20 myself being 23.

Thank you in advance for any help offered.

Hi Widdop, this is definitely something for the experts in the Touring forum!


Welcome to BF!

East Hill

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/pinkstar.jpg

You can definitely get set up for $1000 on a traditional touring bike or a conversion, I don't know much of anything about recumbents. If you look through the touring forum you find and endless amount of threads on the available bikes at various costs. I personally have found the cheapest method is to get an old used mountain bike and fix that up for touring.

some threads to check out
Newbies guide to touring bikes (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=180433) <-- Read this entire thread!
Mountain bike Vs Touring Bike (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=394966)
Touring Conversions (MTB > Touring) (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=255686)

Some tips on my page, check it out.

Hi Widdop, this is definitely something for the experts in the Touring forum!


Welcome to BF!

East Hill

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/pinkstar.jpg

Holy smokes, East Hill! That pinky cf star of yours is HUGE!

If you are really considering a Bent bike you can try Bentriders online or BROL. They talk about this stuff all the time. But...... Bent bikes can be had but you will probibly need right at or above the $1,000 mark.

I ride one and reccommend them though.

Steven

http://bentrideronline.com/

I just went there and they are having a little trouble with something and I can't seem to load it all.

Steven

1. What is the cheapest amount that we can spend on a fully finished Touring bike, without sacrificing any quality. (Panniers, spare tires, 2-4 extra tubes tools for Bike only and some on or however many of each you would need?

You will need a few extras like racks. A good pannier set-up will be several hundred dollars. Since the $1,000 is going to be only a small fraction of the total cost of the trip, and you can bring the bike home with you to use again, I would suggest being flexible and perhaps spending a bit more. In the USA, at REI, I have noticed several good, basic touring bikes in the $850 range, including the rear rack.


2. What would be better for Touring for the money and for the Exp... A touring road bike or a Recumbent...

Recumbents are highly specialized bikes built for biking aficionados who know exactly what they want, so they tend to be a lot more expensive. After you have toured with a regular road bike, give one a try and decide if you like it.


3. If I set my personal budget to $1000 could I get a recumbent Touring bike... or Road Touring bike?

You can get a good touring bike for under $1000 in the USA (and I would assume, in Canada as well). For your first trip, I recommend a standard touring bike.

Here is the thread about the REI bike (Novarra is their house brand, I believe) that I saw last year. It may have gone up in price in the USA, but your loonies are not as debased as our dollars:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=385029

Howard

You can get a solid touring bike for less than 1000 dollars Canadian. You can get a fully functional set of front and rear panniers in the 200 dollar range, or you could spend 500 and get top of the line panniers. Top of the line front and rear racks are going to run over 100 dollars, but less expensive options can be significantly less. I would recommend dropping thirty bucks on a good pump (topeak road morph is the best you can get, as far as I'm concerned). And then you'll need some extras like spare tubes, spokes, multi-tools, patch kit, etc... which should run 50-100 dollars. You might even consider carrying a spare tire if your tour is going to extend to upwards of 6000km.

And then there's camping gear. Camping gear is pretty pricey, too. So unless you already have a good lightweight tent and sleeping bag, you could easily drop one, two hundred, maybe more on camping gear.

It is surprising how much you can learn about touring from taking overnight and weekend trips. Or, to put it differently, it's nice to sort of slide into a five month trip instead of heading off as a complete greenster. Not essential, mind you, but even overnight trips can help you sort out the small things that make a trip go smoother. Also, people vary terrifically in how they chose their bike, fill out their kit, and do the touring. Feel perfectly free to ignore a lot of good advice from experienced riders if it just doesn't appeal to you.