Touring - Right Bike for Long Distance Touring

I have a question about the right bicycle for long distance touring. I have the Giant OCR Touring. On average I tour about 300 miles each time.

Right now, I am saving my money to be able to take a mini-retirement in five years so that I can tour from the states down to South America and back. My concern is about my touring bike. It has the disc brakes and if I am out somewhere in central or south america, I might not be able to get them fixed if something goes wrong. Would you all buy a different bicycle for a tour like that?

I know this is premature, but I have really been thinking about this and it does concern me. Thanks.

I just skimmed the reviews of the Giant OCR Touring at

http://www.roadbikereview.com/2003,Road,Bike/Giant%20Bicycle%20Inc.,OCR,Touring/PRD_138776_4338crx.aspx

It sounds like maybe the first batch of the brakes had issues. Personally, I wish I had discs on my commuter bike (for rain riding), like the Burley commuter has.

That said, it seems like some long distance touring cyclists might be uncomfortable with the discs and the aluminum frame. My wife has a C'dale T700 tourer and loves it, but for South America I might worry about a frame crack or some other impact that need a local repair. She trashed a Novara touring bike frame (steel) once very easily, so it's not like frame damage never happens.

As for bikes with a history of long distance, I have to admire the steel Bruce Gordons (http://www.bgcycles.com/) and the Robert Beckmans (http://www.coinet.com/~beckman/bikeframes.html). I believe both have dedicated touring machines with 26 inch wheels (another thing to worry about less).

I recently bought a used Bruce Gordon BLT (700c wheels), and I am more than pleased with its ride, alignment, and gear set-up. It's already been across the US more than once, and it rides like a champ.

I'd go with regular brakes-sidepull or cantilever- and a steel frame
just for the possibility of being able to fix it on the road.

My choice would be a Rivendell Atlantis or something similar, The Bruce Gordon bikes look good, too.

Rivendell and Gordon do make good and comfortable touring bikes BUT they are more for shorter tours of say under 1,000 miles and staying in areas that are not very remote. Why do I say this? Because look closely at these two models and other supposely touring bikes, they do not have more than 3 sets of water boss's, they have no allowance for reduntancy either in shifting or lighting. Now take a gander at Robert Beckmans designs for his bicycles at: http://www.coinet.com/~beckman/index.html

Read everything on his site to get the complete information but particularily section on touring bicycles and the Sakkit Expedition 26 and you will quickly come to a conclusion that this is a serious touring bike intended for those that need a reliable bike capable of many miles in remote areas that can handle heavy loads. Next click on Sakkit Models and read further, and then on to Technical Information. By the time you read this info you'll know that this bike was built for one thing and one thing only-touring.

Odd that so many people have done cross country (and around the world) on Bruce Gordon and Riv bikes. Amazing that they didn't collapse under them as they hit that 1000 mile mark.

Everybody has their favorites, but of all the things that people look for in touring bikes excessive bottle braze ons and redundant lighting systems are so far down the list that they probably aren't on the list. Not to mention that both Riv and Bruce Gordon will braze anything onto their STEEL frame bikes that you are willing to pay for.

Kodama, What do you suggest in a tour bike?

Investigate...

Beckman

Gordon

Thorn

Roberts

Dawes

Heron

Rivendell

Bruni

Jackson

Co-Motion

Trek

C-Dale

Fuji

Waterford

Spectrum

Ebay

Vanilla

Specialized

Mooney

Bob Brown

Koga-Miyata

Surly

Peter White

Bilenky

Google...

Have fun!

I have a question about the right bicycle for long distance touring. I have the Giant OCR Touring. On average I tour about 300 miles each time...



I know this is premature, but I have really been thinking about this and it does concern me. Thanks.

On my world tour I used a Cannondale, which I would not do again. On all my other tours I used a Fuji-S-12-s or now, a Fuji touring. Your concerns are not premature..I thought about my world tour for a decade before I did it. I found the roads in most of the western hemisphere to be quite adequate. El Salvador was one exception. The highlands/andes of peru were a NOTORIOUS example...some were nothing more than stream beds.

roughstuff

Kodama, What do you suggest in a tour bike?

Well the point I was trying to make is that there really is no one answer to this question. The way I see it (and there are much more experienced tourers here to get actual experience from) there is only two issues: Bike fit and bike strength. The bike needs to be comfortable for the amount of riding you plan to do and the bike needs to be able to carry what you need for the style of touring you plan to do. Everything else is really personal preference and tradeoffs. If you read through a large collection of travelogs, such as at Crazy Guy on a Bike (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com) you will find people have ridden across countries on everything from xMart bikes to custom dedicated tourers, fixed gears to recumbent and everything in between.

I have yet to do long touring myself, but I plan to and have been researching it pretty thoroughly which I highly recommend. And really the above info is what I have learned. Once you decide what type of tour you will do then find the people who have done similar and see what they have used. The best information is what people have found doesn't work as there are always many choices for what does. And check out Istanbul_Teas list of bikes, people have ridden >1000 miles on all those bikes.

On my world tour I used a Cannondale, which I would not do again.
RS, was there a problem with the bike? If so what was it? Or was the bike just not suited for the type of touring you were doing? Did you use a Cannondale T800 or 2000 touring bike?

My big tour 20yrs ago was on a specialized stumpjumper
(conventional steel frame 35 lbs!) fitted with drop bars and bar end shifters
with skinny tires (26X1.5)
it performed admirably because it was strong and durable and could carry a heavy load. The old mountain bike gearing gave me the low gears to grind my heavy load up steep hills and the heavy duty wheels took any pounding I could
lay on it.
But, hey it was the bike I had at the time.
Today I would take my Atlantis, or consider a Bruce Gordon, but that is my personal bias.
The qualities I would look for in a world touring bike is durability, fixability, low gearing and ability to carry heavy loads. I wouldn't worry about high tech anything -if it is high tech and fixable and durable, then go with it.

Take a look at this bike ridden thousands of kilometres by my old buddy Paul Woloshansky

http://www.bikechina.com/tb1.html

The qualities I would look for in a world touring bike is durability, fixability, low gearing and ability to carry heavy loads. I wouldn't worry about high tech anything -if it is high tech and fixable and durable, then go with it.


Durability is, to me, is my biggest concern, but fixability is a very close second! I think with my Giant OCR Touring, if I am in Central or South America, who would ever be able to work on that "sophisticated" of a bicycle, unless I was in a large city????

Durability is, to me, is my biggest concern, but fixability is a very close second! I think with my Giant OCR Touring, if I am in Central or South America, who would ever be able to work on that "sophisticated" of a bicycle, unless I was in a large city????

pletcgm

I have no idea how durable and fixable the disc brakes are. If it was me I would have regular caliper brakes, I would also go with a steel frame -if it breaks it is easier to find somebody who can weld it.

You don't have to spend a fortune. Look around for an older steel frame and re-build it to your own specs.

Hey a member of the Phred Bicycle Touring List (http://www.phred.org/mailman/listinfo/touring) has started a touring bike Wiki (a reader editable website) He has quite the list of touring bikes and as it is a Wiki and is being frequented from several touring hotspots should fill up with reader reports. Check it out: Touring Bike Wiki (http://www.anymouse.org/bikes.pl)

pletcgm

I have no idea how durable and fixable the disc brakes are. If it was me I would have regular caliper brakes, I would also go with a steel frame -if it breaks it is easier to find somebody who can weld it.

You don't have to spend a fortune. Look around for an older steel frame and re-build it to your own specs.

I definitely agree! That;s why I will not use this bike and get a more "low-tech" touring bike.

RS, was there a problem with the bike? If so what was it? Or was the bike just not suited for the type of touring you were doing? Did you use a Cannondale T800 or 2000 touring bike?
The problem was that the aluminum frame was too rigid. I had heard about that when I was considering it; but went ahead with it. It was a t-700, i believe---i don't have it any more.


roughstuff

I have the Giant OCR2. It is a very solid ride. Have over 4000 plus on that bike. No major problems. Replaced chains twice and brakes once. I take the OCR2 out to toodle around on. I'm breaking in a TCR1 Composite. For long distances, the OCRs are a good choice. Enjoy your ride!

I have the Giant OCR2. It is a very solid ride. Have over 4000 plus on that bike. No major problems. Replaced chains twice and brakes once. I take the OCR2 out to toodle around on. I'm breaking in a TCR1 Composite. For long distances, the OCRs are a good choice. Enjoy your ride!


Do you use the Yak trailer or panniers on your OCR 2?