Touring - anything looks wrong with the bike?

anything wrong with the bike? I am planning to take it on tour for 3 months, riding good and bad road. will have about 30 killo worth of stuff with me, will it be an ok ride?

Ive upgraded the tires to mathon pluses, got a front rack, 4 ortlieb panniers and brooks seat. any other recomendations? been have said that the bike looks a lil small for me as the seat is raised high, i will raise the handle bars, which should make my ride better

so comments welcome, good and bad

Check the minimum insertion line on your seatpost. If it's not in deep enough, it will fall out, and you will be badly injured.

Get a few cages to mount more water bottles.

Good luck, and let us know how the tour goes!

The seat post is fine, there is room to raise it further. and yeah, i got 3 cages in total now, 2 for water and 1 for petrol

im not been smart here but is this a trick question.

Not at all, just want to know if there is anything wrong, and advice for upgrades ect

The handlebars seem too low for extended touring. You will be riding in an extremely aggressive position if you keep the current configuration. Have you considered raising the handlebars to be level, or almost level, with the seat? As now configured, a bicycle looks better suited for sprinting than for touring!

It is hard to make out the gears in the photograph, other than there appears to be a triple chainring in front. And that's good. If there is a problem, it is that the biggest chain ring may be larger than you need, and the smallest may not be small enough. If anything, you should err on the side of lower gears rather than higher gears. Better to be able to climb long, steep hills easily them to be able to bomb down long, steep hills dangerously fast!

thanks for the comment, raising the handlebars. hopefully the stem or pole or what ever it is will be long enough for me to raise the nadle bars to be level with tye seat. as far the gears, i think the gears will be ok, ive riden up some steep hills and it wasnt very difficult as lomg as i used the low gears, but that was without any luggage

The gears are fine - a 28-32 granny gear is plenty low enough. The seat does look a little high, but this bike has a sloping top tube, so it's deceptive. There isn't any more length on the steerer to raise the bars, but you may be able to get a new stem with more rise if you feel the bars are too low. A brand new Brooks will be painful for the first few hundred miles, but it will get more comfortable eventually. There's really nothing wrong with that bike - it's a very good tourer, and a bargain price.

I deffinatly feel the bars a little too low, it is my first bike which those kind of bars. What can i do to rise the bars about 2 inches ?

maybe by using spacers like these? http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ha-i.html#headset mid way down the page

The frame looks small for you, but you can make it work. It's where your hands and feet are in relation to your seat that matters. Most important is seat height and I think you have ridden this bike enough to know if it's correct. About 90% fully extended leg at the bottom of the stroke is best in my opinion. Saddle tilt, and fore/aft position is important, these look correct.

Handlebar height does look low for long distance riding, probably you need to buy or swap for a stem that points more upwards and/or shorter.

Handlebar position that puts your back at 45º from vertical is a rule of thumb, generally speaking. For touring, perhaps a more upright position might be a starting point.

Notice that a more upright position can be achieved by shortening the distance between the bars and saddle in addition to (obviously) raising the bars. If this bike is small for you as I suspect, the bars may be close enough to your seat to put you in a position close to 45º, although ideally you might prefer more distance between seat and hands and higher bars to get this angle. The 45º*back angle is a starting point for fitness riding, for touring, maybe go more upright. If you lower back and upper arms are strong and your hamstrings are flexible, you will be able to tolerate a position that puts your back at an lower angle.

It looks like a threadless steerer tube. You are limited to how much you can raise the bars. One option is to get a stem with more angle or try one of these:

I'm sorry the link did not show up.

http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=941

wow, i think a stem extender will sove the problem, thanks a lot

Hi dmitrij, the whole handle bar seat setup is not to my personal liking but if it works for you then that is the important thing. You will know fairly quickly if it does not suit you. I like the hanlde bar and seat to be level for long distance comfort.
I am glad to read that you are using front panniers. I notice that you you have the rear rack mounted pretty far back over to rear wheel. I would assume that is in order to avoid heel strike due to the short chainstay length. You will likely mount the panniers at the rear of that rack. This puts your weight back quite a ways. The front panniers will help in balancing the bike load.
Go and enjoy the tour .

Personally I think I would like the bars where they are. If you are going to jack them up to the level of the seat, then you probably should have bought a larger frame. Still it looks nice to me as is.

My touring bike has bars 2" lower than the saddle. It's more a function of being flexible and what makes you comfortable. Looking at this picture and making guesses as to if it is set correct is a waste of time.

How about a few pictures of you riding the bike? How about video on a trainer? Even then it's only going to be a guide.

I can't stand a high bar. I like to spread the weight between my legs, trunk , and butt. Some people can't do that for various reasons.

At the end of the day............... if you have spent enough time in the saddle you will have a pretty good idea of what is comfortable for YOU.

If after all this you are still not comfortable. Get a fitting.

Last but not least............. Make small changes and one at a time.