Touring - what would you change

so now that you done a couple tour's on your new touring bike (or even your old) is there anything you would change:thumb:
for me well i love my new' ish thorn sherpa i have the very best of gear on it recently put marathon supreams on excellent, but were i find this bike fail's is climbing and im putting it down to 599 wheels.
but then again it could be me that's not up to scratch:lol:
anybody else feel that maybe 700 wheel's are better for climbing .

I guess I don't understand why one's ability to climb would be affected by wheel diameter. Smaller diameter tires wear out faster; larger diameter wheels ride on rough surfaces more smoothly. But climbing?

Since I first got Machak, I have changed the following:

-- steel forks replaced carbon
-- aluminum seatpost replaced carbon
-- Schmidt dynohub replaced a plain ordinary front wheel
-- Shimano freehub replaced a Formula hub
-- 48/36/26 chainring replaced 52/42/32
-- aluminum crank arms replaced carbon
-- Brooks B17 replaced whatever was on there before
-- a short stem replaced a long one


That's all I can think of at the moment, but Machak is a custom-built sport touring bicycle and was not only custom-built, but just about everything has been customized.

Next we'll likely go with a pair of full touring bicycles.

I got a chance to do exactly what you are talking about a few years ago, when my first 520 was totalled. I changed to a mountain crankset. Later I changed out the racks to Tubus Tara/Cargo.

So right now - nothing.

I,m still looking for the right pedals,other than that I like my set up.

I swapped out my 26 tooth granny for a 24. So far that has been enough.

Change the 50-39-30 to 50-39-24

A few things since I picked up my last bike (bought it used):

- brooks b17
- put on my mavic 719s, sold the wheels it came with
- just bought some new tires, vittoria randonneur 35c
- just swapped out the stem it that was on it for the original stem that also came with bike. The one that was on it was extremely short due to the bike being too big for the girl I bought it from

So far that is all. At the moment I can't think of anything else to swap out, but I may out on a new chain before my next long tour.

I'm was quite happy. The next tour will be on a tandem, so I'm considering a carbon fork for the Tourlite. I insisted on a steel fork when it was built so as to be able to mount a front low-rider rack. I don't see a need for it in these days. It will go on the tandem when the time comes.

i was going to change to carbon folk but was told it would effect the balance of the bike.the front forks on the sherpa are quiet heavy but there designed for taking what ever comes at them i think.
like everyone else im quiet happy with my bike as it stand's.if i could lose a stone of this little body of mine i would be a happy camper.