verktyg 

If I were going to make that trip, I'd plan on doing it in the early fall, that's when the weather is the best. Late spring can be OK too.

In the summer months, it gets cold and foggy along the coast from Santa Barbara north and very hot inland until you get north of San Jose or thereabouts.

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Mark Twain

From ~late October to April can be the rainy season... sometimes!

verktyg

Chas.

MacGyverBurrito

yes, all the research I've done suggests doing it after summer.
which is great because that gives me plenty of time to get my bike set up and do a couple weekend tours to get use to loaded riding.

ill probably drive up there to see what kind off climbing I'm in for

gna

I have a Raleigh Wyoming with 27" tires. I'm having trouble finding a budget rear rack in Silver to match a front rack I picked up at the recycler. Anyone tried the Axiom Journey? One of the few racks to give dimensions and come in silver.

verktyg 

It's mostly rolling hills on 101 from Ventura until you get to the Gaviota Tunnel north of Goleta (above Santa Barbara) then you have some climbs until you get to Paso Robles. Then it's mostly flat with rolling hills.

Google Highway 101...

verktyg

Chas.

bradtx

Instead of using my primary touring bike, I am taking "budget" to the extreme using my beater/backup touring bike as an example. The bike is a '96 Cannondale T700.

The rack is an old Jim Blackburn, el cheapo resin pedals, new Sugino Impel crank set, one each new shifter and brake cables, new Shapeway cable housing guides for the top tube. The saddle is an old Trek hybrid unit and the tires are some old 37 mm Continental Top Tours. The saddle is fine for wearing street clothes, but I'd swap it for another Serfas TI like on my primary touring bike before touring on it. As is, it's perfect for chasing the grandkids around the neighborhood.

Tires that worked well on the primary touring bike are 35 mm Panaracer Crosstowns and currently 32 mm Continental Touring Plus. The Crosstowns are wide for their size and work well on poorly paved or unpaved roads. Panaracer Pasalas would be another good budget choice. Shop around for tires when you're ready to buy, somewhere there is the posibillity of a sale for an appropriate tire.

I used a light duty Blackburn before with about 20 lb. and it performed well for the few times I used it.

Brad

vqstaphbeard

Wow! I love these two!

tarwheel 

I've got two touring bikes, a Bob Jackson World Tour and Soma Saga, as well as a sport tourer, a Waterford RST-22. I bought the Bob Jackson about 6 years ago for commuting and later added a triple drive train and rear rack to make it more tour-worthy. However, when I actually used it on a couple of loaded tours, it didn't feel stiff enough to handle weights more than about 30 lbs and didn't have enough clearance for tires over 32 mm with fenders. So I recently bought a Soma Saga to use for loaded touring, and moved the triple drive train to it, and returned the BJ to duty for commuting. The Waterford has mounts for fenders and racks, as well as clearance for large tires and fenders, but is not designed to carry heavy loads. It is fine for commuting and light touring, and is my favorite bike because it rides so nicely.

There are plenty of old "classic" touring frames, particularly among the Japanese makes (Miyata, Lotus, Shogun, Panasonic, etc.) but finding a nice one in your size could be a challenge. You also might need to replace or update many parts. However, if you are looking for a new touring frame with classic styling and construction, Bob Jackson and Mercian are fine choices. Their prices are very reasonable if you compare them with other customs, and the BJ World Tour is available "off the peg" for not much more than a Surly LHT or Soma Saga.

I am very impressed with my Soma Saga so far, although I've only had it a few weeks. I have not done any loaded touring on it yet, but have commuted carrying moderate loads. It has clearance for at least 35 mm tires with fenders, and very stout tubing. Despite the over size tubing, it rides as nice as any of my steel bikes except the Waterford, which is in a class by itself. Most importantly, the Soma fits me perfectly, although that is highly individual.

Regarding touring accessories, Tubus racks are the gold standard but there are many options for less expensive racks that are fine for 99% of the users. I've got a Tubus Cargo rear rack that I use for loaded touring and it is simply a great rack, but expensive -- $120 at cheapest on-line sources -- as well as a Tara front rack. I also have a Planet Bike KOKO, which is an excellent alternative for only about $40. My panniers are Ortlieb Classic Rollers, and I am totally pleased with them as well.

jimmuller 

This is an interesting thread, not so much for the bikes themselves as for how and what gets carried. (Yeah, I know, there is a touring forum, but it's not the same as C&V.) The trip and staying-over style dictate the bike and how you pack it.

We've done two short tours on our tandem. On the second trip @noglider rode with us on his Volpe, a seemingly nice compact and efficient bike for the purpose. A not-so-great pic of the loaded tandem:



As loaded the bike was over 100lbs. After a short while for me to get used to the load, it didn't seem especially heavy. But when we rode off to buy groceries one evening with it unloaded it felt like a featherweight! Except for the front panniers our tandem was equipped exactly as it always is for our day rides. The front wheel is a 32-spoke A319 on a 105 hub, the rear a 36-spoke A319 on the original Atom hub with drum brake. Tires are 700cx32mm Pasela TG. The rear rack is an original Jim Blackburn, the front a much newer VO. Brakes are Mafac Cantilevers. Gearing is 3x5, but I don't recall the exact ratios. On day one a bolt holding the front rack to the fork eyelet fell off, but didn't have much effect. @photogravity provided a substitute which is still there. Otherwise the bike performed perfectly.

One problem with a tandem is where to put everything, especially sleeping gear for two people. Two solo bikes actually have more capacity than a tandem. @photogravity and mrs photogravity also rode with us on their Bilenky tandem. Here's their solution:



Were I ever to do a solo-bike tour with much of a load I'd consider riding my UO8. Second choice would probably be the Raleigh with a rack added. For a CC tour the choice would depend on the length, either the Bianchi, the Motobecane, or the Masi.

ksryder

What kind of low gears are people running?

I'm doing a short (10 days) tour through Tennessee-Alabama-Georgia next summer. The lowest I can go up front without changing the entire crankset is 34. Thinking a mountain derailleur & 10 speed 11-36 in the back.

No idea how much my gear will weigh -- I'll try to go light but maybe 50 pounds? I'll test it out in the spring. I'm in decent shape; training for the Dirty Kanza a month before the tour, and my 46/36 front and 11-28 rear are fine for the steep hills and gravel roads around here -- but we don't have any mountains like they do in Tennessee.

Running 105 10-speed right now. All the MTB forums tell me you can run 9-speed shimano MTB RDs (non-shadow) with 10 speed road shifters.

cyclotoine

I have a 42 Schwalbe Marathon XR squeezed in under a VO fender, not too bad. The best thing about the Saga is the oversized MTB headtube. That thing is BEEF-IE and it really makes this bike stable with big loads. I have run full sized ortlieb rollers with the heavier items up front on mine and the bike loves it. These are solid bikes and most definitely a step up from a LHT, they show better workmanship (though the paint on mine was brittle) and better tubing. They also have marginally shorter top tubes which is important to me. It's a nice bike, but it is a little to in-betweenie for me. I bought it has my heavy duty tourer, but have since realized I want something with discs and bigger tires (surly ECR or Ogre come to mind) and something a little lighter duty for shorter tours. My saga now resides in Vancouver and serves as my city transportation when I am in town which works just fine also.

cyclotoine

I have seen many strong cyclists tour with gearing like you describe. It depends, are you packing light and going hard? Or will this be more leisurely? I would suggest a lower gear if you are packing heavy and moving slow. I run a 24 in the front, 34 in the back (8 or 9 speed).

ksryder

Packing light-ish, probably running slow. I'm going with my dad and he's not quick. I'm not worried about the high end. I have a 110 BCD crank; so 34 is the lowest I can go without changing cranks up front.

Price is a consideration -- a 34t front chainring, 11-36 cassette and MTB derailleur will be in the neighborhood of about $100 and I'd like to keep it there. If I start swapping cranksets it gets a lot pricier for just a couple more gear inches.

The unknown for me is the mountains. I do pretty well on hills and we have some steep ones around here but they don't last very long -- less than a half mile mostly. I haven't had much experience on climbs that last several miles.

MacGyverBurrito

Does anyone tour on northroad style bars?
I was think about getting some and mounting some thumb shifters on them.

bikemig 

If I were touring on flat bars, I'd go with trekking bars. They offer more hand positions than swept back bars.

m_sasso

At the base of Glacier National Park on my 2013 cross country tour fully self supported. West to east from Vancouver to Boyne City, Michigan. Used a 93 Team Marin with all Suntour XC Pro equipment only XTR Cranks. Racks were Axiom Journey 2 Lowriders along with a modified Axiom Platform Support on the front and Blackburn rack on the back. Tires, Panaracer RiBMo, 26 X 1.25 and not a single flat the entire tour. Panniers were Arkel XM-45 for compartmentalized storage and Ortlieb Front Roller Classic for H2O resistance and clothes washing.



With out the Panniers

leovelo

I am building a bike a LOT like this; it's using a Giant frame, but even the same color! Pics on "Poor Man's Atlantis" thread. Yours is really beautiful! I can't do the drop bars anymore though, bad back.

leovelo

I tour on North Road bars. I love being upright, especially in hilly terrain --which is pretty much everywhere in my neighborhood.

Len S

Saw this one on Mackinac Island this summer. the gentleman was going coast to coast, Seattle to Maine. Not a vintage...for at least 50 more years. I assume he used the ferry.

shipwreck

I try to keep it as light as I can. Still working on the gearing on this Davidson, but still get blown away by the way it rides.


And for some reason I really like this one, not a tourer, its a Centurion Elite that I picked up a couple years ago, champion 5 tubing makes it really stiff, and its been places that many would fear to tread. On my last trip with this bike I followed google routes and was on really bad farm roads in MO, maintained 18 to 24 mph on gravel for hours before finding a smoother route.
This pic was taken on what google insisted was a road. Actually it had been up to the month before when it was washed out, 14 mile shortcut that took all day!

djkashuba 

This should probably be in a "Nice touring bikes that never tour thread". Someday I will get panniers and take off. Mean while it's a great commuter/ heavy rando ride.
******** Expedition. Berthoud/Tubus.

Specialized Expedition by djk762, on Flickr

The Golden Boy 

That is yummy!

swoooper

Here's the start of my touring Stumpjumper. The bike came very cheaply. I'm excited about the long, laid back frame after trying to alter a 1980's racing bike. Fenders, road tires, clipless pedals, and a real saddle coming soon. The tires are studded Nokians for our winter snow pack. I'm thinking of this one for RAGBRAI XVIII July 2015.

mrv 

@Swooper - a quick question for you - how much smaller is your StumpJumper than your road bike?
My touring / dirt road bike is an old Rockhoper, about 53cm, I think. It also came to me at no charge (until I added a Brooks, MKS fenders, racks, new tires, platform pedals, etc.) My road bikes are 58~60cm.
I'd like to get my RockHopper bars a bit higher, and I'm going to switch them out to drop bars soonly, very similar like to your StumpJumper.

Just curious. I think I'd like to have a bigger touring bike, but it won't be in the budget for a long, long time, I think.
Thanks.

oddjob2

I prefer a 58cm road frame. My Miyata Terra Runner MTB drop is a 20" or 52cm frame, so your Rockhopper would probably work well for you.

tarwheel 

Here's another shot of my Soma Saga with fenders.