antokelly

cheers Brad looking at utube the spelling is veloce ,no matter lovely bike.

fietsbob

I Liked how much easier a bike that is freestanding was to pack in the morning as both sides were accessible.

Tourist in MSN

I think a cyclocross bike with a steel frame would be a better choice for you, provided it has the rack mounts and possibly fender mounts. With that small a frame size, you would not have to worry much about frame flex, as most (but not all) bike manufacturers use the same size tubing on all frames within a model from small up to the biggest frame sizes. Thus the bigger frames often flex much more with a larger heavier rider than their smaller frames do. So, a lighter frame might still be good for touring for you.

A cyclocross bike might have a higher bottom bracket, but if you are an experienced roadie, that should not be a deal breaker either.

My 700c LHT had a bit of toe overlap, but it only bothered me at slow speeds when I was first starting out from a stop. It was a minor irritant, but I never fell because of it so it was not a deal breaker in my opinion. My point is that with a small size cycloross bike with 700c wheels, it might have toe overlap, but if you knew that ahead of time and chose to not let it bother you, it probably wouldn't.

I had a lighter set of wheels that I could put on my LHT with some high pressure supple 25mm tires. I felt like I was going a lot faster with those wheels, but when I got home from an exercise ride, I typically only cut 3 percent off of my time compared to my touring wheels with 37mm wide touring tires. So, perception can be quite different than reality. Those touring wheels are now on the rando bike I built up this past winter.

If your knees are good enough to handle a 11/32 cassette in the back and a compact road double crank for the uphills, that is great. But my knees can't take that much pressure, I need lower gears. I have a road triple on my rando bike with a 30T granny because I figure I will never have much weight on that bike so the 30T should be adequate. My Sherpa has a road triple with an aftermarket 24T granny chainring. Both these bikes have an 11/32 cassette.

Good luck finding the right frame.

antokelly

good advice there Tourist in msn ,i ride a terry dolan le tape at the moment i love it great bike they also make cyclocross bikes never thought of that .
thanks.

anto.

LeeG

A very comfy ride that would be

antokelly

LeeG if i were to buy another Thorn Sherpa i would definitly change out the front fork it weighs as much as the frame ,i would buy the carbon fork for it sjs cycles supple this fork or even the 853 fork. i had schwalble supreams on the thorn fantastic tyre but not much use on rough roads due to the thin sidewalls. love to try compass tyres .but yeah that's all fantasy land if i manage to hunt down a quality touring frame for little money i will take it from there (hope that all make sense)

antokelly

buy a click stand.

fietsbob

Aberdeen WA where that guy lives (& Kurt Cobain used to) is just north of here


You bought one yet? how does it work on soft waterlogged Irish pastures for you?

antokelly

nope never needed a bike stand believe it or not we still have any amount of trees and dry walls to lean the bike against ,strange but true.

Doug64

Actually, it is spelled "Volpe".

antokelly

that's that sorted then
is that one of your's Doug.super looking bike.

Yan 

Volpe, Veloce, different models. Don't get them confused.

phughes

The reason you see so many people with big stacks of spacers on Long Haul Truckers is because so many buy into the idea you need to buy a smaller frame in the LHT than you normally ride, as a result, they end up having to use a lot of spacers to get the handlebars up where they want them.

I used the Rivendell sizing method, sort of, to choose my frame. I am 5' 10" and went with a 56. My bars are a little over an inch higher than my seat and I have only 50mm of spacers.

mstateglfr 

To each their own. A massive amount of spacers isnt for me. As it is, i typically need a lot of spacers on traditional diamond frames due to my height and because most brands stopped at 63/64cm. When it comes to modern frames, im less tolerant of something that could have been eliminated by now.

I always figured the LHT often times has an absurd number of spacers because its top tube is quite long. As a result, users have to account for the top tube lengthnand get a frame size thats smaller than typical. Add in a lack of top tube slope and you end up with a need for lots of spacers.

But i am admittedly not a designer, so my conclusion may be wrong. Its just come from observing my traditional bikes vs modern bikes and the geometry differences when adding in the LHT.

antokelly

long top tube won't suit me i have back issues so i need the right size frame .
i don't like to see loads spaces 1or 2 tops makes for a good handling bike imho.besides it look's better.

robow

LHT's definitely designed with a longer top tube than most for a given seat tube length but they also have a longer than average head tube length as well. Many tourers want to sit more erect than the average roadie and like their bars higher, hence the spacers. I'm 5'10" on a 56 cm frame and not a lot of spacers were used, again because of the long head tube which ends well above the top tube.

Tourist in MSN

I agree with those that said the LHT has a long top tube. I had a size 58 cm frame, but based on seat tube lengths, I probably should have had a 60 cm frame. I had an 80mm stem which is pretty short, if I had the 60 cm frame I do not know if I would have been able to fit a short enough stem on the bike.

I had enough extra steerer tube to run a second stem to lower my handlebar bag. Thus, I had no complaint on the "tall stack" of spacers as I liked being able to run my handlebar bag lower on that second stem.

Doug64

The LHT is one of the few bikes that comes with an uncut steerer tube, which allows a significant amount of bar height adjustment options. You can actually put you bars where you want them, not where the manufacturer thinks you should have them. A small price to pay for what some folks view as asthetically unacceptable.

I'm not sure that a higher stack height looks worse than an absurdly high head tube, and it allows a larger range of adjustment.

dbg

Kind of an unfair statement. If it really bothers someone then it IS a big issue. I dislike toe overlap --but I would point out that being clipped to the pedal makes a huge difference. If you're not clipped in it's easy enough to slide your foot out of the way. If you catch the wheel with a clipped in toe it can wedge you into a spill pretty quickly.

phughes

Well, you may have an issue others don't. For me, I can get a frame big enough for me, a 56 in the LHT. I don't consider my current stack height to be massive. If I want my bars even with the saddle, I need only 15 mm of spacers. I seriously don't call that massive.

What I do see often, are pictures of LHTs with huge, to me, stack heights and tons of seat post showing as well. They could avoid that with a larger frame. At the same time though, the people posting those images are completely happy and comfortable on their bike, so it really doesn't matter.

Doug64

You are correct. If toe overlap bothers someone it is an issue for them. It was an unwarranted generalization. I based my opinion on my wife's experience, which is probably a lot different than most folks. My wife has used clipless pedals for a long time, and still no issues.

47 cm frame with 700c tires.

alan s 

But how is it pronounced?

Volp?
Vol-pee?
Vol-pay?

And to make matter even more difficult, how about Bianchi?

Bee-awn-key?
Bee-awn-chee?
Buy-an-chee?

bradtx

antokelly

great post Alan no idea on the volpe but it's B ANK E if u can figure that out

antokelly

photo at last. i had a pro bike fit done couple months ago my set up was not a million miles away from that good looking woman position ,the problem i have is swollen discs so after 2 hours bike fit i no longer sit erect which i thought would be correct position now im more roadie takes all the pressure off my back ,best money i ever spent no more pain when cycling.