Miles2go

I've *always* wanted one of these things and I finally got one today. Too bad it's a few sizes too small for me but I just couldn’t pass it up. It's been living a lie, never having been on tour or even had a rack mounted for commuting purposes. The owner wanted to sell it so she could afford to rebuild her mountain bike.

I have a busy month ahead but after that I'm going to find this nearly new touring machine a good home. If it measured within 2cm of 58cm across the top tube I'd add it to my touring bike collection.




Cheers,

hwy6er

You did score! Nice Ride. I saw it (Craigslist?) as well. But ended up buying a 2000 Trek 520 from a guy in the Sugarhouse area. The 520 still had the original Conti Top Touring tires with no apparent tread wear!

It's my first touring bike. I'm using it as a commuter, but am planning a short shakedown tour soon - Hwy 12 from Panguitch to Capital Reef.

Jim

Miles2go

Oh no... not highway 6!

Congrats with the new bike. I don't look at the classifieds but very rarely and didn't see your 520 listed. I was checking into something else for a pal and came across the T800. I bet I know most of the self-sufficient tourers based along the Wasatch Front and there aren't many. I'm gonna actually try to do something about that come Spring, which it's been looking like lately with this weather.

Panguitch to Capitol Reef NP will be nice. At least it was ~12 years ago when we toured through there.

Cheers!

hwy6er

Yes, it should be a good short tour along hwy 12, and in mid May the temps should be moderate. By the way, I really enjoy the "fully loaded" photo site.

You know, I think Hwy 6 has gotten a bad rap. One of my favorite rides is up Spanish Fork Canyon to Thistle. Minus that one curve in the "red narrows" area, I've read that statistically, Hwy 6 is not much different than most other mountain two-lane highways.

One of my long-term goals is to tour Hwy 6 - but then I've probably read too much Jack Kerouac .

Jim

Miles2go

Hey Jim,

Thanks for the word on the FLT Gallery.

I drove Highway 6 recently and tried to have my cycling cap on, paying attention to what might bother me if I were on a bike. For cycling I try to keep away from high volume roads where people *in a hurry* have very restricted abilities in passing slower motorists. They also use a lot of rumble strip right where you'd want to be riding. Too bad, there are some beautiful places along 6 and in many cases, it's the only way to get from point A to point B.

I'm out the door for a ride but later I'll dig up a couple of images of hwy 6.

Cheers,

Cave

Why would you want it if it is too small? Sure, they're nice bikes (I have one) but you want a good fit first.

That stem looks like a shorter higher-rise one than the original (I put a higher rise on mine as well), you could add a little length there, and seat height is never an issue with the right seat pole.

However, if the frame is too small you'll run into (1) toe clearance problems, (2) not enough space to use the 3rd bottle cage under the top tube (mine fits a 500ml bottle only) and (3) not enough space for a large bottle on the seat tube bottle mount.

I get these issues on my "Medium" size (but compact frame) T800. The compromise is well worth it on tour, because the bike overall is so solid and stable, but it is a compromise nonetheless. I understand the larger frames don't have these problems.

Miles2go

Cave,

You're a kind soul for taking the time to share that sound advice. Thanks.

We certainly didn't need this bike. I saw it listed locally with a low-grade image for $450USD and the ad went on to state "will consider offers" or something to that effect. At the price I paid, how it would fit me made no difference. I planned to pass it on after cleaning it up and make a little cash on the effort.

It was listed as a 48cm bike and the original owner must have believed this. You can see (set up just as I bought it in the photo) it was too big for her; as she's dramatically shortened the stem and lowering the seat post to its base. As it turns out this is the medium size with a VTT measurement of 53cm. That puts it right into my wife's size range and after installing a normal stem last night; we had to take it out for a nice long ride today. It turns out to be a perfect fit for Nancy.

Problem is that she has a brand new Rocky Mountain Bicycles Sherpa...

However, the T800 is geared better and has crazy long 46cm chainstays. That grey also is less eye catching which has benefits in many touring situations. The wheels have about 500 miles on them and are perfectly true but the bike hasn't been loaded yet. I'm guessing that these wheels are nothing to worry about since I've not heard of anyone having trouble with them. What seems a little odd to me is that my wife *really* likes grey. I don't see that as a high demand bicycle color but she almost ordered her Bike Friday in their version of it. So we may be holding onto the T800 after all. If nothing else, it could be a perfect dedicated commuter bike for her. A rack, fenders, kickstand and lights.

That said, I've given a good friend a shot at it for $425. She doesn't have a touring bike yet. Since it grew from 48 to 53cm it's probably too big for her though.

Cheers,

Cave

After getting a rear-wheel flat and riding on it for ~50 m before noticing, I needed to re-true the wheel. This was after ~2500 km of riding, mostly with light to moderate loads (but I weigh 92kg, which is probably way more than your wife + luggage).

The only durability issues for me are the bolts for the rack and bottle cages, which have 3mm hex heads and so aren't too robust; and the STI shifters, which are easy to damage in a crash or in transport, but at least have really easy-to-use adjusters on the cables for when they do get out of adjustment (every 1000 km or so for me, or after every plane flight!).

I hope your wife enjoys her new bike(s), I'm sure she will if the fit is correct, once you're on the long road (as opposed to city traffic or attempting off-road) this bike really is a joy to ride.