Walter S

Just use your feet then. That's even simpler. I personally find gears to be a complication full of merit.

350htrr

Certainly true, the less things to go wrong the less things can go wrong... But, It's not like todays bikes or even last decades bike are so bad that one generally needs to worry about it too much. I have had my bike for 13 years, 30,000KMs and it never left me on the side of the road yet (knocking on wood)... Maintenance and keeping on top of things can/do go a long ways when talking reliability and the advantage of 27 gears over 1 is worth the small "risk" of increasing the small "risk" of more things to go wrong so more things WILL go wrong doesn't necessarily happen... JMO

bikenh

Wheels move a lot faster than feet so you can go more places in a shorter period of time.

mobile_simon

Met a guy touring Nova Scotia on a single speed. He was hurting and looking for a bus ride home.

Walter S

I'll go with more assurance that I can comfortably navigate the terrain if have some gears.

bikenh

Yes, I would have to agree. I have 50,000 miles on my bike right now and it isn't 3 years old. I haven't had much go wrong with other than general maintenance stuff. But as a perfect/imperfect example. Just a week or so ago I had to replace the sealed bearings on my rear wheel. The problem was the bike shop had to order them. Now if I would have been on a trip that would have really wreaked havoc with the trip. Sure I now realize I will carry a spare set of bearings with me on any trip I take that way I know I won't run into a shop that doesn't have them in stock and I have to waste time waiting for them the get sent to the shop first. If I would have had a normal/non sealed bearing wheel I could have easily been able to avoid the problem and had the bearings replaced the same day. Sometimes the best ideas aren't the best ideas...you gotta to learn to look at things from all perspectives. It may look great at the time but when it leaves you sitting it won't look so great. When the cassette decides to crap out on you, or the derailleur hanger brakes, or the shifter decide they don't want to behave like they are suppose to, right when you are at the base of a climb, or even midway up a nice 10 mile long climb...your whole perspective on things can really change. When you lose all the complexity you have only one thing to deal with, climb the hill. You just keep riding and forget about. You already know you can't shift gears because their are no gears to shift to. You don't have to let the annoyance of the gears not behaving correctly get to you, instead you keep on enjoying the trip. The less that can go wrong the more you can enjoy the trip.

bikemig 

This must be why so many people who tour in the developing world where parts are hard to come by opt for geared bikes. . . . .

350htrr

Yes there IS MORE MAINTENANCE with more complicated things, but if kept up, things going wrong just seem to not happen (that much more often)... Little things like I found a frayed wire on my front shifter, 1 broken wire, a week later 3 broken wires, a week later a dozen broken wires, but everything worked perfectly, many people do just that, don't fix things till they fail... And then wonder why... I had the spare wire, was expecting it to break so would have been no problem (I fixed it before it broke). If I didn't have the wire, yea, no more shifting till I found one. So again, maintenance, checking things and fixing before they actually break go a long way.

Machka 

I wonder what the OP finally decided ... after he started this thread in 2008

350htrr

Now probably riding a 27 speed dual sport with hydraulic brakes with front suspension remote lockout and more...

saddlesores

see, there's your problem.....too complicated.

you gotta learn to simplify! lemme tell ya bou me 'n my feeshee!
(those of us who 'know' pronounce it "feeshee"...those who don't, don't)

before a big tour (like allaway to starbucks) i likes to remove the ball bearings from
the hubs, replace them will sand and gravel. you can always find sand and gravel.

not only is it cheap and readily available, but it makes a really groovy sound so's
everybody can look up and see me and know how truly special i am.

vaultbrad

Alright folks. Is there a "best" way to tour? Probably, but that is dependent on the goals of the tourer.

Would one style of coffee roast be plenty and do the job? Yes, but different tastes and curiosity brought ~a zillion. Now we all have a great chance to find one that suits us each perfectly.

Same for bike touring. I used the above silly example to illustrate our situation. We are in a position to be able to go have fun doing something nice, outside. Whether I choose to spend that time touring on a sweet fixie bro bike, or a beautifully purpose built, rohloff-equipped touring bike, is up to me to decide my needs and wants for the experience. In the end I would probably have had a blast on either. I've ridden my fare share of bikes and they are all nice in their own way. So really, it's all good.

Bikenh, on your trip what was your bike setup? You mentioned it not being a track bike, which would be an unlikely long distance touring rig though it has been done to good effect. Was it a road bike? Cross? Mtb? Share your thoughts.

bikenh

I've been using a Specialized Allez Comp for each of the three road trips I've taken thus far, 2700 miles in 2012, 1700 miles in 2013, and 5200 miles this year. When I left for the trip back in 2012 I was wanting to try an experiment not understand what I finally got the understanding of this year on the trip. As a result I started not shifting gears while I was on the 2012 trip. Finally back this spring I went out and swapped over to flip-flop hub and got the derailleurs off the bike and put a chain tensioner on instead. I am in good shape. I'm sitting under 20,000 miles so far this year and still hoping to hit the big 20K for the year. I've only had 3 days I haven't been on the bike this year. By the end of the year I'll be real close to having 51,000 miles on the bike since I bought right before the first day of spring 2012. No, it's not the ideal bike...BY A LONG SHOT. The frame geometry, even for racing...SUCKS. I can't sit up on the bike and ride no handed unless I'm riding at least 20 mph. Otherwise I end up getting pulled off toward the ditch quite fast. It's a short distance road bike, not a racing bike, not a touring bike. I use it for long distance biking. Granted I always have to get off the bike to eat or drink as I can't take my hands off the handlebars. It has it's limitations but it still works for what I use it for. I wouldn't use rack and pain in the arses for touring. I would use either a backpack, which I have used each of the past three years now, or I would use a bikepacking style setup. My biggest limitation right now is trying to replace the laptop that I always take with me. It takes up so much darn room, yet alone packed weight. I won't use smartphone as their are too many programs I use daily that I have written myself and I want the data stored on my computer not some remote computer. I have thought about the Raspberry Pi but I'm not sure what kind of screen quality I could expect off of them**********? If I could ever make that change I could easily ditch the backpack and go to bikepacking fairly quickly. Yes, like most things I would make my own equipment versus spending big bucks to go out and buy those overpriced brand name items.

I will say the Allez Comp does handle well but I just wish I could more easily be able to eat/drink from the bike and still be able to maintain control of the bike like I use to be able to with my old Cannondale(misaligned frame and wore a hole in the non driveside chainstay right behind the bottom bracket) that I use to have. I could ride that darn thing at 10 mph no handed for hours on end.

350htrr

Brain storm... I am looking at a 3 mile long 20% hill... One of dozens on my route for the day, week, year... Do I want a 27 speed or a single speed? I guess it depends on how I want to tell my story of the trip, I did it on a 27 speed bike... I did it on a single speed bike... There is a difference I suspect...

spectastic

well personally, there's no real advantage in a fixed gear than a single speed. I've flirted with the idea of getting a internally geared hub, but I think a better solution for touring might be using a flip flop hub. You can easily fit two freewheels on both sides, and have a 2 speed bike, only the gear changes will take about 1 minute, as opposed to half a second. I run a 44/16 freewheel, which will let me get up to 26 mph at 120 rpm, 21 mph at 100 rpm, 11 mph at 50, which is what I imagine what a hill would feel like.

but if you're looking to climb 10% or even 20%, the internally geared hub or the flipflop hub will not give you much options, as the gearing option is so narrow.

never really done any long climbs though, not with a fixed gear anyway, and not for touring. would like to go to the alps or something to find out though.

79pmooney

Go to Sheldon Brown's site and check out the Shimano 11 speed Alfine. A 50 - 20 gives the same range as a 50-36 X 11-32. Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Gear Calculator

Ben

spectastic

wait what's the difference between alfine and rholoff? I know rholoff is the holy grail of IGH, because they can compete with derailleur systems in terms of efficiency. But how far off is an alfine?

bikenh

A couple of advantages I can think of between fixed and singlespeed. Fixed has no bearings, single does. No bearings to worry about wearing out on you and forcing you into buying a new gear before the teeth wear out. I had that happen to me a couple of months ago. My singlespeed gear bearings crapped out on me/totally seized up. I had 10,500 miles on the gear since I had put it on back in early May. The teeth were still in great shape but the bearings were totally shot. I put on a new gear and within 2000 miles it was starting to get crappy feeling on me. I realize I can put significantly more miles on a SS gear before needing to change it versus what I could ever hope to put on a cassette. The chains are beefier and will last longer as well.

As for another difference to think about. With every pedal stroke on a singlespeed bike you have 'a bit of power loss' thanks to dead spots in the pedal stroke. With a fixed gear there are no dead spots and you can even let up on the force you are putting on the pedals and let your feet float around the pedal stroke versus constantly applying pressure...you're feet would still have to move around but it doesn't mean you would have to be applying pressure all the time. I haven't ridden fixed yet so maybe I'm wrong on this but I do believe you do end up with better power performance fixed gear as compared to either singlespeed or multispeed simply because the pedals always keep moving as long as the wheels are moving.

fietsbob

Rohloff [The company founder's Family name] is German they are hand assembled by human Techs.. checking fits of each part.

Shimano is Japanese they make really good Machines that assemble the Parts to make their products ..

lowers cost and increases Volume so they sell to More Factories that Make Bikes in other parts of Asia .


good thing to ask a Mechanical Engineering Department at a University to study .. Helps if you Fund it of course..

bikenh

DUH, why route yourself on a 3 miles long 20% climb? Just look for different options and avoid the bulk majority of the climb in the first place

Yeah, I guess as the old saying goes its not on reaching the endpoint, its about what you learn in between that counts and makes the trip what the trip is. Learn to understand the simple rules of life, you can have as much fun and have as many stories, and probably more to tell, by avoiding the 20% climbs. Sure you may not have the bragging rights but you will still have your own stories to tell. It's one reason I don't belong, and have no plans to ever belong to ACA or use any of there stupid maps. I will make my own trip, not use someone elses. Part of the fun of the trip is making your own plans and choosing for yourself what you want to see/where you want to go/what you want to accomplish instead of what someone else wants. You never know what you may find but I can definitely say for sure that you will probably find the same things along the same route that someone else used. It's the element of surprise that always makes my trips fun and enlightening. I'm always changing the route in progress so I never get a chance to do any kind of research as to what is available in the next community. I don't know what communities I may go through. I find out when I get there.

And yes, I generally always to try to find the easiest route to use to get from point A to point B, why I look for a 20% hill when I can easily use another route, maybe even shorter that doesn't have the climb to deal with.

As another old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. If you objective is to get to the top of a certain mountain, I can think of a nice 12% average with extend 18% grade stretch climb not far from here, who says you still can't get to the top without riding...or do you have to have bragging rights? Why not enjoy a nice walk up the road or get a ride up from another driver heading up. Why ride the bike up it? That's just pure craziness. There's always other options available if you just learn to look around.

bmike

Alfine 11 gear range. Rohloff 14 evenly spaced.

I would get an Alfine for a commuter. Had an old nexus 8 on my cargo bike.
For my loaded adventure bike I went Rohloff. Love it. A friend has blown an Alfine 8 and an Alfine 11. Admittedly he is a strong rider... But I would opt for the Rohloff for touring.


IMG_4022 by mbeganyi, on Flickr

And, I did the FG dinglespeed thing too. Good fun.

staehpj1

It is pretty easy to look at it the other way, like "Why limit what roads you can take by not having gearing to handle it". Also there are some beautiful places to tour where avoiding long steep climbs just isn't possible.

Either way can work if it suits you. Walking a 3 mile climb wouldn't be the end of the world either. Despite all of that I think that geared bikes make the most sense for the large majority of riders.

bikenh

I guess I haven't found anything that I can't climb as of yet, that I would want to climb with a singlespeed. I know of a couple climbs around here that I have been up many times in a car and in the case of one of the climbs twice by bike. I go up that same climb multi times a year while helping out the hang glider pilots. You can't see anything by bike, you would have to get off the bike and walk back the hiking path if you wanted to really see anything...other than parked cars in the parking lot. I guess when you have to walk anyways, might as walk all the way.

I've had no trouble climbing 300-400 feet per mile climbs that are 3-4 miles long here in the east, fully loaded, singlespeed. I was doing it this summer along US40 from Mt. Airy to the Ohio River. Most climbs here around the east I'm not too terribly worried by. I guess it does help out that I'm in shape.

JoeyBike

There are people who go cross country on skateboards pulling trailers and paddle across oceans in kayaks. Touring on a bike, even with one or two well chosen gear ratios seems pretty easy in comparison. Do what you like bro. Don't worry 'bout anyone else.

A guy skated across China on this rig:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/14degrees/2596953984/

Pretty sure these guys made it across N. America somewhere:


https://longboardmd.files.wordpress.c...pg?w=300&h=214

Timberxx

I've owned several single speed bikes, a roadie, cyclocross, and a fat bike. I also own a motobecane gran turismo. I have taken all on daily commutes of 20 miles plus, 70 miles rides, and some short tours. The single speeds were brought on rail trails for 70 miles. Even with the slight grades I was beat to hell after the ride. I love my single speeds, but for a serious tour? Hell no.