MichaelW

My plan is to fly into Perpignan 1st week of Sept, hop over a small pass into Spain then down to Barcelona to visit a friend then fly back.
The whole trip is though the Catalunya region, even though it is spread over 2 countries. The food is really great, less fussy and simpler than typical French meals which is a good reason to eat out.
The direct route is quite short so I expect to do some exploring around.
The only issues at the moment are the heat and forest fires.

simplygib

I also tour on an mtb. Specialized Hard Rock, 14 years old. Works great. No need for anything else.

On the handlebars, I would consider trekking bars. Flat bars will work, flat bars with bar ends are better, and trekking bars are better yet. I've toured with all the above, but always got numb hands until I got the trekking bars. Existing brake levers and shifters will work with them. They cost me about $10 USD more than the bar ends.

Saddles - tried lots of different ones. Finally got a Brooks B-17. After break-in it's great. Pricey though.

Tools/Skills - I would suggest learning basic bike maintenance skills, and carrying a multi-tool with you. Derailleur adjustment, brake adjustment, chain repair, etc.

Tires - almost anything will work, especially for a short tour. I toured on off-road knobbies before going to Schwalbe Marathons. The Marathons roll easier, but are pricey.

Good luck.

sectrix

Here's my $.02 (or €)

1) BIKE? Your bike should work fine. I'd suggest looking into some gearing upgrades now that you have a bit more time, but 30 - 40 miles a day is a very laid back pace.

2) PANNIERS? If you are fully loaded with tent, cooking gear, etc. make sure you also get front panniers. My tour buddy had only rear bags and we had constant trouble with his rear tire; not to mention the handling. I used Arkel bags and they were fantastic, and are considered some of the best available. They are heavy and expensive though, about $900 for a full set. Ortleib and Vaude I've read make good waterproof bags, but these come with one caveat: they are waterproof. Anything that goes in damp will be damp when it comes out, and probably smelly. I don't have first hand knowledge of this, but I've read many people who have. I wouldn't imagine you'd be riding much in the rain anyway, and when you're camped the bags will be in the tent. A lot of bags are made with Cordura which can absorb quite a bit of rain before things inside start getting wet.

3) TYRES? I like the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, or Schwalbe or Continental in general. Road tires are best if your riding on the road. Thinner tires roll a little more easily, but thicker tires will be a smoother ride.

4) TENT? Make sure the tent you get is large enough to accommodate your bags. Also try to find a tent that ventilates well; this will keep it comfortable and dry. It will also prevent you from carrying unnecessary moisture weight, and allow clothes to dry from rain/sweat. I carry a Stephenson's Warmlite, but in retrospect it's overkill for bicycle touring. Make a plastic ground tarp for it to protect the bottom from abrasion and puncture. You can find rolls of plastic at hardware stores as drop cloths for painters. Cut it slightly smaller than your tent's footprint, otherwise it will funnel rain under the tent. If your tent needs to be seam-sealed, make sure you do that. Also, the insulation you lay on in the sleeping bag provides no warmth, so look into a sleeping pad.

4b) Yep. Chain it up.

5) HANDLEBARS? I toured with regular straight bars. After awhile, I did start noticing some wrist pain, so I'm going to add some aerobars for the next tour. Changing out to drop style bars may become a huge project. I don't know all the details, but for example a Shimano road front derailleur won't work with a mountain bike shifter and vice versa.

6) SADDLE? I like the Brooks leather saddles. The advantage of leather is it's firm, yet forms to you after a bit, making yourself a custom seat that keeps your weight on the bones. The soft gel type saddles distribute your weight to the soft tissue between the bones as well, which is no good for anyone. Leather saddles require some maintenance though, and must be kept dry. If you do get a leather saddle, put your tent bag over it at night to keep the moisture off.

7) BIKE TOOLS? Spare tubes, spare spokes (ask local shop for proper size), air pump (I like Topeak), spare chain, tire levers, and a chain tool. I'd suggest a few individual tools to fit fasteners for seat post, handlebars, brakes, derailleurs and racks & cages. Should you break a spoke that threads behind your rear gears, you'll also need a cassette lockring tool to get the gears off to replace the spoke. Usually you need to carry a cassette tool, wrench, and chain wrench, but I found a nifty little tool called the Stein Mini Cassette Tool that does it all for almost no weight.

8) SKILLS, Learn the basics of maintaining your rims: how to tighten and replace spokes. Learn how to use a chain tool (very easy, practice on an old chain), learn the simple fixes like replacing brake pads, adjusting derailleurs, etc. Sheldon Brown has an excellent resource, and the book Zinn and the art of Road Bike Maintenance is very good as well.

9) DYNAMO I don't know how it is in Europe, but in the US finding an electrical outlet was surprisingly easy. We made sure all our electrical devices ran on the same size batteries, brought spares and a battery charger. Then we simply found a nearby outlet at the campsite and charged everything daily.

14) CLOTHES? No need to do anything special or excessive - your regular clothes will work just fine. This is what I brought: underclothes and socks (3 pair each), 2 shirts, 1 pants, 2 shorts, thermal top and bottom and rain gear top and bottom. Lately I think I'll drop one pair of shorts and get convertible pants instead, and a sweatshirt instead of the thermals. If you are going to spend money on clothes, forget the cycling jerseys and get lightweight backpacking clothes. GoLite make some very light clothes that are surprisingly cheap right now.

If you decide to bring cooking gear, I'd suggest the Sierra Stove by ZZ Manufacturing - a battery powered wood burning stove. Instead of carrying and buying fuel, you can power your stove with sticks and leaves and such. It runs off a single AA battery that powers a fan. The fan blows air through the walls of the stove then out small holes in the bottom of the kettle - acting as a bellows. As the fire gets hotter, the air being blown in gets hotter and the whole thing burns more efficiently. This works best if you bring rechargeable batteries. Also if you bring non-stick cookware (I'd recommend) get plastic utensils and scour pads for non-stick; this will prevent scratching.

JohnBerry

I agree with the person in Germany who said you are missing the point a little if you're eating Dinty Moore from the can in Europe. I have just finished a tour in Spain and Portugal, and as an "old" guy (70, going on 71), I'd say the following:
1. 30-40 miles a day won't even get a young guy like you fit.
2. I usually ride from about 8:30 am to about 7:00 pm (depending on local sunrise and sunset). A lot of that time is spent in cathedrals, ruins, museums, etc.
3. I find 50-60 miles a day an easy rate for Europe (80-120 miles a day in USA or other countries with long distances).
4. Can't speak to bike or tires: I own a Bianchi tourer, but have used a rented Brompton for the western isles of Scotland (you don't have to pay for it on ferries, and fewer potential problems on trains), as well as a ridiculously over-prepared rented mountain bike in Andalusia and a rented "fished from the canal" bike for Eu19/week in northern Germany. Had no problems with any of them.
5. My tent is an REI "1.5-man" tent - wide enough that I can get all my panniers and me in it. However, this American tent is less than perfect for Europe because it has traditional guylines, which people in crowded campgrounds trip over, and the flysheet doesn't reach the ground, which is disastrous in a N. Atlantic storm.
6. In Spain and southern France, in the height of the season, campgrounds were Eu 10-12 per night.
7. I carried a stove/cookware and didn't use it. My food budget was: Continental breakfast Eu 2-3.00 (at a bar). Lunch: Eu 8-12 for a real restaurant meal. Dinner: Eu 6-10 for a BIG snack (occasionally Burger King, but here again that is defeating the purpose). I also spent about Eu 1-2 per day for fluids - I carried 2 standard bike bottles on the bike, plus one 1 or 1.5 litre bottle in a holder and another one bungeed on top of my tent on the rear rack. Total Eu 18-25 for food.
8. I rarely bought pastries, etc., because I have a gluten problem, but that would have lowered costs by about Eu 5.
9. Don't underestimate how much fluid or energy you will use: on hot days I would find myself draining a 1.5 litre bottle of lemonade at one go when I stopped riding.
10. I rarely locked up my bike in campgrounds, but was religious about doing so everywhere else. I have toured all over Iberia, UK, N. Germany and never had anything stolen at a campground or hostel: once that starts to happen the whole system of student/low budget family travel will break down.
11. If you have a problem fitting panniers, as I did with one folder, you may be able to attach a rucksack between the seat post and a light rear rack, using enough bungees. This also has the advantage that you can take off on a 2-day hike if you feel like it.
12. That reminded me: pedals and shoes. I tour in old running shoes, which also gives me the flexibility to hike. I met a Scottish girl who was touring in Nova Scotia wearing heavy flip-flops in pouring cold rain. Her reasoning: when it stops your feet dry off rapidly. I never use bike shoes or pedals with clips.
13: Panniers: the best ones I have are Axioms, a Canadian foldover brand. I always wrap everything in plastic bags inside the panniers - an accident can be costly - my Passport almost dissolved after riding through the edges of a hurricane in Louisiana, and I had a pannier full of mocha Coffee to boot.
14: I have broken 2 chains and many spokes (I weigh 220 lbs/100 kg). However, since getting a new rear wheel with higher-quality spokes in Whitehorse, Yukon, to replace one whose rim wore away in a storm on the Top of World Highway, I have never had a broken spoke again. So if you are big and have a low-end bike, I think rebuilding the rear wheel with high-end spokes may solve any problem there.

Good luck in France: I'll be there myself in July, riding from Aquitaine up the west coast and around Brittany and Normandy to the UK.

JohnB

iconicflux

I have a supernova the plug II+ on a 3n80 dynohub wheel that I built. It's great BUT you really need a cache battery as phones HATE the changes in amperage and voltage. The cache battery like a motorola P893 totally fixes that. There's a realy inexpensive one I got from BestBuy for 16 bux that works well too.. it's found back by the camcorder batteries.

stevepusser

You can also make waterproof panniers for next to nothing: https://uncooped.com/campergirl/posts...cycle-panniers

though I'd attach hooks and use some sort of toe-strap arrangement to mount them. I saw another article where the author whittled the baskets until they were just a lacy framework, just enough to hold drybags with his gear, so his panniers were extremely light.

LynxTheWizard

Hi!
1) the bike will be fine.
2) I suggest ortliebs. Good mounting system, no raincovers, you can even swim over rivers if you need to and keep your stuff dry. they aren' t so expensive in europe as they are in US. You can find them used now and then for a good price. (i got my first pair of back packer classic for 60$)
3) tyres depend on your route. If you will ride mostly on asphalt, i would say you will be happy with 26x1.5 or 1.75 at most. Anything wider will slow you down. Continental Travel Contact or Schwalbe Hurricane (if on tighter budget) would be my choice. they are good all around tires.
5) either put the butterfly trekking bars or add some bar ends to your straight bar.
6) I would say something from brooks, but if you dont want a leather seat, specialized makes good saddles. You needsomething that is not too wide and not too soft.
7) add some allen wrench kit.
8) maybe try to change a spoke.
10) stick with cycling.
11) Don' t leave your stuff alone.
14) Cycling clothes aren' t a necessity. You need at least 1 set of clothes that dry fast. Clothing should be comfortable and thats the main thing.

good luck!