Burton

Cool! Sounds like the ultimate bike trip souvenier!

Arnold Powers

I once heard tale of this womyn who had gone on an adventure trip, not sag, and had used some junk department store bike. When she got to Florida she just gave it to the hostile she had stayed at. To think, no hassle at the airport or anything. On another thought, touring across country as a homebum would be a pretty interesting sociology experiment.

Machka 

Womyn? I believe the word is spelled woman.

And hostile? From my experience, most hostels are anything but.


Sorry, I can't tell if those were on purpose or were just typos.

staehpj1

I have met folks who bought cheap bikes at the start of a long tour and discarded them in some manner at the end. It seemed to work OK for them. They had mostly walmart grade gear too and seemed to be OK with that as well. The one guy flew in from Japan with just about nothing and bought what must have been about $500 worth of stuff or a bit more at the start. He seemed to be having a great time.

ak08820

Some day, I will fly to India and buy a brand new bike there for under $100 and tour with it. These Indian bikes have only 1 speed, rod brakes, steel rims and cottered cranks but are made in the 100s of thousands and parts will be available all over India.

escii_35

As long as you are not on the tall side or med+ and lanky go for it.

Be prepared to have rear wheel issues. On the bright side, 26in wheels running 7speed freewheel hubs are crazy common.

For example: I guy I rode with on this trip broke his axle and wandered into the general store in the small town of Cochrane Chile. He found/bought a hub, broke it apart and repurposed the axle. In the next tourist town the one bike shop had a 135 spaced freewheel wheel built up an ready to go. Why? Walk into the discount department stores of Chile and Argentina and what type of bikes are on the floor? China's finest low-end 21 speed bikes.

hybridbkrdr

I can imagine someone can always bring some parts like a whole groupset then put it on a cheaper bicycle once in a foreign country. If you scroll down you can see a Shimano Deore M590 trekking group. https://www.bike24.com/manufacturers/Shimano.html
or a more direct link... https://www.bike24.com/p211929.html

I wish I was rich and I could leave expensive touring bicycles all over the place.

fietsbob

Like fly there, buy a used bike, take it on a tour , and then re sell it?

Burton

Wish I was too! I was thinking more about being kinda broke and not letting that be an obstacle to having a good time!

Burton

Hmmmmmm .... that would work! or maybe flying there, borrowing a bike from relatives, taking it on tour ...... and bringing it back afterwards? OK OK If you really like them and they don't actually have a suitabe bike - maybe you could buy one and leave it there for next time!

Machka 

It has been an idea for us to leave a set of bicycles here in Canada (we're visiting for Christmas), while the rest of our bicycles would be in Australia. That could make travel between Australia and Canada somewhat easier.

We haven't done that yet, but it is a thought.

wahoonc

I have done that with a few less expensive thrift store type bikes. I used to travel a loop between 3 job sites in 3 different states. I didn't always have a truck with me, so I would troll the local thrift stores, when I found a suitable bike I would buy it, take it home overhaul it and then leave it at the hotel I always stayed at when in town. When the job wrapped up I would either give it to someone at the hotel, leave it at the hotel for others to use or re-donate it back to the charity I bought it from. Worked well for several years until the supply of quality bikes pretty well dried up. About the only thing I see in the thrift store anymore are the Walmart 21 speed double suspension Next bikes that aren't worth what is being asked for them. So now I travel with either a Raleigh Twenty or my Dahon Classic III.

Aaron

gpsblake

Rode a Walmart built Schwinn Sidewinder from South Carolina to Abilene, Texas in 2005. The only mechanical problems I had was some flat tires (thorns in Texas), one screw that got loose on my rear rack, and a brake adjustment (something all bikes require). Donated the bike to Salvation Army in Abilene, TX.

You can tour on anything. You don't need a "touring" bike. And like I have said, this forum is 90+ percent gear talk, which has nothing to actually to do with a successful tour. Touring is mental first, mental second, and keeping yourself warm and dry at the end of the day 3rd.

john426

Dear Burton:

I took a trip in Canada with a disposable bike. I had to take Amtrak to Montreal and they do not allow bikes on the train. So when I got into town I checked out Craigslist and used bike shops. I ended up buying an old Canadian mountain bike that was perfect for touring. The bike fit me great and it was a wonderful conversation starter. People came up to me and exclaimed "That was my first mountain bike". It had moose handlebars and lots of lugs for fenders and panniers. I was sort of sad when I had to sell the bike at the end of the trip (for $ 15 less than I paid). So it worked out that it was the cheapest bike rental I could have hoped for. John

seeker333

I read your journal back in 2005 when tour was underway. I especially liked how you gave away the bike to SA in the end. I immediately thought of you when this thread first appeared - I think your's is the only "disposable bike" journal I've ever read.

mev

I've done variations of this. I currently have a mountain bike in India and also had a bike in Russia for four years before a friend brought it back after using it on cycle tour through Kyrgyzstan/China. If you have good place to store/lend and expect to be back occasionally, then saves on hassle/expense of bringing them back and forth.

SparkyGA

I've built up, used and disposed of 2 bikes in such a manor in random countries. I'm a pretty easy fit overall (5'8"), rather creative with making things work and don't travel that heavy anyway, so building up a bike is pretty easy. But I've decided that building up these bikes, while fun and really no more money than just bringing my regular touring bike along and fits me a lot better

Burton

Thanks for all the posts! More than I expected and some of the comments have been both fun and enlightening!