HauntedMyst

For those of you with Big Dummies and who tour, how much over lap do you find in the bikes? I have a Cannondale T2000 but am wondering how much I'll really use it when the Dummy finally gets here. What's your experience?

KDC1956

I have a Surly LHT and I am building my self a Big Dummy and I am thinking about selling my LHT when I get done building the BD.It can do a lot of stuff better than my LHT can.Look up on the web for touring on a Big Dummy and you will find out it can do a lot of stuff.It may be a little slower than you might like at first but I think it is the best bicycle for the $$$$$$ you spend on it.My 2 cents anyway...

Sirrus Rider

If one divorces oneself from the racer/get-a-way mentality, a big Dummy becomes a great all round bike.

Spade

My wife's Giant Escape City pretty much sits on the hook now that we have the Big Dummy. She went to make a solo run to the market this evening and took the BD.

PolishGuy

Adventure Cycling has shown a number of folks using the Big Dummy for touring in the past few issues. From my perspective, it seems to be a logical choice when hauling gear on a tour as well as around town use. Jan Heine from Bicycle Quarterly did a review on one recently. He wasn't too impressed, but he does come from a more "racer" oriented segment. For me, it's a bike to consider to replace my old Raleigh roadsters I've been using....I'm also kinda keen on the Madsen. PG.

xtrajack

I wouldn't have any issues touring on my Xtracycle.

bugly64

I would think it would be nice. You could really pack away some nice things without worrying about space too much.

prathmann

Depends on how you like to tour. Personally I find bike touring to be more enjoyable when I keep the weight to a minimum. Therefore space has never been an issue since my camping tour load all fits inside two rear panniers and a small handlebar bag. If I needed more space there's lots of room on top of the rear rack and I could easily add a front rack. So my sport-touring road bike has all the carrying capacity I need with room to spare.

OTOH, more carrying capacity makes lots of sense for shorter utility trips that are generally on pretty flat terrain. In that case the extra weight isn't that important and reducing the number of trips is a big plus.

owenfinn

This guy did 13000km on his Yellow Big Dummy touring the perimeter of Japan last year.

https://idltokyo.exblog.jp/13307066/

katcorot

For the extreme long distance over usage of the big dummy on tour check out https://www.ridingthespine.com

owenfinn

Wow.

HauntedMyst

Now I'm gonna have to paint my Dummy yellow

Bat22

Did a ride around Lake Champlain. Added Oury BMX handgrips. Using thick gel gloves, my hands never felt numb on the stock flat bar. Carried 35 lbs of gear. Most stuffed in
a sylnylon pack.
Aaveraged 11 mph.

HauntedMyst

Nice! The dummy screams for butterfly bars in my opinion. The stock bar is very comfortable for around town but I'm going to add the trekking bars anyway. I've decide to keep my T2000. I just can't part with it.

Bat22

Pics are from a couple of 3 day rides I did a couple of years ago. May find the time
again this fall. I would keep the c-dale too.

asmac

I've done a bit of touring on my Kona Ute. It's a bit lighter and a lot less expensive than the dummy and works out well. There's room for a couple more panniers and more on the rack but this was enough. Kona has a shorter version -- the MinUte -- coming out in 2012 and I might downsize.

salek

Somebody will laugh at me. I manage to post a response to this thread under a different thread. To avoid spamming, I'll not repost.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...y-bike-touring has my response. In short, I bought the Big Dummy to be my new Touring Bike.

badmother

It has bees said already, touring is wery different from person to person or family to family. I think it is easy to take too much stuff if you tour on a cargo bike but also if you want to tour with children (and not put them off touring completely) the strong person pulling most of the gear makes sense. We toured with the dog last year and carrying him on the bike (at 26 kgs) made much more sense than pulling a trailer on that trip.

I like to tour on a folding bike (20" or 16") since then it is easy to take the bike on bus, train or ship to start out from new places each time. Next year is going to be touring on folder w trailer + dog.

Do not do to much thinking about what bike to keep. You`ll automaticly do what yoy prefer and if you end up not using a bike just sell it.

ka0use

keep an eye on the bridge weight limit!

lioni05

I have a BD, a LHT, and a Miyata 610. I have used all three for commuting and getting about town. I have also used all three for touring. After touring and riding in the hills of N. California, I don't think that i would get rid of either of the lighter touring specific bikes in favor of the BD for touring. The BD is a heavy bike - even without the added gear for touring. It also feels a little more upright than the other two bikes, which caused some thigh burn I weas unaccustomed to on hilly days. Although, I suppose this could be in part to the way I had my BD set up. Bottom line, the BD will work...but I'm not convinced it is a great bike for hilly, longer, tours....

LucianTheOne

I found this photo here https://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/fullyloaded
Does anybody know about this tour?

AdamDZ

If you have tendencies to overload then you won't get too far with a Big Dummy All the extra room!!! I tried and it was a miserable failure. I decided, that for touring, I need to learn how to minimize, not how to add more stuff. But if you can, then why not? Obviously, many people did that.

FunkyStickman

Adam! What's up, man?

I would tour on a Big Dummy, but I'd probably use it for groceries more than touring. I can load a LOT of stuff on my LHT, it would take a lot to convince me I needed something bigger.

AdamDZ

Hey Funky!

AsanaCycles

I've done some touring with my BD.