Branko D

You're just going to have a random welder in Timbuktu repair a high end steel alloy tube? It might hold until you get home, sure. Is it going to be anything close to the original? No. It's going to be about as close as buying some CF, epoxy and sandpaper on Amazon and repairing your CF bike yourself (which would, again, probably get you home, too), and the material properties of the bike will be compromised. If you went with simple and cheap steel tubing then you don't lose much having some random welder fix it, but this tubing is far far more likely to crack due to fatigue than CF or high end steel is.

People tour on steel because the touring scene is largely retrogrouch heaven. The internet tour-o-sphere swears by leather tensioned saddles from the end of the 19th century as the pinnacle of comfort on a bike. The wheels need to have 12321314773213 spokes (ok, slight hyperbole) because that's what needed to be done in 1980 when time had stopped.

tomato coupe

Repairing carbon today is not what is was in the 90s. You might want to get acquainted with this century.

Koyote

Yep.

Someone trots out the old trope about a village welder repairing a steel touring bike, even though no one actually knows anyone who's had that experience. And then they ignore the strength and repairability of cf, even though such frames are regularly repaired.

Atlas Shrugged

Please explain to us uninformed how you propose someone replaces a tig welded top or down tube and how that is easier? Carbon repair is much simpler and easier to access. Since the incidents you are referencing Google and the internet has become ubiquitous, try a carbon bicycle repair search you would be amazed.

wolfchild

No, the reason people choose steel for touring is because quality steel frame can take some serious abuse and keep on going. Carbon may be OK for racing on smooth roads but it isn't practical for loaded touring in rough terrain and it lacks the utilitarian qualities and durability of steel.

wolfchild

Any skilled welder who has a lot of welding experience can easily fix a steel frame. Good luck fixing carbon when out on the road

Koyote

Where will this person get the appropriate tube? Do you reckon any old welder knows which type of steel, wall thickness, and butting is an appropriate replacement for your bike's TT or chainstay or whatever? Does he know how to handle the air-hardened steel? Can he order individual tubes from Reynolds, or Columbus, or some other tubeset supplier?

Honestly, these old claims have a little validity. Sure, a bent steel frame can be cold set back into shape fairly easily -- just not by any old schmoe with some tools and no knowledge. But this idea that you'll take your frame to, say, a guy who fixes boat trailers and have it welded back up after a crash? Ridiculous. Laughable.

tomato coupe

ftfy

Branko D

Racing on smooth roads isn't an activity which is particularly gentle on bike frames. Crashes are just a statistical fact of life, and people really go at it on races - sprints, climbing out of the saddle, it's hard on the bike. Last proper road race I've been on, one of the people guarding the roads messed up and started signalling we were to turn right when we were supposed to go straight, with the bunch going at around 45 km/hr. So people in the front start braking and turning, wheels touch and next moment I see out of the corner of my eye a beautiful red CF Willier just soaring through the sky, doing a summersault - I think everyone in that pile-up finished the race on their bikes, though. Last year I did that same race, I was at the front of a group of dropouts from the first group and a car veered into the course, I braked and tried to veer off sideways but couldn't avoid crashing into it. Got up after a minute, gave the bike a look-over, found that it was okay and everything spun properly and didn't make sounds, hopped back on and went riding (then had to stop a kilometer away and lie down a bit due to knee pain before finally continuing). CF is tough - not indestructible and not forever, no material is, but it's tough. Steel has an outsized reputation amongst retrogrouches.

Here's an old, old article where frames were fatigue tested. While the forces are higher than normal for a rider climbing out of the saddle (cca 750N for a relatively light rider putting out a mean torque of cca 85Nm), they are significantly below maximum achievable on a bike (for instance, if you do accelerations into a sprint from a standing as part of your training, forces over 2.5 times the cyclist body mass were measured - about 1900N).
12 High-End Frames in the EFBe Fatigue Test (sheldonbrown.com)

indyfabz

Actually…I was on a supported tour. A participant broke his frame (IIRC, it was one of they stays near a read dropout.) He found a local welder who fixed it. He finished the tour and continued on to his ultimate destination credit card style.

But…That was in the late 90s, and the bike was older, so the tubes were likely thicker that today’s tubing. That’s a big “but.”

indyfabz

People ride, and even race, the GDMBR, on carbon frames. Either you’re trolling again or uninformed.

Koyote

We have found the unicorn!

GamblerGORD53

Baloney Koyote .
Every little town in Asia has a welder/ brazer who can fix anything steel. Won't be fancy or lasting most likely of course.
I broke my fork near the top at the same spot 2 times in Vietnam and again in the middle of Chengdu. Average cost was $10. It was rusting along the way as well.
The first break was perfectly clean, like cutting paper with scissors. My drum brake was too good, but the fork was made really poorly also.
CF repair is mostly about supplies than skill. It might depend if you are tight for tire clearance.
I did a test with wrapping CF around a broken fork. Then 2 days later whacked hard it with a hammer. ZERO dent.

Koyote

READ MY POSTS. I've merely stated that I don't think it's always true that steel is so easy to repair, and that cf is sometimes cheaper to repair. Which is true.

indyfabz

With a lot of typos. 😀

I’m willing to bet that the frame being of the vintage that it was made the repair relatively easy. The year was 1996, and as I mentioned, the frame was not anything new. I also don’t remember how severe the failure was.

Branko D

So, with a bit of CF and epoxy you can bodge a CF repair yourself which won't be pretty or quality, but will hold... just like finding the village welder to fix your frame?

Lombard

...........and I'm sure there are now far fewer old codgers with three teeth along the route welding tubes back together in their garages.

indyfabz

I dunno. The tour was through a lot of Pennsyltucky. Just rode across PA again in September. Seemed to be a lot of them still around. Saw several lawn mover repair signs in front yards. But, I will admit, no old school busses.

phughes

Now you are more apt to find places with even better welding equipment and skills. It isn't a lost art.

big john

The reason people tour on steel is because steel is what inexpensive touring bikes are made of. You can buy a Trek 520 disc with racks for under $2k.

Touring bikes don't need to be light. My first touring bike was a tank.

A carbon fiber touring bike could be built strong enough to outlast the next ice age. Downhill racing bikes, enduro bikes, and freeride bikes are made from cf and are subjected to punishment that a touring bike would never see. Even gravel bikes take serious abuse off-road and some brutal gravel races have been won on cf road bikes.

Here is some fun road bike stuff.

indyfabz

Yep.

Especially since people who do a good deal of touring tend to be, um, “frugal.” I’ll never forget the two sweaty, dirty looking guys I met at a restaurant in Rexford, MT in 2019. The federal campground in town doesn’t have showers. They rolled their eyes and snorted when I told them the restaurant had showers for $6/person.

big john

I can't think of anyone I know who bought a new touring bike. I got my first touring frame cheap from a friend and scrounged up parts to assemble it. I did buy new rims and hubs and lace them myself.
The guys I toured cross country used bikes they already had. One was a beater with no name on it, one was an old Mondia which I think was an actual touring bike, and the other was a Cannondale touring bike he got used someplace.
Others I have done short tours with have used their regular road bikes, mostly cf.

rekmeyata

Getting my bike frame welded in Kyrgyzstan : bicycletouring (******.com)
or do it yourself:

rekmeyata

That could depend on where a person lives. Where I live it's very difficult to find a good used any type of bike, not alone a mid level or better touring bike. I had a touring bike I bought used but it got wiped out when a car sideswiped me and ran, so after months of looking for another suitable used replacement I came up empty so I bought a new one. I think people buying new touring bikes is more common then you think, I loiter around on the Adventure Cyclist forum and a lot of people talk about buying a new touring bike, a lot more than those looking for used ones. Some of that may be due to the buyer wanting the latest technology especially in brakes.

big john

Oh I know people do buy new touring bikes and I'm not against it. I'm just willing to spend more on a road bike I will ride all year than on a tour bike I only use on occasion.
My point was acceptable touring bikes can be had cheap, even new ones.