azza_333

All my touring gear, for a 2 month developed world camping tour, minus my Garmin edge touring plus, and my 1L water bottle.
I also have a small bag ontop of the saddle rails but below the leather of the saddle that cant be seen.

Refreshing

Here is my Surly Karate Monkey set up with Salsa Cowbell Bars and fully loaded for an overnight adventure in southern Minnesota.

mdilthey

Love this. Awesome rig.

BlarneyHammer

Freebird:


Valeria:

djb

neat stuff.

sjt78

Top one is easy, Fuji Touring. Bottom one is a Seven Expat?

BlarneyHammer

Correctamundo. Expat S, to be more specific.

sjt78

Not sure what I like more the scenery or the bikes. Nice setups. I see you use a smallish frame bag on both setups even though you have a 4 pannier setup. Is that for bike repair supplies or do you put snacks in there?

BlarneyHammer

The smallish frame bag (I feel like it's big!) does a good job staying out of the way of my water bottles, compared to even bigger ones. The bottle on the down tube still pokes frame bag a little bit, and it's a 20 oz. I'm not a big guy, and my bike frames follow suit.

I usually keep tools in my frame bag. That means frame pump, tube, patch kit, tire levers, multi-tool, multi-knife. My phone, if there's room, and it's not raining. Small heavy things, so more of the weight stays near the bike's center of mass. Tools don't need to be protected from the rain, either (panniers are waterproof, frame bag isn't). And when you need to make a roadside repair, it's a drag to empty an entire pannier in the shoulder looking for your multi-tool.

I never fill my panniers to the brim, so I could probably ditch the frame bag if I wanted to. But I like the convenience, and I like having more weight over the center of the bike. For my next tour, I'm wondering if I could get a handlebar bag and ditch the front panniers entirely.

Patty Up North

@ BlarneyHammer: What are the brakes you have on the horizontal part on the handlebar on the Fuji? Of cause its brakes, but Im interestet in knowing where you bought them? Are they just "random" brakelevers, and how do you get them to work parallel with the original ones? They look interesting. But I wonder if I could find the room for them on my handlebar (Fuji Touring, too. Original handlebar.), it seems pretty full already.

Btw: Nice bikes, a bit more road oriented than the scenery could allude. But as always; if you like it, ride it.

BlarneyHammer

The brakes came stock on my Fuji Touring, purchased in 2008. They're usually referred to as in-line brakes. They're more common on older road bikes, and a relic these days. But I bet you can find them somehow. I'm pretty sure you can buy sets that should work with any existing road brakes.

I was on pavement for 100% of Freebird's (Fuji's) tour, and 90% of Valeria's tour, including at the moment of both these pictures. I dragged them a few meters off the road for the picture. Valeria works OK on a dirt road, if you switch to wider tires with a little tread. In my case, Schwalbe Marathon Deluxe, 700x38. But I usually use smoother tread and 700x32 for road touring.

Patty Up North

Thanks! Ill look into older brake setups.

I find my 700x32 quite decent on gravel and dirt tracks. Not single track, but in a way that make you feel confident in a detour across a forrest or hiking trail. I don't feel like loosing that much comfort, compared to my MTB with Schwalbe Marathon Plus 26x2". Whereas my old retro roadbikes 25 mm's would be torture.
As my new Fuji Touring being my first bike with the 700x32, im quite pleased with the performence on mixed surface. Until now I was convinced that it was not possible to find a bike with the ability to do both.

sjt78

Search for "cross levers" as they were originally envisioned for cyclocross bikes but have been adapted by commuters, tourers, etc. in addition to cross racers. I have them on two bikes and wouldn't want to lose them. They do take up some of the real estate on your bar tops so that is the main negative especially if you have narrow drop bars.

djb

often called "interrupter brakes" , here is a video showing how to install them. I have used them for six years and really like them on my drop bar bike. I angle mine down just like on my mtn bike as the levers fall naturally to my fingers when I ride on the top bar--the advantage of angling them down is also that my handlebar bag clears the levers easily and I can still use them with my Ortlieb bag on with no problems whatsoever.

Ask a Mechanic: Installing secondary ?cross brake levers

Patty Up North

F*cing awsome, you guys! It should be no problem for a handyman. But yes, the room on my handlebar are not that overwhelming.

djb

my only issue with room on the handlebar was it was a bit more difficult to mount my bike computer, but it worked out fine, just a bit tight. Thats the only thing I have on the handlebar as I put my light on my helmet, so it really wasnt an issue and the area where I put my hands on the top part of the bars is not affected at all.

Gadgets4grls

This one aught to get a couple of laugh.
Picture of my touring bike.
Gadgets

Doug64

Cane Creek interrupter brakes. I put them on when I had shoulder surgery, so I could take pressure off my shoulder. They are still on the bike. If the cane Creek does not fit your bars (diameter) also order a set of All-City Cross Lever Shims. They fit the Cane Creek brakes perfectly.
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...80&category=10




Bianchi Volpe. It also has interrupter brakes.


2010 Cannondale T2. Last year they made a real touring bike, and the last year built in the U.S.

Patty Up North

Great pics Doug64. Mabye I could just fit in the Cane Creeks. They seems to fit on just a little room. Already I have to choose between my huge headlight or my map-holder. Normally its no problem, as I spend most time commuting, and therefore use my headlight. And I plan to use a smaller light on the bow of the Tubus front rack, when touring. But I might just have to unwrap a bit more of the handlebar. Thanks anyway!

Just from a shorter ride:

IlCapitan

Here is a picture of my rig. Shot early on a recently completed tour from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Bombay, India, by way of Sindhuli Highway, Calcutta, East coast of India, Vishakapatnam, Hyderabad, Hampi, Gokarna, Goa, the Konkan coast. Total of 4000 km.

The bike is a Trek X-caliber 7. Tyres are Schwalbe Marathon Mondials, 28".

tspoon

Picture from a recent trip on my foldup 26" bike. No major breakages despite some seriously corrugated roads. The front racks did both break in the same place, but not catastrophically.

gnome

Nice.

thumpism 

Near-final setups on my RB-T (front) and my bro-in-law's Jamis Aurora on a training ride today on the Virginia Capital Trail a month before setting out on our planned TransAm. Each of us is within a couple of pounds/items of the final configuration. Rack-top pack on the front of my bike holds spares and tools. Everything else is pretty conventional. People we've spoken with seem really surprised that we intend to camp our way across. Guess there's lots of hotel/motel touring going on these days.

2 Piece

Here's my new Motobecane CenturyPro Titanium loaded up for a 5 night camping jaunt on the GAP trail. Plan was to start in Cumberland pedal to Pittsburgh turn around and pedal back to home in Winchester, VA about 370 miles total. But that is another story..... Here's my bicycle somewhere close to Frostburg, MD on the GAP trail. In one of the panniers I have my clothing in the other I have my tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, cook kit and ground cloth.

PhilPub

I'm cheating slightly here, since my panniers are empty but my girlfriend's ones aren't! But it's the first time she's kitted out her Giant Defy into touring mode and despite some apprehension all appears to be OK. If I'm gonna drag her all the way to the US Pacific coast for a bike ride the least I can do is volunteer to carry more stuff, so my rack will be looking a lot busier than this. Mini-tour of the South of England scheduled for early May to test out new kit. Can't wait.