Terror_in_pink

christian scientist

Serendipper 

Track bike tour...done it, **** sucks. Get a touring rig.

Ira in Chi

hi i have some good input on this one.

i noticed that a couple posters mentioned a major drawback as not being able to stand up and coast. i ride a touring bike long distances every day and i never stand up and rarely coast. my ass feels just fine doing this because i have a brooks saddle that is adjusted perfectly. the longest distance i've ever rode on a track bike was a century, something like five years ago. my ass hurt terribly and i never tried it again. in retrospect, the saddle i was using was a peice of crap, so i'm tempted to try again with a brooks or something else reasonable.

tbrtbx

thanks ira, and all of you. I think that if i was in pain or something i could just flip thewheel and ride free. I dunno, i have a feeling that if you used the same saddle on a road bike, you wouldn't've been in as much pain. Something about the geometry, maybe? I guess i have to find a good saddle...maybe one with a hole in the middle?

dutret

Just because you don't consciously stand up and coast does not mean you don't coast and shift your weight around periodically.

SyntaxPC

I've ridden fixed on two short tours: Philly --> Reston, VA and Philly --> NYC. Both trips averaged about a century a day. I used a converted 1970s Schwinn road bike; I think I would have been way too uncomfortable with the geometry of my track bike. The Philly --> Reston tour was a bit rough on the hills at the Maryland border (I had to walk up a couple), but other than that it was fine. I'm really glad I had a front brake, though. The Philly --> NYC tour was a breeze since the route was relatively flat. If you won't be going over a lot of hills, I think a fixed gear or relaxed-geometry track bike is perfectly fine.

The most important factors are

1. the saddle (everyone, including myself, seems to love Brooks);
2. have numerous hand positions;
3. at least two water bottle cages;
4. eyelets for at least a rear rack;
5. at least one good brake (preferably two for fully-loaded touring); and
6. fenders.

Most pure track bikes won't be able to give you items 3 through 6, but a conversion should do fine.

Ira in Chi

you could probably set your track bike up to be fairly comfortable, but it would be a hack rather than the intended purpose. the saddle that i had was really lousy but i didn't know much about what i liked in cycling equiptment back then.

Ira in Chi

true, but i said exactly what i mean. i shift around on the touring bike as much as i'd shift around on my fixed gear bike. i only coast down hills because my touring bike is heavy and bulky, requiring constant pedaling to maintain speed.

Terror_in_pink

you're so right

tbrtbx

how did you attach the rack to the track bike, fatbat? did you drill a hole in your dropout?

freeskihp

did that same century, I rode it on my pista w/ bulls and felt pretty good considering it was like 30mph winds and raining

Ken Cox

I don't understand this coasting thing.

I regularly stand up on my fixie to give my butt some blood flow, and to just generally refresh my body with a different organization for a little while.

For longer rides, I gear way down.
Going that slow might bother some people.

A friend who has ridden professionally caught up with me the other day on his wonder-bike.
He slowed down for ten minutes or so and we visited while we rode; and then he couldn't stand going so slow and went back up to warp nine.

My around town saddle gets uncomfortable after 30 miles or so.
I might try a Brooks.
The Brooks seems so heavy, though.

mihlbach

Another thing about butt pain...the harder you ride, the less weight you put on the saddle. Even with the crappiest of saddles, my ass is fine if I'm out there alone and really hammering. On the other hand, when I go out on a ride with the wife (she detests riding fast and averages about 10mph) my ass usually hurts because most of my weight is on the saddle. If you are interested in really fast long distance rides, like a century, the saddle is less of a concern. If you want to tour at a moderate pace for hundreds of miles, then you will definately appreciate something like a Brooks, especially if riding fixed.

roadgator

unicycle touring. that is where its at! **** riding something sensible.

dutret

Except even a three and a half hour century is too long to be carrying most of the weight on your feet for. I don't think even that crazy ukranian guy that wins all the endurance races can hammer for that long.

fatbat

yup- spicers have huge, overbuilt dropouts. i've got tapped holes for fenders and a rack.

SyntaxPC

It doesn't make a very big difference when all of your touring gear weighs twice as much as the bike itself.

nocoins

A group of us rode our track bikes from Philly to Boston 2 summers ago.

We gave all the details on this blog...

https://www.bangboston.blogspot.com/

It was a lot of fun, 3 of us flipped over to singlespeed though... just too many hills.

we were all geared at 48/17 with a 48/22 freewheel.

Revolution Smmr

Can anyone recommend a good non-leather (perhaps lorica) alternative tot he brooks that would be good for touring? I don't care what it looks like (i.e. I'm not looking for a pleather Brooks imitation) I just want something that comfort-wise would have the same rave reviews as a Brooks, and could be found for under $100. Although I guess this might be difficult to find since it seems the biggest advantage of the Brooks is that it forms to fit the rider, while other saddles will be more subjective.

mihlbach

True, but if you can hammer for a good portion of or, or at least hammer at regular intervals, it reduces the ass pain considerably. I sometimes do long rides with a friend who is a slower than me. When my ass starts to hurt, I usually just hammer ahead of him until the blood gets flowing again and then slow back down.

Terror_in_pink

you can always use cetma racks but i think the aggressive geometry would bug me more than anything else.

tcs

The Raleigh One Way is basically a fixed/SS touring bike.

BTW - Folks have ridden around the world on highwheelers.

TCS

barba

Short stays and panniers also make for heel strike.

fatbat

There are a couple of racks which place the panniers further back to avoid heel strike, but then you've got a lot of weight sitting behind the rear wheel, which isn't good.

The best luggage solution for touring on a track bike might be to swap in a touring fork on the front:
-cheap compared to a new bike
-quick to swap if you have a matched bar/brake lever
-taller fork slackens the handling
-lowrider rack+ front panniers give you good luggage capacity, perhaps paired with a carradice or similar bag.

tbrtbx

alright everyone advice taken on board. I will definately need flat/road handlebars, with hoods, and bartape and gloves, and new, more comfortable saddle. Shouldn't be too pricey.