TheRealMe

Hi,

Currently have Trek Fuel EX 8.9 and planning a touring trip with my girlfriend. We are going to do Iceland next summer, including the interior. In case you don't know, this will include heaps of unsealed, corrugated, rocky roads.

I am after a bike that will suit this sort of tour, but also be ok on the road around home. (up to 100k road cycling). I love the look of the Trek 920, except maybe wanting a larger crank. I figure for my non touring rides i could put slicks on and remove the racks. Is there a better style bike that can be fairly quick road riding and still hold its own on off pavement touring? I have looked at CX bikes but they dont seem to support racks and i question the durability.. I am a fan of Trek as we have a great dealer nearby who offers great after sales service. We have bought 3 bikes already :-)

We come from a hiking background so already have all the light weight gear, we wont take much excess.. I like the thought of rear panniers only and handlebar bag.


The girl plans on using her Trek Skye SLX

jargo432

Have you looked at the Surly Ogre?

TheRealMe

I have now, it certainly looks interesting. Id have to replace the bars :-) Can't see them being nice on road cycle. Maybe i am dreaming to get a good off road tourer that I can also use to ride with my girlfriend while she is on her Carbon road bike? It doesnt need to be as faster as a carbon obviously as i can pedal harder than her :-)

I am guessing a steel frame is a lot heavier? Without getting into steel v alloy debate, i will state my preference would be a good alloy frame. I do like the gearing of the Ogre though!

djb

here in Canada the list price for the 920 is a whopping $2400, thats a lot I find for what it is. I'm not keen on doubles but I suspect that from what you describe what you want from a bike (and loading not too heavy) this would work well.
I know some of us discussed this bike a while back and wondered how the 28 spoke wheels will be.

from reading descriptions of folks biking in Iceland, the neverending factor is the wind, a real slogfest apparently. I guess you really just have to have that in your mindset before going and factor in short distance days because of that at times.

djb

just looked at the gearing chart for the 920 and its not bad, very comparable to a 9 speed 11-32 and actually has slightly less percentage of jumps most of the time compared to the 11-32.

basically the range of gearing is from 21 to 104 which is perfectly fine and works well in a lot of conditions, could be a bit lower, but not bad at all.

still, that $2400 cost is high, throw in taxes here and you are at $2760, thats a lot.

fietsbob

A 29er wheel with those fat tires will be geared Higher just because of the Big Tire ..

A Bike Friday Pocket Llama By virtue of its super rugged 20" wheels wil not only be geared lower , but will pack into a suitcase
and so skip the ever more common bike special handling fees ..

niknak

The Trek 920, Salsa Fargo, or other adventure touring bikes would be a good choice for Iceland. I rode around the Ring Road using 700x35 slicks. We took some dirt roads but we never took one of the interior routes. I'd recommend squeezing in the largest tires possible if you plan to take an interior route without suspension.

Keeping up with the roadies at home is all about changing your position on the bike to get more aerodynamic. People say X bike is faster than Y bike, but really what they mean is that X bike positions me more aerodynamically than Y bike. The good news is you can make changes to Y bike to make it more like X bike. You'd probably want to lower and possibly change out the handlebars and switch tires to something lighter and narrower. Bike weight isn't nearly as important as your position on the bike.

TheRealMe

[QUOTE=djb;17865017] still, that $2400 cost is high, throw in taxes here and you are at $2760, thats a lot. [/QUOTE]

Thanks, in Australia I'd get it for about 1800, maybe even better. Would be my fourth bike from the dealer.

TheRealMe

Do you think suspension would be a requirement for these types of tours?

niknak

From what I heard from other tourists, the interior routes were pretty rough. It's hard to say if suspension is needed. The Germans we met all had hard tails. I guess it depends on your riding tastes. Some people use suspension if there's even a hint of dirt, while others don't mind bumping around on a cross bike.