Supported tour which bike?
 

I am joining a supported tour during most of the month of September. There will be some varying terrain requiring some climbing and also some long stretches of flat.

My dilemma is twofold:

Which bike to take? One choice is my touring bike which is a Kona Sutra. Great bike, rides good but heavy. With no need to carry much gear seems like a bit overkill. Second choice is my road bike, Specialized Roubaix. This is my day to day bike and is very comfortable and light. I am leaning toward the Roubaix but need to ability to carry a few items because of the changing weather conditions, jacket, rainwear and other essentials. The equipment truck won't be staying with the group during the day so what you leave with in the morning, you are stuck with for the day. Of course a bike of this type has no provision for carrying much other than a seat bag. I'm not wild about a handlebar bag but it is not out of the question although my research into Ortleib bags revealed that the mounting is not suitable for carbon bars. Frame bags? Possible but what about water bottle mounts, do they interfere? I haven't researched some of the bike packing bags that attach to the seat post (again carbon so that might be a no no.)

So knowing that I would prefer the Roubaix but haven't totally eliminated the Kona what thoughts and experiences are out there?

Thanks very much.

Tom

Where is the tour location? Is there a chance for really cold weather, snow, or some other fairly severe conditions? The need for carrying large quantities of water? If not I don't see where you really need to carry much and for me choosing the Roubaix would be a slam dunk. For decent weather including some rain I can get by with just my jersey pockets.

If you need actual cold weather gear, how about an impromptu bar roll? It can be just a stuff sack and a couple straps. To get it spaced away from the bars a bit for hand space, threading the straps each through a short piece of PVC pipe around the bar and around the stuff sack has worked well for me.

If you want to carry stuff like a bigger camera and maybe extra lenses a handlebar bag is nice.

Also despite it being against conventional wisdom, I have found that for minimal loads a small backpack works well. I started using one on minimalist camping/cooking style tours just for days when I needed to carry some extra water and food because I would be away from any services or water all day or even 24 hours or more. I found that especially with <5 pounds in it I really didn't mind the backpack and continued using it even when I didn't need the extra water and food for the items that I wanted to keep with me when off the bike.

Folks manage to do self supported touring with only a saddle bag. If they can manage to carry camping and cooking gear along with clothing and toiletries for a long multi day, multi week, or even multi month tour then packing enough for a supported tour should be easy.

Tom, If the road bike is suitable for the tour just substitute the CF seat post for an aluminum item and attach a clamp-on rack with a top bag.

Brad

What about a seatpost rack for the Roubaix?

I've also gotten used to carrying a Camelback with a small amount of cargo space.

A larger seat bag like this Jandd might be a good option, if there's enough seatpost.

Excellent advice.

And as noted by someone else, you may not need any capacity other than what's provided by jersey pockets. Have you looked into whether there is a gear drop each day? Even if there is no official gear drop, if there are manned rest stops I would be surprised if the organizer would object you ditching some clothes in one of the vehicles.

Also, if you are worried about the gearing not being low enough, look into getting a larger cassette and a long cage RD. That's what I did when I went to Italy a few years ago. I think the parts, including new chain, cost something like $100.

Whatever the solution(s), I would definitely go with the lighter bike.

Agree with another poster- swap the seatpost out and toss a rack and trunk bag on.
I haven't tried those since I haven't needed to, but I see them all the time on trails and roads. Ive read they can sway, but I would think that a lot of that is user error in either installation or packing.

A friend of mine crossed the country on a fully supported trip a few months ago, about a half dozen riders. Most had road bikes with 25mm tires. My friend brought his Cannondale touring bike with 35mm or 37mm tires and fenders instead of his lightweight road bike. After the trip he said his best decision was to take the touring bike with wider tires instead of a road bike, he only had four flats across the entire country and some of the people were having up to four flats per day with the 25mm tires.

Some of their trip was thru thorn country in the SW USA, so that might mean more than average flat problems?

Can you put a really robust tire on the Roubaix?

Last summer there were two of us from Astoria OR to San Fransisco CA with full loads of camping gear. Both of us had 35mm or 37mm tires. Over a distance of 892 miles (this included a few miles of extra sightseeing trips), no flats for two riders.

I use such a rack on my foldup bike, works great with a good sized rack pack. If it has a quick release clamp, the rack with bag attached can also be removed easily to go into restaurants, etc.

I prefer a handlebar bag on a 2nd stem, but if you would prefer to avoid that, try the seatpost mounted rack.

Will the 25mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires fit on the Roubaix?

I'm still hunting for "the best" tire. The Marathon is designed to absorb most debris without causing a flat, but may not have as strong of belting as other brands.

Or, perhaps the Schwalbe One????

Supported means your stuff is hauled for you, bring them both put the other one on the support truck,

and you can try each, and decide , daily, with out regretting not bringing the other one instead.

Having ridden in many supported tours, I would recommend taking the Specialized Roubaix. I assume it is comfortable and fits you well, and would be better for riding on hilly terrain. One of the advantages of supported tours is the ability to ride just about any bike. If you need to carry more gear than you would normally, get a larger seatbag. Carradice makes various seat bags such as the Barley and Zippered Roll bags that will hold much more gear than the standard bag, and other bike equipment manufacturers do as well (such as Acorn). I regularly use a Carradice Barley and Zip Roll bags for commuting and longer recreational rides and they can fit anything I would need to carry on a supported tour.

There was a person who recently cut a supported tour short because of a broken spoke that he couldn't find a suitable spare for.

If your Roubaix is pretty non-standard, perhaps consider spare spokes, or a cable spoke.

The biggest reason I can think of to take the touring bike is that it might have lower gears, and you might be going to a ride with steep, long grades. If you can handle the worst hills on the tour with the lighter bike, or don't mind walking the worst parts, go light!

Great answers. The tour is from Santa Fe NM to New Franklin MO following the Santa Fe trail so there is some climbing (Raton Pass) and being in September you can expect fairly cool mornings, wet, wind and heat as you come east.

I think you guys have confirmed my decision that the Roubaix is the way to go. Now just have to settle on a way to carry some extra clothes. I also planned on looking into some wider tires. As far as taking both bikes, I can't see the tour director being too enthusiastic about that with the bag limit being two.

Thanks for the help and keep it coming, good stuff.

On my Specialized Secteur I'm finding a Jandd handlebar bag works nicely. Small enough to fit inside the brifter cables, light, but big enough to be useful.

Oh...
An excellent reason to go out and buy a Bike Friday
That you can sneak in as your second bag :thumb: