Most bicycle tourers out there, are strongly against the idea of a light carbon touring bike, and touring with an electronic groupset (Ultegra Di2). Although I agree that it is not the best choice for all tours. In this thread I all post my story and experience about touring with such a bike.

A couple of months ago I started built up a Carbon cyclocross bike(carbon everything down to the seat post clamp, and steerer tube spacers) with Hydraulic brakes disc brakes and Ultegra Di2 groupset, with a 50/34 crank, and 11-32 cassette. The frame I purchased from online from ICAN bikes, I picked this frame since it had mudguard mounts, and was completely carbon fibre.


My intent for this bike is not to be a short weekend ultralight road tourer, I will be using it for a 4000km (2500miles) international unsupported tour, I will be giving up my comforts either, I intend to take things like my dual skin free standing dome tent, tablet, winter gear for 0°C (32°F), and a whole lot more, all carried in custom made bike packing style bags.

Some time during this week or next week, I will find time to take and upload a photo of the completed bike. I will be going on a number of trial weekend tours, and the major tour in Nov-Jan (No fixed dates yet) I will post about my experiences on it, speeds, distances, about the gear I take, and the bike bags I have yet to make(I really mean get my wife to sew them)

So what is the finished bike's weight?
And what was the motivator to go full carbon for a long unsupported tour?

Please do keep us posted. I see no reason it shouldn't be a great touring bike if the load is kept at least fairly light. I do tend to think it is kind of pointless or even ill advised if you will be packing heavy. I'd be interested in more details both on what/how much you pack and what bike specific choices you make.

I am too cheap to build such a setup, but I think it would be ideal for my style of very light unsupported road touring.

Yes, finished weight and cost will be good to know, as well as success when loaded. I'm also interested in ultralight touring bikes, but my budget is very limited. Good luck!

Carbon fiber wheels too?

Which specific frame did you get?

The way carbon works is that at first people say it won't work. Then someone starts to make stuff out of it, and it breaks, then they get the specs right and over time it occupies the high stress durability end of the market, as well as other niches. Often there are hidden oddities, that make it less suited than one thinks as it is capable of completely out of the box applications, but also doesn't always mirror conventional uses that well. Carbon shafts on golf clubs have not been what one might think they would be, on boats you can end up using free standing spars.

Since the harshest application, forks, works just fine, no reason a carbon bike should even be all that interesting.

The Di2 should be interesting. I hear the gear changes are really smooth.

If you want to tour on a carbon bike one of the endurance bikes made by Specialized, Cannondale, Binachi etc. is another approach. The wheels and gearing you use are probably more important that the frame, but with large cassettes and deep profile rims it's pretty easy to get a good gear range and some strong wheels to fit on a carbon endurance bike and take the stress of touring. Personally I just completed a cross country tour on a Cervelo RS so using a carbon frame works fine for long distance touring on mostly paved roads.

I like touring at higher speeds 30km/h (19mph) when ever I am touring on my own or with someone else thats fast. Its also my group ride bike, although its not the most ideal group ride bike I can still keep up with the middle pack.
I will be just taking the gear I would normaly have packed on my steel touring bike in panniers, so mabye about 5kg, thats including things like my dual skin free standing dome tent(Big Sky soul 1P), tablet, winter gear for 0°C (32°F), and a whole lot more.

I will upload some more info and photos hen I make the bike bags to carry my gear in, and a gear list.

8.1kg (17.8lbs), thats will my non-tour carbon saddle, and without mudgaurds. with my B17 and mudgaurds it would probably be around 8.6kg(18.9lbs). I could have built it lighter and more aero, but I kind of over build the wheels a bit heavy, I could of used a intergrated stem/handlebar, and an aero wheel set, but for a number of reasons I chose not to use these.

Price wide about $5,000AUD ($3,500USD) if i used mechanical groupset and brakes instead of eletronic and hydrualic I could of halved that cost.

Rims are the only place I did not go carbon I went with alluminium MTB rims that can handle tires from 28-62c(although my frame can only handle upto 37c) with DT240 hubs, and 32/32 DT Swiss Comp spokes, I did consider going with lighter and more aero carbon wheels, but I might change them at a later stage.

This is my frame AC059 Carbon cyclocross frame disc brake - Shenzhen ICAN Sports Equipment Co., Ltd.

That will be interesting, 5kg for bags and gear is quite light.

A full spec on the components would be nice and a final weight once it's all installed too. It sounds like a great project.

I toured for many years on my 1992 carbon Trek 5200. Although designed for racing, it was an awesome touring bike. The lighter weight was a nice benefit, but the big difference was in the smoothness of the ride. Carbon absorbs so much more road vibration than steel or aluminum. The bike finally died on the Alaska Highway three years ago when the threads on the bottom bracket shell came loose. It wasn't catastophic and I was able to ride 120 miles to the next town. With its lifetime warranty, Trek replaced it with a brand new Madone. Nice customer service.

My 1994 Trek carbon hardtail mtn bike also has thousands of miles, including loaded tours of the Colorado Trail, the Kokopeli and lots of other rough rides. It still looks like new.

So I see absolutely no problems in touring with carbon.

For what it's worth, I now tour on a titanium frame which I designed myself. I went with titanium simply because it always scared me to ship and/or fly with a carbon frame. Titanium should hold up to baggage handlers a little better, But I did go with carbon seat post and fork.

And to answer the earlier question about carbon wheels... the around-the-world touring record was set by some guy who used carbon fiber wheels. I can't remember his name, but it's a good endorsement for the durability of carbon.

Enjoy the new bike!

All my gear is ultralight hiking gear, even my tent even though it is a dual skin free standing tent is still only 1.1kg. When I get a chance I will upload a photo of the completed bike, and list all the components, and the mods I have made to the frame and components.
I was also concerned about flying with a carbon bike, so I got myself a hard case bike suitcase, it may be an issue for some that are tour from one point and finishing at another, but me for my wife always wants to travel to my start and finish cities, since she does not come with me.

How long are the CF poles for the Big Sky tent? Often the length of the pole sections is a driver in bag design and selection, then you can put the fly in a compression sack. I did my tour with a gear and bag weight of 9kg so I'll be interested to see your 5kg list

I've shipped my Cervelo RS in a cardboard box using one of the bike shipping websites like bikeflights.com.....it worked very well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nun

How long are the CF poles for the Big Sky tent? Often the length of the pole sections is a driver in bag design and selection, then you can put the fly in a compression sack. I did my tour with a gear and bag weight of 9kg so I'll be interested to see your 5kg list

My poles are 36cm, so I intend to put them in my frame bag when I make it. As for the bike components list

Bike Parts:
Frame/Fork ICAN AC059 Carbon cyclocross frame (with disc brake mounts, and internal routing of my Di2 cables/junction box/battery/hydrualic lines) Matte UD black
Carbon Matte UD black headset spaces
Carbon Matte UD black Stem
Carbon Matte UD black Aero drop bars (with internal cable routing)
Carbon Matte UD black Seat post
Carbon 3k UD black Seat post clamp
Rims alluminium WTB Frequency CX team i19 2015 700c 32H black
Spokes DT Swiss Comp double butted black 296mm, 295mm, 294mm
Nipples Sapim 12mm brass black
Hubs DT Swiss 240 with center lock (with 9/10mm thrubolts not QR skewers)
100x9mm and 135x10mm thru bolts (not the regular 5mm QR skewers)
Gatorskins 700x28c(I will be swapping to 32c Marathon Supremes for big tours)
Tubes Schwalbe SV18
Disc Rotors Shimano RT99 ICE-TECH Frezza CL 160mm
Carbon Matte UD black saddle with carbon rails (I will be swapping to my Brooks B17 for touring)
Carbon Matte UD black 15g water bottle cages
Shimano Ultegra 6800 11-32 Cassette
Shimano Ultegra Di2 6870 Medium cage rear derailleur
Hydraulic disc brake calipers Shimano BR-RS785
STI shifters Shimano ST-R785 Di2/Hydrualic
Rim tape Vittoria 700x25mm
Bar end plugs Cinelli black
Handlebar tape black LifeLine essential
Shimano Di2 internal seat post battery
Shimano black Brazeon adatper 34.9mm
KMC 11 speed missing link for chain
Deda Di2 Battery adapter for seatpost 31.6mm
Shimano Ultegra 6870 front deraileur
Chain Shimano Ultegra 6800
Shimano E-tube Di2 Grommets 6mm round
Crank Shimano Ultegra 6800 11 speed 172.5mm 34/50 chain rings
Shimano Ultegra 6800 Bottom Bracket english threaded
Fouriers Stem Garmin GPS & gopro mount
Pedals Shimano PD-T780 XT (one side MTB SPD the other flat pedal)
Fenders Blackburn cloudburst mudguards 700x28-37
Shimano Di2 E-tube internal junction box B
Shimano Di2 E-tube 3-port junction box A
A whole bunch of Shimano Di2 E-tube wires

Bike Modifications:


Steerer tube cut down (I left enough excess so my handlebars are at the same level as my saddle for comfort while touring)
Cut the excess of my seat post
Cut about 70mm off my drops of my handlebars as I never use that part of my drops (I left enough on the drops that I can still go onto the drops for a full aero tuck)
I cut the excess off the fender supports
I cut the excess off my hydrualic brake cables

Photos will be uploaded soon.

Carbon CX bike, cool, no problem! Probably a great touring bike!

Unbranded chinese carbon... touring suicide.

Not entirely sure of that, but I'd definitely feel better with Chinese carbon bought from a major bike maker....hence my preference for adapting a CX or endurance bike
from someone like Cervelo, Specialized etc.

Di2 on a racy touring bike seems to be an excellent idea. In my experience as a mechanic, I haven't seen any problems with Di2 except e-tube cables coming accidentally unplugged. It's rock solid. The Shimano hydraulic shift levers and calipers however have been not so reliable. We've had multiple customers complain that the hoods slip off the shifter bodies and have dealt with a few issues with brake performance. If I were to build such a bike, I would use the cable-actuated TRP Spyre calipers with the ICE tech rotors.

I'm also not sure why you'd change to Schwalbe Supremes for longer tours. Those things are tanks and go against the whole racy touring setup that you're trying to achieve. I would use the Compass 700x32 tires instead to keep everything high performance. Otherwise, looks like a fun experiment.

Only because I already have a set of marathons hanging around the house, if I had to buy a new set of tires I would by 32c Gatorskins for touring. I just want to make sure I have good durability whilst on tour and it keeps anything from piercing my tube

You might consider my frame "Unbranded" Chinese carbon, I consider it as ICAN Bikes branded, they are not just some 2bit carbon factory, what they are is a quality carbon cycling parts business, for the last few years they have even had stands at EuroBike (For those that don't know EuroBike is the worlds largest cycling show in Germany, held annually, there all the big bike companies announce their new models, and new tech)

Impressive, even includes fenders! I figure that the more folks going touring on carbon, there will be more incentive for companies to make dedicated carbon tourers. I like the muted colors of the Big Sky Soul tent, perhaps better for stealth camping.

I would not go riding with out fenders, even when I go on group rides(Its sandy in my area) not only do fenders protect my back from getting wet and dirt, it also keeps the bike cleaner, and if it is wet keeps my B17 high and dry.

The tent is great the best shelter in existence.

Nice looking frame, I hope it works out wonderfully for you.

It was almost the perfect frame for what I was after, the only down side is it did not come with Thru axle dropouts an forks, and I wish the frame was Di2 only not mechanical as well in order to get rid of the spare couple of holes in the frame, but these are really minor things.

when out and about, it will stand to reason to be a bit more careful than usual about situations that could damage the frame--ie, bike falling over onto anything hard and sharp, having other people move your bike around and therefore possible fall (again, onto a solid, sharp edged object)

not really any different than how I have always treated my steel and aluminum bikes, but stands to reason with carbon to be extra vigilant about stuff like that--and I guess the same applies to being extra careful of the Di2 cables in these sort of situations (other people moving your bike etc)

ps, I thought your Kona got wrecked, is it still alive?