Can I tour on a Specialized stumpjumper MTB?
 

Hi there

I dont know much about mountain bikes but I have this one in my shed and the brakes work well, much better than my older bike I tried for touring. I am just exploring my options and wonder is it reasonable to tour on an aluminium MTB and can I attach a rear rack + 10 kgs to this bike without frame damage? The front forks have lockout.

Also I like comfort and would like to raise the handlebar height about 4-6 cms. As you can see in the attached photo I had added a 35 degree short stem, but do not want to extend the bars any further away from the seat, I like to ride in a more upright position. I would prefer to shorten the distance from my seat to the bars by 2-3 cms if that is possible without having a negative effect on the handling? Are there other bars i could try, or a way to extend the height of the front forks? I find it very uncomfortable the way it is compared to my road bikes.

Would these wheels for be suitable for touring with 1.5-2.00 inch slick tyres?

Thanks for any advice and have a good day.

Cheers

Kevin

Yes, my bike touring buddy uses a similar bike for touring. Attached is a photo showing how he carries gear. Note the dry bag under the seat and bag on the handlebars. Both are held steady by thin PVC tubes which are zip-tied to the frame - very sturdy system. You could do similar for low cost to learn if bike touring works for you.

People have toured everything, on anything.
Around the World on a penny-farthing - sure.
Over the Rockies on a unicycle - yes.
I’ve even read about one guy setting out to visit every state on a bmx, riding backwards.
Compared to that, your idea is perfectly doable.

First off - what kind of touring are you looking to do?
Touring runs the whole range from credit card touring to support cars to self-sustained for days/weeks.
I wouldn’t recommend a stumpjumper for much in the way of unsupported touring.
But it’d work fine for tours closer to the CCT end of the spectrum.

It’s kinda frowned upon, but technically easy to bring the bars further back-and-up by adding a steerer tube extender and a really short DH stem.
While your bars are indeed kinda low, the first thing I’d recommend WRT comfort is to rotate the bars down. In the pic, the ends are pointing up.
Try having the grips horizontal when viewed from the front.
Not many are comfortable with that angle.

you might consider switching to a rigid fork.
you mentioned slick tires, so assume mainly road riding.
longer steering column raises your bars without an extender,
and moves them towards you.

that would also remove a couple of unneeded pounds.
if long enough, could add another stem with a short section
of handlebar for bag mount, leaving your bars uncluttered,
or available for clutterering with bell and gps and light etc.

Extrawheel trailer with another wheel just like your front*.. pannier rack on the trailer. dond need them on the bike .

To fix your want of the bars higher? If not the rigid fork with a lot more steerer tube remaining ..
get one with fittings on the fork blades for big water bottle cages, perhaps?

Then I'd get a stem raiser, then re cable it to its new height..

consider figure 8 bend Trekking/Butterfly bars if you seek more hand grip alternatives..
Front curve is like a brush guard if bike packing single track..

feel a need fo electronic gadgetry charging ? your *trailer wheel hub can have a dynamo in it,
and put the rectifier/cache battery in the pannier..


...

I toured for one day in Iceland (summer 2016) with an Italian that had a Stumpjumper. We met at a parking lot at a tourist stop in the early morning, we were both traveling solo and going the same direction so for part of the day we rode together.

His bike handled some very difficult gravel and cobbles on some of the interior roads very well. Attached photo is of his bike. I think he locked the suspension fork but I am not really sure. I remember that his tires worked better on steep gravelly/cobblely uphills than my tires did.

I do not speak Italian and his English was passable at best, so we did not discuss very many details of bikes and components. I have no idea if his bike was stock or not.

hey there Mr Aussie,
Ive toured on an older Rockhopper, late 90s, front suspension fork, alu frame, essentially an earlier version of your bike. I used this bike for commuting for ages and ages, with a rear rack and panniers that fit on with no heel strike problems, but then I have size 9 feet and my panniers can easily be moved back on a rack.
I toured on this bike with about 15 kilos more or less in the rear panniers, and the bike handled reasonably well. I also had a front handlebar bag on it and all in all, it worked fine.

As with your other bike, mountain bike cranks are great for loaded touring, and Ive used 1.5 and 2in slicks on my bike. Given that you weigh 200lbs, a good 60lbs more than me, I would recommend using 2in slicks so that you can use lower pressures a bit and the 2in tires will have a bit more give and suspension effect to make life easier for your wheels and frame.

lots of folks use alu frames, and alu framed mtn bikes for touring. Just get a rear rack that is shaped so that your panniers wont hit your feet, and be judicious with the load, and there is no reason why the bike wont work well.

oh, re bars, you can look around and look for a pair of riser bars that are both higher and have more setback angle, this is a fairly easy route to getting your hand position higher and back a bit, plus has the bonus of easy swapping of present shifters and brake levers.
Another inexpensive option is to put on some trekking bars, and with a longer 35 degree stem, could put the bars higher yet the shape of trekking bars puts the rear part of the bars back quite a bit (and often requires a longer stem to keep the seat to bar distnace the same,)
Ive put these bars on a few bikes, and they can be a good solution for various hand positions, with the bonus of being set back more. Take a peek at google images of them on bikes.

of course, a new rigid fork with a much higher steerer tube could work and help bar height, but you have to find the right fork for your bike geometry and the cost of a fork.

good luck playing with this bike with diff stuff that hopefully makes it more comfortable for you.

ps, there are things called stem risers that you can add to the top of your stem, that will raise everything by quite a bit. Look a bit goofy, but they work., again, google them.

stem riser.
bolts onto steerer tube, can raise bars 6-8cm.
weighs 4-5 ounces.

there you go, they cost about 20-25 bucks.

Looks good. Consider handlebars that have a greater variety of hand positions instead of accommodating to straight bars. Look at bike packing style front bag that straps under bars.

Thank you to all posters
 

Some great suggestion here, I will look at a stem extender, and trekking bars as my first option, then a rear rack

I am only looking at road touring without the need to carry tents and sleeping bags. We will stay in hostels and bed and breakfast, and have ready access to shops every couple of days

Have a good day

Cheers
Kevin

butterfly bars are about 20-25 bucks in the states, about the same here in Canada, so if you can find some where you are Down Under, you could change them out yourself and go from there re stem extender and or diff length stems.

no camping stuff means easily fitting clothes etc into two rear panniers.