RLHawk

Is this a seriously bad idea? I am trying to work out a way to use the road bike I currently have for light touring. I know this is not the intended use of the bike, and a touring bike definitely would suit my needs much better, but I want to work with what I have.

The bike is a 03 Fuji Roubaix Pro, Renolds 853 steel alloy triangle with CroMo heat treated stays and carbon fork. No eyelets or rack mounts. My plan is to get a tubus Logo rack, two clamp sets to account for lack of eyelets and rack mounts, and Ortleib and Arkel panniers. (Haven't decided yet.)

Typical loads will be light, just what I need for a weekend camping trip. My concern is the frame not being able to handle the stress, and issues with stability at higher speeds.

Depending on how this season goes, I may invest in touring or "sport touring" bike/frame.

Thanks for your help,
Matt

kickflipjr

I was wondering the same thing. My bike has no eyelets or rack mounts either. I hope someone chimes in.

slowjoe66

Rather than stressing, why not just get a trailer like the Bob or Burley. They connect onto the rear dropout and they won't really affect your handling characteristics-no worries about eyelets (other than fenders if you choose) and both can handle around 50 pounds of gear.

Alekhine

This has been kind of covered here already, and I'm no expert on what to do since my Bike Friday is the only bike I have used with a trailer, but that seems to be your best bet if your bike is purely meant for racing - even if it's mostly steel. Even if you find a rack that mounts without eyelets, it is smarter to pull a trailer that attaches to your non-drive-side chainstay, I should think. Here is my limited advice, mostly gleaned from what others have said on this bike usage problem, because truth be told, I've never even tried to tour on a racing bike. Hope it helps some anyway, but it's mostly common sense.

Issues:

1. Geometry and comfort: Your bike is built for speed above all else. This is anathema to the touring ideal, but it doesn't make it impossible by any means. If you can cover great distances without real complaint, or if your intention is to cover shorter daily distances, then tour away! Obvious: The seat tube will be less slack/angled than a true tourer, and the bike will be "shorter," with the wheels coming very close to the rear of the seat tube and the bottom of the downtube. In the latter case, panniers and racks will be trouble if you have big feet (or even average sized feet in some examples), as your feet may hit the rear panniers on every pedal stroke because your chainstays are too short to set the panniers far enough back. Further comfort issues: Your bars will be significantly lower than your saddle on a racer. Assuming you have a modern racer, it will have a threadless steerer, and you'll want to raise the stem as high up as it will go. Again, it's smartest to get a trailer and avoid the clearance/geometry issues altogether, I would think.

2. Gearing: I've toured with semi-road gearing before on my Bianchi. That is, a 52-42-30 crankset and a fairly large-spaced cassette in the rear. My smallest gear was something around 29 gear inches, which was quite do-able even with some pretty heavy loads that the bike wasn't designed to do. Racing bikes won't have nearly the range that my Bianchi has, and the more touring weight you add, the tougher it's going to be if you're touring in any place with difficult hills and lugging gear along with you - particularly with the tiny range of stock racing cassettes and only a double crank. At the worst, you may find yourself swallowing your pride and walking your bike up an incline, and that's not so bad. Certainly it's better than developing chondromalacia patellae from trying to be manly by pushing too big of a gear.

3. Wheels: Again, with a trailer it's less of an issue, but the skinny little tires on a racing bike are speed-oriented, not comfort-oriented, nor are they particularly prime in the anti-puncture department compared to good touring tires. They are designed to have more of a pointillistic contact with the road than a tready grip. And the wheels themselves often nowadays have, what, 16 spokes with ultra-light rims? You don't want to put more weight on those wheels than you have to, if that's what you have. Again, you can tour with the racing wheels, but it is so much smarter to pull the weight via trailer than to load it directly on the bike with wheels like that. Even 32-spoke wheelsets are dubious on a dished rear wheel for carrying loads (but not with my Rohloff!).

4. Carbon: Again, not good for loading, but it can pull stuff, which once more supports the trailer idea. Carbon forks married to steel frames aren't too terrible, but don't load racks and panniers onto the front, or you're begging for potential catastrophe. Yet another reason to go with a trailer.

5. Light touring vs. camping: How do you intend to tour? You said "light loads," but like all things there are shades of grey about what exactly this is. If you're just taking your wallet, a credit card, and a handlebar bag/seat pouch full of absolute essentials, with the intention of sleeping at hotels or "camping" at rented cabins in state parks, all the while eating your meals at town restaurants and the occasional power bar stuffed into the jersey to deal with the bonks, have at it. You really don't need much if that's your gig. For more self-contained varieties, you'll need a way to bring a rather large load of stuff even if you purposely minimize the load. That isn't to say you can't do bike camping in an ultralight way, of course, but you may be limiting your options for every potential circumstance on a variable scale the lighter you choose to go.

6. Trailers: There are many good ones, with B.O.B trailers being the most common. The chief drawback is that they tend to give the feeling of pushing on a descent and pulling on an ascent. Otherwise, you can load quite a bit onto them without it having a direct load on a frame that isn't designed for it.

I'm not sure what else to add, but there is undoubtedly more, and someone with more experience at this particular problem will hopefully chime in and even correct anything I've misrepresented here, if there is anything. I just didn't want to see your post hung out to dry, so that's my advice.

Good luck! Bicycle touring and camping is close to the most rewarding thing you can do on two wheels, and the world needs more examples of people doing it, in my opinion.

Cyclesafe

Mounting racks on a road bike is a PITA. A BOB trailer would work fine with your current bike.

NoReg

Frankly, it was a rarity back when I started out in the 70s for european touring and race bikes to have braze ons, period. That was custom or certainly better grade stuff (1k bike at the time when a Volvo cost 3.5K). All the pumps, cables, water bottles, racks, even the downtube shifters, were held on with little metal bands that somehow clamped around the tubing. So it's a nothing to have to mount this stuff with hardware. Sure it isn't the current standard. but it works fine.

Another option is to carry your gear in a backpack, this is a horendously bad idea, except that it's possible to carry the gear (includes camping) for an endless trip, in a pack weighing 8 pounds. That's what a lot of paniers weight before anything goes in. That would not include food or water. The point is just that at some level the load gets so light the weight either on your back or bike is prety trivial. There is a story here, where their backpacking trip ended up a Wal-Mart bike trip with their lightpacks:

https://www.rayjardine.com/index.shtml

Alekhine

Yeah, again on my Bianchi, there are eyelets at the bottom of the front fork, but the attachment at the mid fork is done with an ostensibly questionable combination plastic & metal band, and yet I was able to carry quite a bit on it when that was all I had to tour with. My first tour with that bike, I loaded a whole front pannier full of heavy Russian language books to study in my tent and I luckily escaped that trip without a single problem. I wouldn't try that again though, and I definitely wouldn't do it on a carbon fork.

My father rode a French Fontan (a tourer, granted) from Buffalo, NY to Morgantown, WVA in 1979, and he loaded it down with the same kind of attachments you describe without any problems.

ken cummings

I've heard of a man who threw his stuff in a backpack, got on his Masi racing bike, and took off for the other coast. I humbly suggest you take it in stages. An over-nighter first, then a long weekend, then a week . . . There are a lot of light weight "sport touring" bikes out there at a reasonable price. If you want to go for the big Transcontinental with full camping gear Surly, Bruce Gordon, and others are the way to go

bccycleguy

There are racks, i.e. Tubus that mount on the drop outs and brake boses, I have a tubus Fly (320 gr.)
that I some times put on my Lemond for long club rides when I have to be able to carry rain gear, etc.

See Wayne at the touringstore.com, he has lots of adapters for mounting racks anywhere and is very helpful.

onbike 1939

Personally I would use a trailer but a light one. This trailer weighs just over 8lbs and would seem ideal for your needs. It can be picked up and slung over your shoulder and is cheap. It attaches to the bike by a special q/r which is included and can be used on any bike.

https://www.extrawheel.com/index_en.php

lighthorse

RLHawk,
I have taken my LeMond Buenos Aires (steel frame with carbon fork) cross country with loaded rear panniers and it worked fine. Everything was stock Ultegra road gearing and the same Bontrager wheels that came on the bike. So a road bike can easily do long distance unsupported touring. I was lucky because my LeMond had eyelets on the rear so that mounting a rack and panniers was pretty easy. I have never pulled a trailer so can't comment on most of the posts recommending that you use a trailer. I do know that some trailers have recommended speed limits due to handling problems at high speeds. Several tourers that I met who were pulling trailers commented to me about this limit being a real one.

If I were you the first thing that I would do would be to carefully list all of the things that you think that you need to carry with you and scrub that list down to the essentials. You may not need four panniers.
The stability of your bike will change if you mount racks and panniers. That does not mean that it won't work, it means that you will need to train with the loads some and see what the effects are. I found that my road bike with loaded rear panniers was a bit wobbly at very low speeds but settled down as speed increased. I never felt uncomfortable on steep descents at speed. After a couple of rides you don't even think about it any more.

I am not familiar with the clamp sets for mounting racks that you mention. I have no idea how they work or how functional they would be.

Good luck with your effort.

RLHawk

I have spoken with Wayne. He is suspect of mounting racks to my bike due to heal clearance issues. My dropouts have a cowling/hood that go all the way around, preventing the use of the dropout adapters.

How do you like the fly rack? Do you mount panniers to you?

The fly rack is what I would like to get, but I am worried it won't provide enough heal clearance.

RLHawk

Seems like a nice option. I will look into it.

RLHawk

Thank you all for the input, it has been very helpful. I just want to use my current road bike to test the touring waters. Weekend trips to visit friends in neighboring town, ~160 miles round trip, and some regional camping trips. I have no intent to try a multi day unsupported tour with this setup. If I get hooked, then I will invest in something a little more suitable.

I started this thread with two main concerns:
1. Frame not being able to handle the stress, i.e. will it break
2. Stability at higher speeds

(I also have concerns about heal clearance, but started a second thread to discus it )

So far, no one has suggested that the strain will cause my frame to fracture.

lighthorse – Thank you for the input on stability.

Alekhine – Thank you for your detailed input. Everything you mentioned has been covered in this forum and I have given your points some thought.
1. Geometry and comfort: I have done some longer rides on my bike with no hassle, and will get a second stem with more rise if needed.
2. Gearing: Already tracked down compact crank and BB sets on eBay what will give me much lower gearing options. (I don't actually race, so losing the top gears is not an issue.)
3. Wheels: Although not touring specific, my wheels are built to be sturdy. They are not light race wheels.
4. Carbon: Wasn't planing on mounting anything up front.
5. Trailer: I would also like to use what ever rack pannier combo I get for commuting. So I am trying to avoid this option.

MichaelW

Check out some of the ultralight camping sites, esp hamock/flysheet camping.
If you can reduce your load, a race bike is adaquate. People used to tour with a large Carradice saddlebag and you can still buy these together with the small support racks that fit any bike.

bccycleguy

I used some little steel extenders that mount the rack a bit farther back behind the skewer.
SEE: https://www.thetouringstore.com/TUBUS...ONS%20PAGE.htm

Heal clearance is more of an issue with panniers and your shoe size. I haven't used panniers on the Fly but my Arkel XM-28 appear to mount fine, my shoe size is 44 (~9 1/2). The Fly is rated for a fair bit of weight, 15 - 20 kg.

The hardest part was attaching the top single mount for the Fly rack (I think Wayne sells an adapter for this), I bent the steel bit that comes with the rack and mounted it to the recessed brake bolt that holds my rear Ultegra brake assembly to the brake bridge. I did this by threading the hex socket to take a 6mm screw. There is enough of the "points" of the socket left to tighten the brake bolt. Use some blue locktite to prevent the bolt from vibrating loose.

nun

I think ypur biggest issue will be wheels, if you can get a 32 spoke wheel with at least a 28mm tyre on your bike it should be ok. You can tour using a saddle bag and clamp on racks. Here is some inspiration for you

https://milly.org/rambouillet/
https://web.archive.org/web/200412110...tup.net/crane/

bccycleguy

Most bikes, pedals, etc. are designed for people who weight at least 180 lbs. I weight 160 lbs. so I wouldn't have any hesitation in carrying about 20 lbs. (say 8 - 10kg) on my Lemond with the Tubus rack, But I wouldn't even consider loaded touring, that's what credit cards are for (and I've done loaded touring with a full camping setup, food for 5 days etc. on a bike that weights >85 lbs.)

If you put a lot of weight on an expensive road bike, I think you'll just wreck it. Especially when you get forced by the traffic off a paved road onto a rough gravel shoulder at 50 km/hr.

nun

Its possible to tour for extended periods with full camping gear, 2 days or food and 3 water bottles and only put
an extra 20 to 25 lbs on the bike. If your road bike has clearance for 28 or 32 mm tyres its possible to tour on it if you keep the weight of gear down to below 25lbs. If your kit is, say 40lbs, it would be a disaster.

When I say road bike I don't mean a carbon fiber speed machine with 5 spokes per wheel, but some Al,Ti or CrMo
machine

Alekhine

Good post, and a great point for anyone looking to camp on a modest racing bike rather than a TdF machine.

Light camping with only 20 pounds and even a good deal less is quite possible in today's world of 2-pound backpacker tents. There is again a law of diminishing returns for dealing with every circumstance the lighter you wish to go, but depending on your trip and where it is, this is an extremely variable problem. I wouldn't attempt a tour in Vietnam with such a set-up, but in the US? Why not? As long as the thing was comfortable enough to carry me the distances I intend for any given day and can carry the absolute essentials, it seems quite possible considering that most "disasters" could be rectified in the next town on the map.

nun

I 100% agree. I posted a thread a while back describing my sub 20lb gear list. I got lots of interesting comments and ideas and people shared their even lighter lists. When deciding what you are going to take on tour its important to consider when and where you are going. There are some crazy adventures,like the Crane Brothers, who take minimal gear across the Gobi Desert, that's not me. I've only toured in the US and the UK and I tend to duck into a motel if I can, but my approach is to always be prepared to camp and be comfortable down to freezing and today its possible to do that with 20lbs of gear.

wheelin

My friend tours with Colnago chromoly with carbon seat stays and carbon fork. There is no eyelet, but he used plastic clips that are used to hold rear reflextor, and attached the front of the rack to the seat post ring thru bolt.
RLHawk: Is this a seriously bad idea? I am trying to work out a way to use the road bike I currently have for light touring .
Since you'll be light touring, You only need quick drying off bike clothes and toileteries. All will fit insidethe rack bag. You just need to do laundry more often. Think of it as credit card touring. This is my ideal touring. Cycling first, and touring second. Good food and good sleep, so you can be bright eyed and bushy tailed next morning to attack the hills and bends. Leave out the camping.

kyledr

How about touring with a saddle pack on a race bike? I have no comfort issues with my bike, and I'm not heavy myself, so my total load would be something like 160 lbs or perhaps a little less. My bike is aluminum with carbon fork and seatstays. The saddle is carbon, but if I were using a saddlepack, I would swap it for an aluminum one. My wheels have enough spokes to support more than 200 lbs of weight, so I'm not worried there.

nun

I think we need to define what sort of touring we are doing, credit card touring with just a change of clothes is eminently doable on any bike with a small saddlebag. If you intend to go a bit beyond civilization and camp for a few nights the real limit is volume of stuff you need to take rather than weight. If you want to carry a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, food water and clothes the volume of stuff you take will require you to put a rack on the bike to support panniers, or a big saddlebag and your camping equipment.

My equipment fills 30 litres and weighs 20lbs, so if you can get a rack on your road bike I don't see why you couldn't tour with it and such a set up. My only concern would be tyre/fender clearance. I would not tour on 23mm tyres even if you only put an extra 20lbs on the bike because I think you need the greater comfort/puncture resistance of at least 28mm tyres, remember you'll be spending many a long day in the saddle and speed is not the essence of the experience. Also I hate getting that "skunk stripe" on wet roads so fenders are nice to have.

RLHawk

My plan is to start with credit card touring and hope to advance to some weekend camping trips.

Tires and fenders are another issue I have been considering. My bike does have short reach shimano breaks. This makes standard fenders impossible and may limit tire clearance to 25c. There are two options I know of for fenders: 1) SKS race blades (they even make an XL version now for 28mm tires), or 2) "split fender" setup. Rivercity Bicycles has was looks like a nice set of hardware for split fenders. https://www.rivercitybicycles.com/pro...roducts_id=613

(Another option would be to liquidate the 2 bikes I have and get something that would actually fit my requirements.)