Cobbslane

Hi Everyone!
Just joined as I find the forum to be excellent. I am a reasonably unfit 54 year old who in his time has done a lot of 'adventure' type sports, climbing, paragliding, canoeing etc. I enjoy the outdoors, as does my wife and I've been riding for almost 50 years I recently bought a Bianchi Nirone to improve on my fitness - which it has and that has rekindled a desire to do a bit of touring. My wife's idea actually but I'm not grumbling. On looking through this forum and other more ambitious 'adventure cycling' sites I conclude that we seem to have ideal bikes but would like your view.
Mine: 20yr old Raleigh Moonrun - in absolutely excellent condition as I bought it new. It is in Reynolds 501 steel tubing (no rust) with 26in Alesa alloy wheels (36 spokes). It has Suntour XCE gears (27 off) and I'm now adding recommended accessories to build it up (Tortec Exped. rack, V brakes, butterfly bar etc). With rack but without bags it weighs 43lb and whilst I can manage it well on 30 - 40 mile runs ok and it fits do you think that this would be too heavy for long tours? I guess it's the price you pay for strength in a 20 year old! Given that I am about 200lbs myself does this '10lbs too heavy' really matter - I'd prefer to loose the weight from me rather than the bike!
My wife has a Ridgeback hybrid, 26 in wheels, alloy frame Shimano throughout. Sturdy and built with racks etc in mind. It's only about 1 year old so is much lighter than mine.
When I look at others who have succeeded with some tremendous routes the bikes are certainly not state-of-the-art but seem to have been built up from a solid base. The accessories I am adding could be stripped and applied to any other bike so I am not cutting corners on those - only using those I need but which come highly recommended even if they are a little more expensive. However, I do not wish to 'invest' in a new machine but would not wish to waste my time flogging my dead horse!
What do you think?

Takara

Cobbslane, you are in for a treat. Your bikes are fine. In a dash, so read this and this and see what you think.

Cobbslane

Thanx for the reply. Webite looks interesting to say the least. I hadn't thought about a simple one nighter - aiming too high I suppose but this looks superb. Unfortunately here in the UK it is not easy just to pick a site as landowners generally frown on campers. However, there are plenty of well organised sites so I guess we could select from those as a 'target' destination.
We did a lot of camping in the Alps when we were much younger and took the kids later on so we may feel just a touch rejuvinated......or damn stiff , we'll see!
Thanks again

Gotte

I remember reading about some chap around the turn of the century who cycled the Kondike, in the snow, on an old boneshaker that probably weighed the same as both your bikes put together, so I suspect your equipment will be fine - though given our summers, rust is always a worry

Where are you planning on going?

Cobbslane

Ooh! Now then....where I am thinking about going and where I (or rather we) will get to is a different matter.
Realistically, probably France as it is most accessible from here (UK). I have uncovered that you can do the Tour de Mt Blanc by bike - roads rather than footpaths - so this might be on the cards.

It will depend upon time off work for my wife in particular. No argument about the why only the 'can we'
Cheers