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How's my bike?

Old 01-18-11, 10:50 PM
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How's my bike?

I have an '09, Trek 7.2 fx hybrid bike. Since I'm 99% on the paved paths I put on 700x25 Armadillo tires. Can I tour on these tires if I plan on staying on paved roads? Also, will this type of bike give me any issues putting front and rear panniers on her?
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Old 01-18-11, 11:03 PM
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Welcome to the touring forum.

Yes you can tour with those tires, and you should have no trouble mounting pannier racks on that bike. Should be a comfortable ride.
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Old 01-18-11, 11:08 PM
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I started touring on a very similar bike. What kind of distances do you want to cover? Is this just for weekend tours?
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Old 01-18-11, 11:22 PM
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All weekend touring at first. My next tour will be my first tour. So I'll stay close to home, 45-75 miles max. This will help build to my first big goal: 2 week tour from Houston to El Paso. That'll be camping/motel touring.
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Old 01-18-11, 11:56 PM
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Load it up and have fun!

When you heading out for the first tour?
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Old 01-19-11, 03:31 AM
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Are those the kevlar lined armadillo tires? I originally put a 26 pair of those on my MTB conversion. I could really feel the difference, it made for a hard, jarring ride. It was tolerable on the front suspension bike, but once I tried them on my touring bike it tipped the scale at just too annoying.

Depending on the length of your tour and comfort of the bike, it might not be a problem for ya though.
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Old 01-19-11, 03:16 PM
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I plan on doing the first tour soon. Just waiting on panniers I bought during "THE Best Buy sale" to come in. Then test the camping equipment in the back yard. Probably mid February I'll take a 40 mile weekend trip to the state park. My tires are the kevlar lined armadillo tires. You're right- pretty bumpy but they're really all I've ridden so I can't compare them to any softer rides.
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Old 01-19-11, 03:50 PM
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How good is the pavement in your area? A tire as narrow as you're suggesting will give you grief every time you hit a rough patch on the road. I'd go up to a 700x28 or wider, but then I've also been in areas where the road surfaces are less than ideal.

I know the roadies will regularly run tires of that size, but they're not carrying extra weight.
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Old 01-19-11, 03:53 PM
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You can go just about anywhere with the 7.2fx. My wife has been using a 7.2fx (wsd) for several years all around Europe without any problems. Here are a couple of pictures from our tour last summer. They were both taken on the climb over the Grossglockner in Austria. We both use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. A few more pics and details on our page below.

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Old 01-19-11, 03:55 PM
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My First Tour.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...League-City-TX
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Old 01-19-11, 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Raim77
I have an '09, Trek 7.2 fx hybrid bike. Since I'm 99% on the paved paths I put on 700x25 Armadillo tires. Can I tour on these tires if I plan on staying on paved roads? Also, will this type of bike give me any issues putting front and rear panniers on her?
25mm tires may be a little narrow but serviceable. 28mm or 32mm would be more comfortable and sure footed with a load.

Front and rear racks should bolt right up
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Old 01-19-11, 05:17 PM
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xilios, that is so awesome looking. I would love to go there someday. How long was your tour?
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Old 01-19-11, 06:05 PM
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Nice to see a bike like mine in a place like that. Great page too! Thank you for sharing.
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Old 01-19-11, 10:21 PM
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Raim77--

Don't worry another minute about the bike, tires, gear, ect .... just slap your new panniers on it, stuff in the camping gear and go!

You'll learn as you go along.
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Old 01-20-11, 01:26 AM
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Originally Posted by skyzo
xilios, that is so awesome looking. I would love to go there someday. How long was your tour?
thanx, the tour was 5 months

Raim77-
Like others have said already pack the bike and go you'll learn whats best for you as you go along.
cheers
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Old 01-20-11, 01:18 PM
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I've done long rides on a similar bike. When I got my touring bike it was an upgrade, but you'll make it just fine on a hybrid. Besides a rack and mudflaps, think about upgrading the contact points between you and your bike. xilios's bikes are a good example. They have good saddles, clipless pedals, and bar ends to give you another hand position. Ergo grips are good too, I would have bought a pair if I hadn't ended up with a new bike for touring.
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Old 01-20-11, 01:35 PM
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Thanks mbcharbonneau. I have the clipless pedals and will look into a new saddle and bar ends. I've heard nothing but good things about the B17. But I see xilios likes the Champion Flyer. The Champion Flyer looks amazing and a bit bigger so I'll probably start there.
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Old 01-20-11, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Raim77
I have an '09, Trek 7.2 fx hybrid bike. Since I'm 99% on the paved paths I put on 700x25 Armadillo tires. Can I tour on these tires if I plan on staying on paved roads? Also, will this type of bike give me any issues putting front and rear panniers on her?
The bike is good for it, tire size relates to load and road. I don't see why anyone would use 25mm tires for touring where rider, bike and load exceed 175lbs. When I was light, 145lbs, and road light, 15lbs I toured on 28mm tires. I rode fast and didn't get any benefit from 25mm tires except a much more critical maintenance of tire pressure. Given that all pressure maintenance comes from hand pumps and higher pressures often result in tubes losing pressure over a few days I'd rather go for a tire size that provides a comfortable ride for my hands and it isn't critical if the rear tire is low by 10%.
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