texas2wheel

I'm very excited, I know I know it's a BD bike (I've never had a problem with BD, and find that the quality is pretty darn good) and it's no LHT, but I'm so happy to have a new bike period and on that also has the capabilities of touring long distances. Can any of you Windsor Tourist owners shed some light on what works for you and what things you may have replaced becuase there was a better option suited for touring?

10 Wheels

My Friend Roy now has 52,000 miles on his.
You will need new wheels someday.
Get your wheels checked before you start riding it.

texas2wheel

by checking do you mean that I should ensure they have proper tension on the spokes, if so I'm capable of doing that, if not then I'll have the LBS take a look at them.

10 Wheels

Have a Wheel Mechanic check the hubs and the spokes.
The hubs would need grease and adjustment.
The spoke tension needs checked.
Happy Miles.

Roy still has the same brifters.

SBRDude

Congrats and happy riding!

Gus Riley

Depending on it's current gearing and where you plan to tour...perhaps the gearing might do for some change. Other than that maybe the seat.

Nice bike. I had considered one. It definitly comes at a great price, but I had the funds for an LHT, and that's the way I went.

staehpj1

Three of us used Windsors to do the Trans America. We all changed cranks to get lower gearing . We used a Sugino XD 600 and swapped the inner ring for a 24T.

The brake pads didn't give much warning before they were metal on metal. They looked like they had a little wear left when they were shot. I can't really complain though because they had 4,000 miles of loaded touring on them by then. On a long tour I'd carry spares or change them before they look shot. I like Avid brake shoes fine and have been using them on my bike.

The original rack is kind of flimsy, so I swapped it for a Blackburn EX-1 since I had one laying around. It was rock solid. One of my companions on the Trans America used the original rack on her's and didn't have a problem though. There was a bit of visible sway because it flexed a little, but it didn't bother her.

The three of us all used the original saddle and had no complaints. I didn't like it at first, but after a few hundred miles I decided it was fine. I have since used it on the Trans America and a couple other longish tours with zero saddle complaints.

I used Performance low rider front racks and Nashbar waterproof panniers. I am happy with the combination.

I put on some SPD pedals. and like them very well with my Sidi Giau MTB shoes.

The stock tires were OK. They wore well, but were not especially flat resistant. We wore them out before replacing them though. We all eventually settled on Continental Ultra Gatorskins for touring (my daughter used Marathon Pluses for commuting).

Other than that our bikes are stock.

Do either get someone to go over the wheels and true/stress relieve them (or do it yourself) or at a minimum keep a close eye on spoke tension.

sannerbikes700

I recently rode across the US via the Southern Tier, and my riding partner had a Windsor tourist (I was of course on a custom Sanner Cycles touring bike). He was loaded with 50 + lbs of gear. Besides a few broken spokes here and there, he had no problems with the bike.

10 Wheels

Good move to change the small ring to a 24T.
A 11-34 cassette is also a good move.

texas2wheel

I have a nice honey B-17 that will go on it as soon as it comes out of the box. I ride and live in Texas, we don't have too many big hills here, so I'm sure the gearing will be just fine.

HandsomeRyan

I keep looking at that bike and wondering if I should have purchased that instead of beginning my nashbar frame build.

Have fun!

texas2wheel

Camping at Fort Richardson........didn't get to ride as much as I wanted, but I did make it to the bathroom a few times.

NoGaBiker

A friend now has 2000 miles on one he bought in June. We did a 300 mile tour in NM in November. He wound up with 3 broken spokes before that tour, all replaced by the local shop, but no breaks since then. They did a full wheel tune-up at the time the replaced the spokes, on both wheels.

He has switched to an 11-34, but kept the 30t small chainring, just to save the $50 cost of a 24t. He does fine in the mountains. He also wanted to raise the hbars higher than stock, so we replaced the quill stem with a quill riser, which allows the use of a more standard stem, which he bought in 60mm because he didn't want a long reach. All cheap changes, but only available on the internet, or your local shop can order.

The bike held up fine on our tour, but we did have a near disaster out in the desert. I was riding behind him and noticed his rear rack tilted over at a strange angle. Thought it had broken, but turns out it had lost one of the lower mounting screws. Fortunately, the bike shipped with screws installed in the front brazeons and he wasn't using a front rack, so we just replaced it and tightened them all. My advice (for any bike): use threadlock or lockwashers to secure all rack mounting hardware.

$600 is hard to argue with. But I will say, after getting it assembled/checked at the local shop, tuning the wheel and replacing spokes, and changing out the stem and riser, he has more like $800 in it (not counting things he would have changed anyway on any bike, like the saddle). In retrospect, I'd rather build a Surly LHT for that price (using some slightly used eBay parts) than buy the Windsor already built. If nothing else, you can get much better wheels that way.

texas2wheel

I've got about $850 in mine (brooks saddle, axiom rack, pedals and stem riser) but a LHT wont come with a rack or a brooks or my pedals or the exact riser height either, so you can spend $850 - $950 building a used LHT and then add those things on top of that, or you can go the windsor route and have just as good of a bike, for less money. Just a side note, my windsor came with better components than my brothers factory complete surly CC (except his hubs have a name brand on them, if you're of the opinion that a name = quality, but I'll be upgrading to a dynamo hub in the next month).

LeeG

just guessing the wheels weren't checked for tension out of the box or before the trip? It's awfully easy to think the wheels are fine because they're true but these modern rims are surprisingly stiff and can have out of tension spokes and still look true.

texas2wheel

I'm more than capable of checking my own wheels, having built several sets in years past.

m_yates

I love my Tourist. I did break one spoke on my original wheels, but replaced it myself with the spare on the frame and had no further problems. Last year, I bought new wheels for it, but the original wheels just got overhauled and will be used on a friends bike that I am building up.

I'd suggest at some point swapping the brakes for Tektro CR720 instead of Tektro Oryx. The CR720 isn't much more expensive, but they work much better in my opinion.

My Tourist has also been my hobby. Just about everything has been swapped on it, but I wouldn't change it now for any other bike. It is a 2008 model and I have lost track on miles on it (several thousand):



I've now got wheels with Velocity Dyad rims and Shimano Tiagra hubs. I also lowered the gearing with a Sugino XD600 crank, put a better rack (Tubus), replaced the bottom bracket after it broke (Shimano UN54), put a B17 saddle on it, replaced the headset with a NOS Shimano 105, replaced the handlbars with Nitto Noodle, stem with Nitto Technomic, brake levers with NOS Shimano 105, Dura Ace bar end shifters, NOS Shimano 105 front derailleur, and Shimano XT rear derailleur.

I hate to sit down and calculate how much money I have tied up in it, but I love it just as it is now!

ZCow

I am leaning towards this as my next bike. I am aware of the lack of local support by doing this, however, much of what they get is in accessories (which is well over $300 alone). Not to mention, my local shops typically have to special order touring specific rigs that cost around $1100+.

rogerstg

You get full LBS support since there is a Cycle Spectrum in Orlando.

texas2wheel

Very nice looking bike! Your green is much better than mine, they must have changed colors slightly in the last few years.

LeeG

same here. It's a hell of a good deal once you know that you need to go over everything. It's the folks who head out with their trusty 10spd that was never loaded down with 25lbs on the rear wheel or head out with machine made wheels who discover the problems. I got what I thought was a screaming good deal on a custom wheel build done at a cheap labor price and although it was true, hard to make a 26" rhyolite not true, I discovered one squashed nipple, two half rounded and a drive side spoke LOOSER than a non-drive spoke.

NoGaBiker

Obviously, everyone doesn't think so. But you do and that's good, since it's your bike. We should all be happy with our bikes.

texas2wheel

Just for the record, I do like surlys and would like to own one some day, right now it just isn't an option dollar wise.

ZCow

I guess you're right. Problem I have is with the staff, but I guess that could be avoided entirely.

I am not certain about which frame size to get. I am 5'7" and am leaning towards the 49cm, but I'm unsure. Anyone 5'6"-5'8" and could chime in?

NoGaBiker

I hear ya. If I had my druthers, BD would spec the WT $200 better and sell it for $800, with upgraded crank/BB, wheels, and a threadless headset. Say they kept $50 more in profit and applied the extra $150 to the bike. At the wholesale cost level you could upgrade the wheels and crank and fork/stem/HS quite a bit for the extra $150. I already like the frame, derailleurs and brifters on the bike, and the brakes seem to be adequate.

It was gutsy of them to spec Tiagra 9 brifters, at a significant cost increase over Barcons. I bet they could have sold the bike for just under 500 if they had but Barcons on it. But I prefer brifters and won't use barends.