How about this to do some lightweight touring on. It takes 28mm tires, put a 12/28 cassette on it and a 50/34 crank and you have a nice 17lbs bike. Obviously gear weight will be limited and attachment methods are limited to handlebar bags, seat mounted racks and bikepacking bags......replacing the carbon seat post with an Al one might be a good idea too.

This is a little bump for anyone who wants to discuss the virtues or problems in using a 17lbs carbon fiber bike for touring. I'm always looking for places to save weight and the one place I haven't addressed is the bike. Right now my lugged steel tourer weighs 23lbs and saving 6 lbs by going to a something like the Rokh is inviting.

I don't trust carbon fiber as frame/fork/component material for touring. I know, however, that others do so perhaps they can provide some insight.

Perhaps if some understand better your situation and motivation they can offer feedback.

How much gear do you plan to carry; how much weight? How much do you weigh?

After combining your weight, gear weight, and bike weight, do you anticipate feeling the 6 lb difference in bike weight?

Do you plan to ride as fast as possible, or to maintain a fast pace such that you are pushing your limit? What's the motivation for moving to this bike from your current bike besides saving 6 lbs?

The motivation is to make riding more fun and faster. My gear weight is around 20lbs. and I've consistently lightened it and gone away from needing eyelet mounted racks. Now I can look at lightening the bike too. I'm 190lbs, but hopefully heading towards 170, the Rokh will be my reward for loosing the weight.

I do lightweight touring on a cyclocross with no rack (like this, although that's a bit out of date), so using a straight road bike should be no different. I think it's actually a pretty cool idea, if you want to churn out serious kilometres (ie, 200+ per day). Obviously you're not taking a bike like that down dirt roads or to the third world or whatever. And if stuff breaks, you'll need to be rescued. So I don't think I'd bother about replacing the seat post.

I was never in that big a rush, nor had a big charge card line of credit,
to book hotels.

Perhaps put a BoB , or an Xtrawheel trailer the back
and then the frame's lack of fittings,
becomes a non issue.

In my opinion, the difference between 170 lbs. you + 20 lbs. luggage + (17 or 23 lbs.) bike is negligible. Dropping 20 lbs. might be reward enough in itself!

Consider this compromise: keep you current bicycle, but substitute lighter wheels. Perhaps opt for 20 mm tires; I know a tourer who does this. (I used to tour on 23 mm tires while carrying up to 28 lbs, and never had reason to complain.)

nun, If this is the bike you want to try then I'll suggest an Al seat post to accept a light carrier. For me backpacks and bicycles don't mix very well, fine for walking or riding on a motorcycle, tho'.

Brad

I don't really buy that reasoning, it just doesn't match my experience. Riding a 50 pound bike is less fun than riding a 30 pound bike (all else being equal), just like carrying a 50 pound pack is less fun than carrying a 20 pound pack. I'm not sure why it matters, but five pounds off your bike makes a hell of a lot more difference than five pounds off your self.

Go for it Nun. I've read many of your interesting posts on lightweight touring, so I guess you're just taking things a bit further

I'd happily tour on your set up (bike and gear), on good asphalt, in good weather, in the USA or Europe.
Not, however, if I was reckoning on dirt roads, storms or cold, carrying lots of food and water, riding in S.America, Africa etc...

edit: oh, and that bike is probably way too expensive for me

How much heavier would a titanium frame be?

I carry the big 4, so tent. sleeping bag, pad and cooking equipment. I will stay in a hotel if it's available and affordable, but can camp as well.

I agree about the backpacks. I carry all my stuff in a handlebar bag and attached to the saddle.

maybe you could travel with it in your soft case. this seems an exercise in absurdity for the sake of novelty.

how far do you ride in an average day now? I do 140 mile days on a loaded for touring steel road bike sometimes, how much further do you think a carbon fiber bike would take you?

Are you trying to do back to back 240 mile days? Coast to coast in 3 weeks? Look good at the hotel? Curious glances from other bicyclists?

A steel road bike can get respectably into the 21-23 pound range with 28c tires.

you don't need to justify your next bike purchase, just go for it. Don't look a touring crowd for an endorsement of a carbon pinarello for touring. Set the trend for yourself.

It sounds like a fun idea to me. You are already used to carrying minimal gear so that should be no hardship. My only concern would be how well the wheels might hold up, but depending on what you weigh they may be no more heavily loaded than some riders on the same bike with no gear. In any case I'd say to keep a close eye on the spoke tension for a while to be sure.

I am not sure how fragile the CF seat post is, but as you speculate if hanging a lot of gear on it maybe an aluminum one might make sense.

Have you decided what combination of bags you are using?

I will continue to follow your exploits with interest as they inspired and somewhat parallel mine. I am not going quite as light bike wise though. Mine weighs in at 25 pounds, but that includes blinkie light, tool kit, pump, a rear rack, handlebar bag bracket, and bottles and cages. Not sure what it weighs without that stuff attached. Also mine is an aluminum frame and has 32 spoke wheels. My gear weight looks like I can hit 15 pounds and still carry quite a bit of camera equipment. So for me I am shooting for 40 pounds total bike and gear weight not counting food and water. I leave for the Southern Tier in February, so it won't be too long before I see how it works out.

I toyed with using my current road bike, but decided that my old 1990ish Cannondale road bike with it's 32 spoke wheels would be my choice at least for this next trip.

My last tour was an intermediate step in going light, but I still used the touring bike. This trip I am selecting the gear more carefully, but am really not doing without anything I carried and used last trip. I am going with a few lighter items and leaving behind a few items I didn't really use anyway. I figure that when the weight gets low enough you might as well reduce the bike weight as well.

It won't appeal to everyone, but I know that I find my lighter bikes a lot more fun to ride than my touring bike. So if carrying little enough gear to go with a lighter bike, I see no reason not to.

The way you pack, you could probably do it. I wonder how the bike would handle though, with the extra weight. I doubt you would break the bike, but the handling may get weird. Go for it, and tell us what happens! You can always go back to touring on another bike and keep that as your fast weekend bike if it doesnt work out.

I'm not looking at big distances, 100 miles max, just thinking out of the box. There was a time when 4 panniers was the only way to tour, but breaking with that dogma by lightening gear load has made touring more enjoyable for some tourers. I admit there is an aspect of seeing what I can do and the reaction of people to using a carbon bike would be fun, looking good at hotels is always nice . There is an automatic reaction in the touring world against carbon fiber, but with the slightly more relaxed geometries coming out why not consider it. maybe the bike will handle terribly with 20lbs on it, but it'll be an interesting experiment that I hope will happen next year.

I really cant see how 20lbs would make a big difference, slow down the steering a tad perhaps, but unless the bike is very twitchy to begin with, you wouldnt think...(famous last words, but you get my drift)

That's my thinking. The geometry is half way between a sport tourer and a stage racing geometry. ie 73 deg head and seat tube angles and 41.3 cm chainstays, vs 72 degs and 43.5cm on my current tourer and 74 deg and 40.7mm on my road bike. It'll be fun finding out if it's sensible to lightweight tour on such a geometry.

IMHO, the seat angle is a compromise for mass production,
trying to hit an hit average for femur length of the average buyer.

and anyway, here we get into what one person might find twitchy, someone else might find fine. Its like being comfortable with speed on downhills or whatever, there is a wide range of comfort levels of varying aspects of being on a bike from one person to another. Then you get into the aspect of ride , of is it what you want to ride all day on (quick steering I mean) as if its too quick, it can be tiring because you cant relax as much over rough surfaces, wiggly cracks in road etc.

Tricky here because you could ride the bike on a test ride, but they may frown (most likely) on you strapping stuff to it that could scratch the finish. Putting 28s on it would change the feel and handling too, but it wouldnt have them for a test ride probably (mind you, that could be arranged easily, bring some of yours even to the store..)

ps, have you ever strapped your gear onto your road bike? That would at least be some sort of indication (maybe?)

I did a short test spin on mine with the gear attached and found the ride acceptable. FWIW, I am sticking with the 23mm tires that are on mine at least until I wear them out or they prove to be problematic. I doubt that I will go to 28mm even then, maybe 25mm. I do run 28mm on my fully loaded touring bike though.

I've done a handlebar bag and a 10 lbs saddlebag and it worked just fine, but going fully loaded is another matter. I'm going to be buying the bike whatever as I don't have a modern bike. Up to now I've been a bit of a retro grouch with a gut, but as I've been, lightening my gear and myself why not do the same with the bike.

You realize they have the frames are made in the same factories in Asia
that make lots of other brands, Carbon layup in the molds takes hand labor,
and labor cost to be reduced, by being outsourced.

so it's a Pinarello paint job. Campagnolo went to Romania, for a cost reduction.

Sure made in Taiwan with Japanese carbon fiber, then painted and built in Italy.

but they sure are SEXY! look at those curves. Even sexier in person.

tough to see any real compelling reason to tour on it but to each his own. I think Nun needs to justify the purchase of it to himself.

personally I'd stay far away from a carbon bike as they are one negligent moment away from being landfill fodder. Imagine if it fell over onto a sharp edge or a concrete jersey barrier... yikes. with the added weight of the luggage adding to the impact force - splinter city.

I saw a guy once desperate to repair his carbon bike in the days before a cross country bike trip..... it was like watching friends bondo their mopar jalopies when i was younger. fiberglass, resin, masking tape....an absolute travesty. his bike snapped at the drive side chainstay two days before embarking on a supported cross country trip.

i think the Pinarello will make nun look and feel good, and garner curious glances from bicyclists while touring.

"Built" in this case , as in the parts are put on it ..
built a few Italian made bikes in my time by that definition.

but as long as you have no illusions, then you can pick any
brand of frame decor you choose.
to generalize Heading could be .. brand XX CF race bike for touring.

like I say, seen a Quite few riding down the coast on not much different
Trailer does make up for a frame made for only hauling the rider..

Todd, a partner in a big shop in PDX did the coast, on a Brompton
all packed in a Carridice Camper long flap saddle bag and Brompton's big front bag
Hammock and down mummy bag , says he got rather cold a few nights.

and folding feature was taken advantage of when he took a lift after
bonking and running out of water