I am considering getting a OCR Touring and the LBS, even though they are listed as a Giant deale,r don't seem to know much about it.

Three questions:

1. It has a TruVativ Elita ISIS, 30/42/52T crankset. What is the smallest chainring I can put on it?

2. It has a SRAM PG950 11-32T, 9 speed. What is the largest cog I can put on it? (Yeah I know I am fat, old and slow)

3. Does anybody have any recomendations on a bike shop in the South Jersey, Philadelphia, Wilmington triangle that knows and sells this bike?

Here is what I know about this (used to work for a giant dealer)

The crank should be a standard triple bolt pattern, meaning the smallest granny would be 26T.

The rear der being a 105, I think even 32T is stretching the limit of that der quite a bit. Switch out the rear der for a LX or XT mountain, and it should be able to handle a 11-34 LX or XT rear cassette.

This would give you the same low gear ratio that most mountain bikes have, my MTB lowest is a 34 rear, 29 front.

Hope that helps.

Aside, why are you interested in the OCR? It is quite pricey for what you get, and I seriously reccomend you do NOT go with disc brakes on a touring bike. Not really neccessary, and they are easy to damage, and make racks and trailers hard to mount.

For similar money, you can get a Surly Long Haul Trucker outfitted with 105 or LX triple groups if you want a dedicated touring bike, or for more of a "light tour" look at either the Surly Crosscheck or Surly Pacer, both of which can be outfitted with a 105 triple group for around the same price, and be MUCH better and more reliable.

I personally own a Long Haul Trucker and a Crosscheck, and love them both.

My Cannondale t2000 came with a TruVativ crank and I was able to get a standard 22-32-44 set of ring for it.

52/42/30 is a dumb crank choice for a touring bike. If you are really touring, you'll want something more like 48/38/28 or 46/34/24. If you are riding it as a commuter/transportation bike without necessarily carrying much, the 52/42/30 will be OK. No one needs 127 gear inches on a tour, but there will be 1 or 2 hills where you'll appreciate having a 20 or 22 inch low gear. Manufacturers put road triples on touring bikes because they are cheaper than spec'ing something non-standard, and because Trek gets away with it on their 520.

In that case, a true mtb ringset is in order, like a 44/32/22. 11-32 cassette is fine.

I am also looking at an OCR Touring bike on ebay right now (not too pricey) and had the question I think you just answered about it having disc brakes. I don't know anything about disc brakes and you seem pretty adament about not having them on a touring bike. Can you give me some more feedback on that. Do you know if it is easy to take off the disc brakes and replace them with a standard brake setup?

There may in fact be a clearance issue with a disc brake and the rack / trailer set-up that you intend to use. The rack that came with my bike was not compatible with the BOB trailer attachment. But if there is no clearance problems than I say stay with a disc brake. I think they would be great for touring, good stopping power even when wet. You will find on this and every touring forum the same fear of anything new, if it's not a steel lugged frame, with bar-end shifters, cantilever brakes, and a Brooks saddle, it's not acceptable for the rigors of touring. You will see the same folklore repeated over and over. IMHO

Hey there,

I have a Gaint OCR Touring, and so far have loved it.

I swapped out the crank for an lx crank to give me better hill climbing gears. As for the clearence issues with the disk brakes, my LBS easily mounted both fenders and racks on the bike.

The reason I went with this bike was that the disk brakes will work in any weather out there, its comforting to know that if i'm heading down a mountain in the rain on a fully loaded touring bike that I have all the stopping power that i want/need and then some. It also includes normal brake mounts if i desire to switch over. For the record, my mountain bike has v-brakes, and my road bike bas disc brakes, i wouldnt change a thing with either.

As for price, it was a bit more than the other bike i was looking at (Trek 520) but I also wanted sti shifters on the bike. Pretty much after the cost of that upgrade the prices were much closer. Mind you the cost for everything is a bit wonky up here in Canada.

Forgot to post the link to pictures of my bike with racks and fenders.

https://64.132.144.25/~roosmac/v2/ocrtouring.html

my touring buddy has a 04 ocr touring .. He put a 11-34 sram cogset on and axxom racks that were for disc brakes. we both run bob trailers and sometimes panniers and he likes his set up. side note: he left the cranks alone and likes it with the 34 in the back.

Thanks for all the tips, guys. It certainly looks like getting an OCR Touring is a good choice for me. I'm glad to here some good things about the disk brakes. After exploding a tire and making the mistake of grabbing the rim (think funny looking blisters) years ago on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I had told myself if I ever got a new touring bike it would have disks on it. The other thing I wanted was an aluminum frame. So this bike seems to satisfy everything for me.

Roo, I already had your bike bookmarked. I've probably looked at it a hundred times.

my wife and i both have the ocr touring models,we like them just fine, if you put a tubus rack on the rear and front they mount easily. i bought ours from wayne at baysell.com and had excellant results, as far as the disc brakes, i've descended from 9000 ft to 2500 and it's nice riding the brakes and not having to worry about the rims heating up! i think they're great, and if for some reason you don't like them the ocr has the mounts for standard v brakes! oh, and ours both came with ultegra shifters and not the 105's that were spec'ed. hope this helps

All of us loaded touring bikers (including me) need to remember the old saying "Different strokes for different folks." Instead of saying that a "52/42/30 is a dumb crank choice for a touring bike", why don't we say "you need to be careful with gearing that high, but if you're strong enough, it should be fine". You may be right that no one "needs" 127 gear inches on a tour but I'm not about to give mine up. I love to go fast and I don't want to be done pedaling at 30-35 mph on a nice steady downhill. I understand that others don't care to do that, but it's part of the enjoyment for me. I am currently looking for a "touring" bike, but my modified 1999 LeMond Zurich has worked pretty well for my past tours. Granted, I haven't done any cross-country trips, but I've done two 6-day loaded (camping) tours with some pretty big climbs in them. I've really enjoyed them so that's why I want to get a touring specific bike. I'm a pretty big guy at 210 pounds and I've loaded up my bike and survived pretty well with my double chainring (53/39) combined with an XT rear derailer with an 11-34 cassette. The ideal touring gearing for "me" is a 52/42/30 with an 11-34 cassette and then I can have both ends covered, 23-125 gear inches. Everyone needs to know their limits and make sure your bike is set up appropriately. As for Librarian, it sounds like he doesn't care about the high end gearing so your advice is good, but don't make it sound like no one should have big gearing for touring.

It's not folklore, it's good advice. Disc brakes are cool, and I've used them for mountain bikes. But touring brings in a whole set of considerations that bar-end shifters, cantis, and leather saddles accomodate. It's important to think about the availability, familiarity, durability, and reliability of components when you're far away from home, perhaps far away from a shop with available parts. You have to think about things like: what happens if this breaks? will I be able to easily replace it for free or cheaply? can I fix it? is it reliable? Well, many people with touring experience believe disc brakes aren't ready for touring yet, that other braking systems are simpler and provide sufficient stopping power, it's far easier in BFE to get canti parts, etc. I would not use disc brakes for touring for those and other reasons, and it's not "folklore." I was in Yellowstone once, and crashed and bent one of the rotors. I didn't find a replacement rotor in any shop until I reached Missoula, many many miles away. In the case of STI: STI shifters are pretty cool, too, but they have many different parts that can break and you have to replace the whole brake/shifter suddenly, whereas bar-ends have four parts, basically, and are super reliable.

Anyone can tour with anything, and probably everything has been tried. But if someone asks for some advice, they are likely seeking some conventional wisdom. And that is currently, cantis are probably a better choice for touring.

I'd avoid that Giant bike as a touring bike, especially for a neophyte. Giant seems to have reached into their high volume parts bins and spec'ed the bike with whatever suited them, rather that address the needs of a real tourist. There are so, so many good options that are less expensive or the same, and simply better thought out. If you're going into unfamiliar territory, why not use something that was really designed for that purpose? Disc brakes were designed far many things, for example, but loaded touring wasn't in mind. Let someone else do the testing.

Again IMHO I say folklore. If you are in BFE there are no bike shops anyway, to replace any parts. One phone call to any of the big internet bike part suppiers (keep those numbers with you) and they will next day air whatever you need to your address, even if it is bfe.
STI shifters are much better than bar-end shifters, especially for touring. Always being in the right gear is especially mportant when carrying a lot of weight. STI makes shifting much easier, and I'm sure people with STI shift more often than bar-end, therefore in the right gear more often.( The early shifters may have been unreliable, but all the good quality new ones are extremely reliable, I've got 30,000 plus miles on mine without a problem and without a broken cable)

Canti brakes = good, V-brakes = better, disc brakes = even better

Steel frame; what if you have to get your frame welded in bfe, no one in bfe can weld anything but steel. Bah, If you wrecked bad enough for your frame to need welding, you probably can't walk anyway. But lets say you somehow broke off an accessory mount, you go to the local bfe welding guy who just happens to live right where you wrecked in bfe, he pulls out his electric stick welder designed to weld tractor parts and burns a hole right through your thin wall chrome moly lugged frame, tour over again. If your bfe is in Kansas, you jump on a bus and go home, if your bfe is in south east Asia, then you have thought of this and have contingency funds available to either buy a new bike or order a new frame. Either way the odds of this happening are so low that it doesn't matter

Brooks saddles, OK you got me here, I love Brooks saddles, but this is strictly a personal choice. But even here, if you are in S.E. Asia, where it rains 5 times a day, a synthetic saddle may be a better choice.

Greg

This is a bunch of noise, really. Often, there are shops in rural and out of the way areas, and certainly in Asia, and they will not stock disc brake stuff. As far as STI, well, I used them before ever using bar-ends--newish Ultegras, both--and I highly prefer bar-ends for wide range touring gearing set-ups. Maybe you like them better, but so what?

It seems like you have your position, and are sticking to it. I guess people will have to decide whether they are persuaded by you, or the decades of real touring experience by other people who don't want to have to take a bus home because of component failure. Hard choice.

As far as the frame and saddle stuff, no one discussed this, and it's off topic. Time to move on.

I'm not really concerned about the disc brakes failing on a tour. If you ask me, cantis/v's/side pulls have just as much to go wrong. If the setup slips on canti's or v's they can either tear the tire sidewall, or slip off the rim and go into the spokes. Pads can be lost, return springs can break. Any peice of equipment can have a failure on a tour.

Replacement parts can be shipped out anywhere overnight. Failing that, with the Giant you can always slap on canti's or V's, so the issue of finding replacement parts is exactly the same as with canti's/v's. If i was reallyt worried, I could bring a set with me.

For me, the issue was stopping power. Disc Brakes stop better in all kinds of conditions. Yes, canti's/side pulls/v's stop well enough to get by, but then again we all could get by on 3 speeds. I embrace technology when its applied right and works. In this case i feel its a perfect match.

If my frame breaks, I'll buy a new frame/bike or go home, same thing i would do with a steel bike. I wouldnt trust anyone but a frame builder to weld a steel bike, and the odds of finding a frame builder in the middle of nowhere when i am broken down.. well i'm not going to count on it. Then again, I'm not planning any 3rd world tours in the next decade.

As for the spec'd parts on the Gaint, The only thing i found that needed to be replaced was the pedals and crank. The pedals got bad reviews from every source i found, the crank was geared wrong for me. The 105's are what i wanted, and even the saddle has worked for me (my butt isnt picky).

One more issue, the sizing is a bit wonky, do make sure you are comfortable on the bike, I'm debating a longer stem myself.

If i wasnt such a ***** i'd be out riding right now, damn me.
roopurt

Let me say right up front that buying a bike with disk was not a sudden decision. remember that disks have been stopping tandems for at least ten years. As to the aluminum vs steel debate I have had two steel touring bikes and this will be my second aluminum touring bike. With over 10,000 miles of loaded touring I would never go back to steel. I do think that the gearing on the giant is probably too high but I think that they probably sell many more touring bikes to the credit card set than the loaded bunch.
I probably will change at least one chainring. (I'm still living in the 10 speed half step plus granny world.)

Anyway the bike was impressive enough for me to order one. And when I put my purple Madden Buzzards and Baby Buzzards on it, it will be even better looking than Roo's.

I think you are right about why they gear these bike so high. Gearing is discussed often in this forum, the rule of thumb has historically been a gear / inch range of 20-100 with a triple chain ring. One way of approaching this issue that I think is helpful, is to ask, how often do you use your highest 3 or 4 gears while touring fully loaded? The answer will most likely be never or rarely. Ask the same question about your lowest 3 or 4 gears and your answer will most likely be hundreds, and time wise, hours upon hours while climbing 20-30 mile hills in the Rockies. I vote for a few extra low end gears in lieu of a few extra high end gears. The exact gear range will be different for the type of tour (credit card vs expedition) and the strength of the rider. The three front chainrings are not difficult to switch around, so I suggest that you load your bike up to as heavy as you expect to tour with and then find the steepest, longest hill you can find and test her out. If your are planning a cross country, the worst hills are not the Rockies, they are the steep hills of the Ozarks and the Appalachians.
Greg

gregw, roosmachine and librarian - you have all made some great points I agree with that I had not thought about. From shifting more with STI and their reliability (my STI's have over 20,000 miles without a hitch or cable break) to the "what if's" with broken bikes or parts and the fact that tandems have been using disc brakes for along time. I did the Ride the Rockies bike tour on a tandem with a blind lady. This is not a loaded tour, but with me being 210 and her being about 180, it sure felt loaded. The bike had bar-end shifters and "no" disc brakes. I would have been alot more comfortable with STI shifters and disc brakes. Your comment about tandems reminded me of going down steep winding Colorado mountain passes praying that the rims wouldn't overheat.

I think I'm convinced that the OCR Touring bike will be right for me and I like the high end gearing because I "do" use every gear and love to go fast.

Librarian, post some pictures when you get your new bike.

As far as disc brakes, canti brakes, sti, bar-ends, and pink plastic horns, I go for traditional.

I think what might be the problem here is someone's definition of "touring". A lot can be termed touring.

I have two bikes I ride on things that could be termed "tours." For shorter tours, such as weekends or 3-days, I actually just ride my road bike, a full-fledged racer with 12-25 cogset, 39-53 crankset, carbon fork, 23c tires, the whole deal, and I tow a trailer behind it. You can usually get away with only about 25-30 pounds for that short of time, and that kind of bike works great.

For "real" touring, I use a Long Haul Trucker (formerly a crosscheck), set up retro style with bar-ends, brooks saddle, and Onza cantis (with peace symbol hanger.....). This would go on anything two weeks or longer for sure, and some of the shorter ones. It just is more durable.

As for STI on tour, I think it is a very bad idea. For a few days, it works fine, but after a week or two on the road, the drivetrain starts to get dirty and the shifting goes all wonky. Rather than mess with all that jibberish, I just switch the bar-ends into friction mode and keep riding. STI requires almost a full parts-off drivetrain cleaning to keep it working right. Dont get me wrong, I LOVE my STI on my roadie, and wouldnt think of anything else, but on tour they are just a bad idea. I have run STI on my crosscheck in the past, and I will say this opinion only comes from direct experience.

As for disc brakes, same goes. I run discs on my MTB, and wouldnt have it any other way. However, my MTB gets decent maintenence between rides. Discs require a lot of care to run properly without noise or vibration, and care is not something I do well on tour. Not to mention, my experience with Avid mechanicals in particular is that I broke off the plastic adjuster knobs relatively fast, and these are very necessary for adjustment. Also, I see no reason or proof that would make them more reliable as some people claim. Disc brake pads wear out relatively fast, operate on the same cable principle, and have MORE moving parts. Heat is also a non-issue, because if you were on a hill drastic enough to heat your rim to a dangerous spot, you will also have made enough heat to warp the disc rotor, which can be very hard to fix. I have never heated a rim to a point where something broke, but I have warped rotors from heat.

Plus, I just dont like something that crucial spinning that fast directly underneath my panniers. Just imagine your lower pannier hook getting sucked into the front disc rotor.... Ooh fun.