Bike Forums - Road bikes that are light-touring-capable?

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- - Road bikes that are light-touring-capable? (https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/892650-road-bikes-light-touring-capable.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarwheel (Post 15686336)

For my purposes, a sport touring bike combines the best of both worlds (sport riding and touring). Sport touring bikes were very popular during the bike boom of the 1970s-80s...

This 1985ish Trek 400D Elance with Reynolds 531 is a bike boom era sports/touring bike. The 425mm chainstays and room for 700x28 tires with fenders define the type. I upgraded the bike with 2x10 Dura Ace shifters an Ultegra derailleurs. The Open Pro rims and Dura Ace hub gave the bike a very sporty feel.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...ictures015.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by sstorkel (Post 15683071)

I tried mounting a Carradice Nelson Longflap bag to my Cervelo RS, an endurance/plush/relaxed-geometry road bike. Absolutely hated the way the additional weight made the bike handle! I bought a $100 Nashbar aluminum touring frame, bolted on some parts-bin components, and built some wheels. The geometry of the Nashbar touring frame was phenomenally better than the Cervelo RS when I mounted the Carradice bag. Plus, the Nashbar was so cheap I didn't have to worry (much) if it got stolen...

If you do go the road bike route, you'll need a way to carry your gear. For "credit card" touring, you might be able to get away with one of the various Carradice saddlebags, possibly with a Bagman support (if your saddle doesn't have the loops for hanging a bag). If you want to carry more stuff, you'll need a trailer or racks plus panniers. Since a road bike won't have the braze-ons necessary to mount racks, your options there will be somewhat limited. Tubus and Old Man Mountain have both front and rear racks that can be mounted to bikes that don't have braze-ons. Wayne at The Touring Store carries Tubus and is supposed to be very helpful. Trailers are somewhat easier to attach that racks and affect the bike's handling less. The disadvantage of a trailer is that you have more tires to maintain, it's heavier than a set of racks, and it makes the bike much longer.

Putting a Carradice saddlebag on a Cervelo RS certainly makes the bike feel a bit different, but I don't find it objectionable and after a couple of miles it feels normal to me. If you pack lightweight gear and don't pack too much stuff you can fit everything you need into a large saddlebag and front handlebar bag. This might not be the way most people will want to tour, but it is definitely an option for those who want to use a road bike and pack lightly.

http://wheelsofchance.org/2012/12/25/gear-list/

I have the MEC Cote as the only bike. (MEC is like a Canadian REI).

It's got braze-ons for racks front and back. Disc brakes with 700cx32 tires. Tiagra triple, so I've got a granny gear for huffing and puffing up climbs.

I'm quite happy using it as a commuter so far, and thinking of doing a light tour (60km, nothing super fancy for an untrained guy).

One minor thing was that the seat post, seat stays and chainstay triangle is still a bit small, so you foot might touch the panniers, specially if they have side pockets and stuffed with things. I suppose I could move the panniers around, but depend on the weight, shifting the weight can affect handling.

calyth, Large panniers aren't needed for light to medium touring. Looks like a nice bike for your plans.

Brad

Quote:

Originally Posted by sstorkel (Post 15686236)

But if the bike comes from the manufacturer with a double, which seems normal for all of the CX bikes I've seen, then you'll have to swap shifters, front derailleur, and cranks. Why bother with the added expense/hassle if you know you're going to need touring-capable gearing?

I`ve noticed that, and what a bummer! Even worse, the current models of cross bikes more often than not have one form or another of funky BB shell, making it not so simple to dig that old triple drivetrain out of the parts stash and hang on the new frame.
To much monkey bidness. I`m confining my shopping to old models.

Obviously this is just a personal opinion. First off you can credit card or ultra light tour on any bike, but not any bike can do medium touring. If you want to do medium touring look into Cross bikes, their built more stout then a road bike but not quite as much as a full fledged touring bike. Bikes Direct has a pretty good selection of Cross bikes at prices that will beat LBS's; otherwise LBS selections include Kona, KHS, Jamis, Raleigh, and Surly and a few others offer nice cross bikes.

Even a standard road bike can handle light touring, but wouldn't be idea of medium weight. Problem with using road bikes is the geometry is tighter and will be less comfortable on day in and day out riding but people have done it. You can buy special quick release skewers with attachments that a Tubus rear pannier rack can mount to; see item 2: http://www.thetouringstore.com/TUBUS...ONS%20PAGE.htm

As far as compromises with cross bikes...the gearing is not quite as low as a full fledge touring bike, true, but you won't be hauling 65 to 75 pounds either, or a trailer, you'll only be carrying a max of 35 pounds which is fine with cross gears, and if you need better gears you can swap the gears with little problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradtx (Post 15690311)

calyth, Large panniers aren't needed for light to medium touring. Looks like a nice bike for your plans.

Brad

Large panniers aren't needed at all for the 60km ride.

For my daydream though (Ottawa to Gaspé, Quebec), that would need large panniers. ;)

I've just done a ten day tour in Portugal on a Specialized Sirrus. Straight bars so it won't suit a lot of people. Fine for a lightweight tour using Classic Ortleib front panniers on a light rear rack. For airtravel one pannier fitted into the other and wearing the heavier clothes I only had hand baggage plus the un-bagged/boxed bike (€80 return Dublin-Faro).

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