Hi Friends,
I am graduating college and a best friend and I are biking along the coast from Portugal to France and maybe farther. I am trying to see who has done something similar and what bike you would recommend for such an adventure. Right now I have been checking out the Masi CX Comp, and the Bianchi Volpe.
Any thoughts, comments, and recommendations would be much appreciated.

THANK YOU!!!!!

RYAN

Hello, and welcome!!
How much gear are you carrying? Are you camping or hotels, guesthouses etc.? Are you an experienced, well conditioned rider? Do you prefer disc or rim brakes? Do you have big feet; the shorter chainstays on CX bikes can cause heel strike on the rear panniers?

I did do something similar, just a little different approach. My wife and I started a ride in Lisbon and we did eventually get to France. However, we headed east across Portugal and Spain then north along the Mediterranean Coast. Portugal is a great place to tour.

I have a Volpe, and it is a nice bike. I also have access to 2 other touring bikes, a LHT and a Cannondale T2; but I much rather ride the Volpe if I'm not too heavily loaded. I have ridden it across the U.S. and on a couple of other long tours. I'm planning on using it for my next tour this summer.

I can't tell you much about the Masi. However, just looking at the specs, the gearing is too high (IMO), and limited with a double crank. However, I'm not sure the gearing on the new Volpes are much better.

The new Volpes, mine is a 2007, make it even easier with fork blade eyelets for a front rack. I just picked up a 2014 fork, and plan on changing forks before the next trip. You can tell I'm biased, but it is my favorite bike. I use it for everything, and ride it almost every day.



There is a Volpe hiding somewhere under all that gear.


I did change the drive train to a 44/32/22 crank and an 11-34 rear cassette. It is not a big deal, and would have to be done on most touring bikes to get that gearing. I'm not sure what the options are with 10 speed drivetrains.


Good luck on your venture.

Interesting that you didn't mention that Surly LHT which is a pretty standard choice for a touring bike. It's a fine bike and has longer chain stays than the Volpe which is a plus. It also comes stock with better gearing for climbing. Other touring bikes I'd consider are the Kona Sutra, Soma Saga (which is available as a frame or complete bike) and the Fuji touring bike. I'm sort of looking for a new touring bike and I'm seriously considering the Sutra; not quite as long a wheelbase as the Surly LHT. A long wheelbase touring bike (like the Surly or the Saga or the Fuji) has long been considered the standard for touring as you don't have to worry about striking your panniers with the heels (there are other ways to get at this problem besides long chainstays though) and it puts the center of gravity over the rear hub which should help make the bike a bit more stable.

The point is that there are lots of good choices but I'm skeptical that the ones you picked are the best for your needs even though they clearly will work (and you might well like them better without bags than a touring bike with a longer wheelbase).

Ryan, Welcome to the forum.

I too have a Volpe in the family, my daughter's. It would be my choice.

Brad

Residents of Europe should first look at German makes, lots of those available.
Next I would consider Novara Randonee which many have bought lately, has a longer WB than most, really nice.
An inch or 2 slope on the TT is a good feature.

The Velo Orange Campeur is really nice also.
LHTs have level TTs which have caused endless fitting problems with short head tubes and gangly stems.
The back end of Saga's is nice but they have really goofy head tube angles designed to make all sizes about the same short WB and toe overlap.
That Volpe looks way short.

I bought the Volpe, partly because of Doug64's recommendation. I never regretted my decision. If you do light touring, keeping your load<20lbs, by not cooking, the CX bikes do offer attractive alternative. You can meet challenge from cyclists who happen to cross your path. I too changed the crank set to 44-32-22, and retain the rear cog set 12-30. I changed tyres to Panaracer T.SERV PT 700x28c
THe Volpe is light and lively. My son's friend has a Masi CX Comp, and bare bike, it was definitely heavier than my Volpe. The Volpe simply ate Masi CX Comp for breakfast, or snack for that matter.
[IMG] https://f.ptcdn.info/915/016/000/1395...-Volpe33-o.jpg [/IMG]

Thanks Doug64,

That is some great advice, some info about me, I am not that experienced, but have started training for the ride which we will hopefully be doing in September. I am hoping to get the bike within the next two weeks so I can condition myself to it. We are going to be camping for the most of the ride with occasional hotel stays, don't have a set preference on the brakes, and have medium size feet, 9 1/2.

Thank you!

Ryan

I'm really glad you like your bike!

I've actually carried up to 35-40 lbs without a problem, and I think your newer model will do an even better job with that weight.

One of the complaints sometimes heard about the Volpe was fork modulation when braking. I've never had that problem, but some folks have. The new forks have about an 1/8" more diameter at the area around the brake bosses, and more diameter distributed proportionally over the rest of the fork. It also has two eyelets on the front fork dropouts instead of just one and mid-fork bosses on the fork blades. I just got the new fork back from the powder coating guys; it was the same blue as your bike, and just was not going to cut it with the green on my bike. It will be interesting to see how much heavier the newer forks are, but I'll bet they don't get any modulation complaints.

What crank did you use, and did you have to change the bottom bracket? The cranks I really like are no longer available, and I'm looking for a replacement crank to lower the gearing on my daughter's bike. The OP might also be interested.

I have size 10, and those are Ortlieb backroller panniers. I have not had a problem with my heels hitting the panniers; and as you can see in the picture, the panniers are centered over the rear axle.

I changed the crank to FSA Dyna Drive Mtn which I got for free from a fellow I met through local bike forum. It came with the BB, but I didn't have to replace the BB. The FD only needed slight repositioning and minor tuning. The STI shifted easily.

Well, what do you know! I have exactly the same rear rack. BTW the new Volpe comes with Tiagra GS which should accommodate rear cog 12-34, despite what the manula says. 12-36 is possible, but iffy.
[IMG] https://www.thaimtb.com/forum/downloa...php?id=3909917 [/IMG]