Hey guys, Ive never done any tours or anything biking related besides riding down a trail or to a friends house. Im 20 yrs old and in decent shape and I really would love to go on an amazing cycling adventure across the country. If anyone has any tips or advice to someone completely new to it all, (including what bike I should use) I would appreciate it very much. I currently have very low financials so an affordable bike that could get the job done is what Im looking for. Thanks in advance!

Lots of good information can be found on this forum. You may also want to visit America's Bicycle Travel Experts | Adventure Cycling Association and crazyguyonabike.com: Bicycle Touring: A place for bicycle tourists and their journals and https://www.americabycycle.com/ and one more https://www.phred.org/~alex/kenkifer/...ring/index.htm

Define affordable? In order to recommend a bike I would need to have some idea of your budget. I love my Surly Disc Trucker or at least an LHT but that might be beyond your budget or it might not be so I would like some info so I can proceed to give some tips. I will always say this the better gear you get towards the beginning the less you will spend on down the road to replace it. Most cheap gear is cheap for a reason. That is not to say you have to spend an arm and leg to get quality it just means you have to do some research and not pinch every penny at every juncture because you could end up paying on down the line.

I also wouldn't recommend just starting off on a cross country trip by bike especially not alone. Do some short trips, get used to touring a bit before you go full out. Get your gear in order and do some test rides so you can figure out what you can handle and make a better plan.

Lots of luck to you and feel free to PM me and ask questions any time (I try to check email daily so I can get the notifications I cannot always check the forum)

Well, Im looking at probably a budget of $600 for a decent ride, maybe a little more if necessary. If thats not enough I can always work towards more. Also, what is an estimate of how much spent on gear to anyone whos done this before? I dont need to much I can get by with just the essentials.

I am planning on spending $2,000 for bike and gear..

I am still undecided on the bike but it's a toss up between the Surly LHT and the Trek 520. These 2 bikes appear to be the standard and most chosen touring bikes on the market.. Both bike are in the $1,300 range..

The rest of my budget about $700'ish, is going towards racks, fenders, panniers and camping gear..

I am planning a Los Angeles to Kansas City route and will camp 2 nights and stay in a hotel every 3 night..

You can tour successfully on just about any bicycle. Ideally one having a longish chain stay so that your panniers ( bags ) are out of the way of your feet. A bike that fits you is important. For panniers, you can pay lots of money for a set of Ortlieb OrtliebUSA or make your own from plastic buckets ( been done many times before ) IMO the best advice one can give is just pick a date and a rough destination and leave. Enjoy

I came across this a while back and this is hardcore!

This guy did the Southern Tier on a $99 Walmart Fixed Gear..

He made it from Florida to Texas before he stopped posting videos.. I assume he did not complete the tour but still...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...018cDNkTJSnvzY

The Windsor Touring from BikesDirect.com at $599 delivered would probably fit your needs. Three of us rode the Trans America on them and were happy with the choice.

A used bike is another option.

I'll suggest that two of my articles and one of my journals might be useful to you. The articles are about frugal touring and light weight touring, and the journal is about our group of three riding the Trans America as our first tour in 2007.
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/staehling2007
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/frugal
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Ultralight

Edit:
I should have also mentioned that it is a good idea to figure out what you will be carrying and choose baggage and bike to suit the load.

I met a Japanese guy who bought a bunch of inexpensive WalMart gear and bike here in the US to avoid flying with it all. He rode the Pacific Coast and seemed to be having a great time. I think he had done about half of the coast when we met him.

While I'd rather ride a nicer bike than WalMart sells, I think folks seem to make touring be way more about the bike than makes sense. As long as the bike can make the distance, carry you and your gear, and be fun to ride it will be fine. Making the distance is a low hurdle and just about any bike can if cared for well, some may need more repairs and attention along the way than others. Carrying you and your gear can be a low hurdle if you pack light. Being fun to ride is purely a matter of personal preference. I know that I didn't think our Trans America would have been a much different experience on a $6,000 instead of our $600 ones, other than we would have worried more about them being stolen.

When I did my 1300-ish mile ride when I was about your age back in 1979, I was having a blast riding my mid-'70s mid-grade 'ten-speed' (the '75 Fuji S-10S in my signature). No special touring bike needed!!! I was in shape (5'8" and less than 140 pounds), and was used to riding several hundred miles per week. I had built up a fantastic set of wheels with the help of my college cycling club. I had lost my summer job, and with school less than a month away, I didn't think it was worth trying to find another temporary job. So with nothing better to do, I just set off to see my relatives 500+ miles away. No plan, Just ride.

I didn't carry cooking or camping gear, preferring to 'stealth camp' under a tree or under a bridge. I bought my food along the way. I'd ride a couple of hours after sunrise, stop at a diner or mom and pop restaurant and grab a 'breakfast special' for $1.99 or 3.00 at most, then ride a few more hours, munching on stuff I picked up at roadside stands (fruits, berries and veggies). Then ride some more and stop at a fast food place for a couple of burgers, fries and a shake. I spent around $8/day.

I only had two sets of clothing, plus a waterproof windbreaker with a hood. I even did laundry at a coin laundromat after four days each way (about midway) in whatever town I came across. Everything fit into a small duffle bag that I strapped to my cheap rear rack.

To me, this was a wonderful ride across America's heartland - Cleveland OH to the middle of Wisconsin and back in mid-late August. The weather was just about perfect - only rained one day, temps near 80 and 60 at night. Small towns in the Midwest are rarely more than 10 miles apart. Roadside vegetable stands are everywhere, many on the honor system with a cigar box to leave your money in. I had stopped at one roadside restaurant in the middle of nowhere to grab something to drink since it was north of 85° that afternoon, and they were dumbfounded that I had already ridden 80 miles that day. They wouldn't even take my money for the meal! One of my favorite things to do was if I saw a lawn sprinkler going in the middle of the afternoon, I'd stop and run through it a few times, and soak my head (and my clothes) in it to cool off.

The only bad thing that happened was on the way home - about two days from home - I taco'd the rear wheel too badly to fix, so catching a ride to a town with a bike shop to get a replacement wheel held me back a day - and it also taught me a valuable lesson - have a 'Plan B' or access to more funds to pay for emergency repairs if something goes wrong!

All in all, the memories of that trip are simply priceless!

Now that I retired last year, I'm planning a 'retirement ride' of just over a thousand miles. This will be at a bit slower pace, and just a nice three-week ride in the countryside to see the sights, history and quirky attractions in small town America. More of a bicycle tourist than touring by bicycle, if you catch my meaning.

Thats amazing! I want to do something like that because I dont have a lot of money and jobs where I am are tough to come by. So I really wanted to see if anyone had sucess with a low budget trip living of a few dollars a day etc. I can only imagine the memories Im going to make once Im ready to go. Ive been practicing a lot doing about 30 miles a day every day. If anyone has anymore advice on a "poor mans" setup that would be great.

Cougrrcj I rode motorcycle on trips, when I was in college and after graduation. After I turned 57, I gravitated to bicycle touring. It has been my dream since I was 11. The slower pace suits my mellowed senses. BTW I'm68+, still bicycle touring.

My first 1000 mile tour was on a borrowed bike with borrowed gear. The trip cost about $40 and a few favors in 1975. It turns out I loved the activity and slowly, over a decade or so, bought gear and bikes on sale, learned what worked for me and what didn't, made lots of mistakes and spent too much money a few times. Hopefully I'm still learning 40 years into it.

My current set-up, bike plus clothing and camping gear, cost me about $1200. I've ridden quite a few 5000+ mile years with it. You definitely don't have to spend a lot of money to have fun on a bike. For me, that's sort of the whole idea.

>>>https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...018cDNkTJSnvzY<<<<

Thanks for posting this one, raqball. I could really feel the guy's pain as the trip grew older.

You seem to have the motivation, the time, the money for a pedal across the US. It can be done for no more than you'd spend if you didn't go. (A good touring bike and quality gear can be sold at the end of the trip to recover about half the cost.)

At your age, a x-country ride is the equivalent of a degree in human relations, geography, logistics, and problem solving. It'll serve you the rest of your life.

Invest in the Adventure Cycling Association maps for their wealth of navigation info, points of interest, and free/low cost overnighting suggestions. You'll likely save their cost.

Go for it!

Pretty crazy.. I had to watch all the videos for some reason! I guess I was rooting for him!

He was about as unprepared as you could possibly get, on a $99 fixed gear bike, and with limited $$$.. Yet, he still managed to make it about half way across the country!

I really wanted to see how he would do in the mountains on that fixed gear, but he never made it that far..

Scarbroughs: You ought to watch the video log raqball recommended, not to be discouraged, but just to get an idea of what touring is really like.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...018cDNkTJSnvzY

There are no high-fives and parades for you at the end of each day. Do it because it's in your blood.

And there is no shame in the Lantern Rouge, Coming in Last, effect of Racing , if you are touring solo ..

Sorry, but I think that's misleading. He accentuates the negative a lot. It does not have to be that way. And you can high five yourself. Also, some of us did participate in a 4th of July parade in ND while crossing the country.

How many long tours have you actually taken?