Retrobike Touring.

Re:

Cheers gents, looking like a lot more thought needs to be done, even for a basic overnighter. I'll get he bike something like first and see what fits best etc. really like the idea of sleeping under the stars but realistically a tent may be safer/convenient etc

I have have four or five lightweight camping trips planned for the coming months - the imminent Jenn ride in the Lakes; a mini tour or Anglesey; a solo jaunt over the Peaks; a London circumnavigation (of sorts) and the Dirty Boar event in Belgium. Am building up a Genesis Vagabond that will be a development of the Fugio I have used for bike packing over the last two years.

For a single night a bivvy bag is tempting - you can have reasonable certainty about the weather. For a longer trip I think the extra 1kg or so of a tent is well worth it.

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I was in Dorset yesterday so I hit the road with the Kona. I was near Wareham to start with then > Dorchester > Bridport > West Bay > Weymouth > Portland Bill > back to the start. Total was about 80 miles, as I only had the rack bag on I was much quicker than last weekend! The weather was mostly overcast, but I escaped getting wet. I stopped at Dorchester for breakfast, West Bay for coffee (£1!) and then had a sandwich on Portland - not a whole lot of food for 6 hours pedalling....

SP

awesome!!!! i used to live on the naval estate across the moorland from portland bill, loved it.

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Well, looks like topic is slowly overtaken by not so retro bikes, so I will post one of my rigs, also not 100% retro but hopefully it fits.



Frame will be for sell in few days, btw, so if somebody is interested shoot me PM.

Any reason why you put the panniers on the front? I see loads of Americans seem to do this; my bikes ride and steer better with only something light on the front.

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Full of inspiration from this thread, I decided I want to do some touring too.
I thought my most suitable rig would be the 1989 Avanti, which has lived on the indoor trainer for the past 3 months so I can get my strength back after a bad accident. In fact I've never ridden this bike yet other than indoors.
I bought front and rear Axiom pannier racks and a Brooks Conquest saddle for it and began dreaming in Sustrans routes.



531? Check. Slack geometry? Check. Solid, reliable running gear? Check.



.....Rack mounts? Negative :facepalm: I completely overlooked that detail! :roll:



Doesn't even have eyelets or an effing bridge for mudguards!
But it's okay, I don't mind making brackets and fittings for it.



I also need to hacksaw the handy little pump pegs off so the rack can sit level.
The front racks didn't fit well either. I was told I'd need to purchase a special longer skewer..... I just used a spare rear on the front instead and it's fine
P clips for the fork legs should sort the top mounts out too but I'm thinking about making something more stout.
Once I've sorted those things and once I'm able to do the mileage on the trainer I'm going to put some suitable tyres on and do a 3 day wild camping trip for its maiden voyage, hopefully late May-June

Looks ideal! Check heel clearance on your panniers before you take the hacksaw to those lovely pump pegs. I tend to run with the rack tilted back a little in preference to setting the panniers rearwards.

hamster":3pe7tcnh said:

Any reason why you put the panniers on the front? I see loads of Americans seem to do this; my bikes ride and steer better with only something light on the front.

Click to expand...

Heheh actually 2 reasons and to be honest you named one of them quite well - it's all that craziness going on www with fancy pictures of fancy bikes loaded up front. And the second (and I would like to say the main, for my defense ) was that this bike doesn't have rear rack mounts.

I agree with you 100%, I didn't like a feeling with heavy front end at all. It's one of the reasons why this frame is now for sale.