Retrobike Touring.

This is the first mono wheel trailer I've used. It does feel different to the twin wheel kiddie trailer, but not that bad. Planning a couple of shakedown rides in the next few days so I'll report back.

Go see the first official Retrobike Mini Tour post here:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=266006

Apologies for the short notice.

This is where the fun begins. I hope.

No helmet no ride,nice touch.

what a great thread this is. Last month I had a little bike holiday in the south of England, mainly to ride the South Downs way from east to west. In true retro style, I had prepared a '92 Blizzard that suited very well for this ride. Main packing were two Ortlieb classics at the back. I don't like steerer bags as they take away sight on my front wheel - something I really need when riding trails. New tyres (Geax AKA), new brake blocks, new headset (NOS M901) and new UN55 bottom bracket were necessary preparations. I added a slightly more upright, shorter stem, Syncros bar ends and modern saddle for a tad more comfort... Absolutely necessary! The tent was a small Wolfskin Gossamer, perfect as it fits well on the rear carrier.





All in all the trip was fantastic! Dover-->Eastbourne in the first two days, so plenty of time to enjoy the coast and the Romney Marsh. Then a bit more than two days for the South Downs way from Eastbourne to Winchester. It's better to ride it in the opposite direction I would say but I won't complain. Arriving early in Winchester made me decide to take the train back to Brighton. Then two days from Brighton back to Dover. Just a week for a nice Kent and Sussex roundtrip.

No mechanical trouble, not even a puncture. I was a bit afraid that a retro bike is too much nostalgia for such a ride, but now I think it's actually a perfect companion. All works well and because it's proven technology, it keeps working. Some parts such as hubs, mechs and shifters are more than 20 years old, but they never failed in these years and with proper maintenance I think they will last forever.

And the SDW.... What a great trail!

Loving this thread

Chopper, nice trailer there

I really rate mine, performs well at d/h speed too, only ever used a mono-wheel, and I've found one only gets a speed-wobble at 20mph+, so all good



My trailer, lurking in the background at the top of Uig hill, on Skye...

On a side-note, note the g/fs retro Trek, laden, front brake only, she's a brave lady....

It's great to see people providing content for this thread and showing enthusiasm for the subject. I'm really glad to see that I have started something worth reading.

Zimbob, why don't you tell us a little more about your tour. What route did you take and what sights did you see. Pictures would be great. You never know, it may inspire some of us to complete the same tour.

Keep it coming ladies and gents.

Just done all 8 pages. Excellent thread. thank you. Food for thought for next summer. Trailer or panniers though? Is it easy to unhook the trailer for a pootle to shop etc once you get somewhere? Or am I missing the point?

How far is a good day's ride 40 ish miles it seems? Thinking I get dropped by the boss out of area and ride back for two or three days at first.

We did a month long tour last year - we camped most nights but didn't do any of our own cooking.
Karen carried two of the regular ortlieb panniers and I carried the same plus a (very light) Easton Kilo tent. If anything, we found we had too much stuff with us...

The tent was expensive but brilliant.

Blog of it here http://catchweaselsummervacation.blogspot.co.uk/

The trailer / pannier argument has no clear answer.

Trailers:
FOR: tracks the bike, best for singletrack, saves weight on the back wheel, don't affect handling
AGAINST: more weight to haul uphill, unwieldy to turn round, more to go wrong, shunts bike downhill.

Panniers:
FOR: Compact, simple, cheap
AGAINST: can affect handling, low panniers can strike objects on singletrack, extra weight on bike and wheels.

I've toured with both, if I was doing very broken singletrack I'd take a trailer, otherwise panniers are great. The trailer gets used for anything outsize like our 4-man tent.

For camping touring then 50 miles is comfortable, for B&B then 60+ is fine. Adjust for terrain!!! B&B touring in Devon on the tandem with No.1 son on the back and No.2 son in the trailer 30 miles was easily enough!

Long time since I did any substantial touring, but one or two things I would add.

Don't get hung up on gear. When I started camping via bike as a teen, we took way too much gear. Once I got to my longest tours in my thirties, we were carrying as little as possible. Touring down Denmark to Turkey midsummer in the late eighties we set off with no camping or cooking gear and just a change of clothes, some tools, maps and basic first aid gear. That totally changed my attitude to touring. OK I couldn't do that now, but I am always seeing tourers loaded up to the gunwales and that, to me, takes a lot of the fun out of cycling.

That chap I bumped into a couple of years back had been right around the world, many thousands of miles, and was running an extremely light setup, methodically reduced to the bare necessities. He was able to actually enjoy riding the bike, and that is important when you are covering serious distance.

Back in the old days we didn't really measure our progress either. I can't guess our daily rate over 3000 miles, but four months odds says around 25 miles a day. That is a reasonable rate for leisurely touring.