Touring bike chat...

[iow tom]

Any touring bikers? Flat bar or drop bars.
Im hoping to one day get off the isle of wight and do a bit of touring of mainland britain. Any must see places?
Any pics of any rigs? Advice/suggestions on racks (both front and back) and panniers.
I have a few bikes (vintage racers and a 2010 kona smoke 700c) and im hoping to build something with flat bars (fpr my poor back) for touring.
Thanks

 

[Jamiedyer]

Re:

Hi Tom
Quite a few tourers on here, both retro and modern.
Lots of touring stories littered about the forum to get some inspiration from, and from all corners of the country as well.
I would love to get down your way for a tour someday soon. The UK is a beautiful place to tour.

I have a few touring rides on my blog: http://theroadlesspedalled.blogspot.com/
Most are from up here in Scotland.


Jamie

 

[iow tom]

Ha ha, jamiedyer ive always wanted to get up ypur way. From what ive seen of scotland, its stunning. The iow is very nice for cycling too. Lots of old disused train lines and bridleways etc. Never far from the sea.
Ill try check out your blog.
I would like to tour on a vintage but from the geometry, the seat is always a fare bit higher than the bars and my back cant take it. On my 2010 kona smoke, the bars are slightly higher and its more comfortable so i may have to use that.
Thanks for the reply

 

[bagpuss]

Re:

Shorpshire and the Welsh border countyside is wonderfull . Lots of quite roads and suberb cafes to be found . Do not miss Iron Bridge.
Mercian at Ironbridge by rebalrid, on Flickr

I also found the Lleyn Peninsula rewarding .High summer best avoid due to narrow road and alot of caravans . The route through Snowdonia is magical
Link to pictures here.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74418119@ ... 8847088526

Racks depends on the frame. Has the one you are going to use have bosses ? Panniers I tend to travel with medium sizes ones and a rack top bag .Handle bar bag for accessible items.
Are you using b&b or camping?

 

[jackosbournesnr]

I built a Tourer around a Genesis Tour de Fer frameset. Not a vintage frame or build, but steel and lots of leeway in terms of setup.

Here's the build thread and "blog" from the LEJOG I did in May.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=380684

 

[iow tom]

I drove through wales once. What a stunning piece of the world! I would love to return with my bike. Ive always wanted a mercian but not with my budget lol.

Those genesisbikes are supposed to be great. I think my friend rode from athens, Greece, back home to the isle of wight on a genesis. Maybe it was called a 'croix de fer' ?

The lejog i'd like to attempt one day, might be too much for me but what a great way to see alot of Britain. A bike shop owner here on the island has just set off to do it. He has heart problems so i wish him the vwry best of luck!

My current bikes for touring are as follows; a 1978 raleigh roadster converted into a mutlispeed racer. An 80s dawes horizon tourer (lightweight but a little small for my 6ft 1"), a 2010 kona smoke 700c with cx tyres and flat bars (very very comfortable if a bit heavy) and i have a 2004 marin muirwoods mtb with 26" wheels which will be loaded up fpr off road touring and camping.
I think on the tourers i'd largely be staying in b&bs and on the mtb i'd just be camping.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

A friend of mine has an older Kona hybrid he has covered a lot of miles on as a Tourer, we're off tomorrow to do a week in the Highlands actually. The Smoke should make a decent flat bar Tourer, as long as you find it comfy and you can get mudguards and plenty of carrying capacity on it then I wouldn't worry about whether it's heavy or not, your kit will weigh loads and I find that having a good number of spinny gears means you can keep going no matter the incline/weather/your tiredness. It's easy to put off doing it, but I've managed a number of 48 hour-ish sojourns this year and most people can find a couple of days to get out and see the Country, even if you start at home you'll get 50 or 60 miles away.

 

[pigman]

Re:

My tourer is a roadified MTB - 93 rockhopper, single chainring, 5 cogs at back and slick tyres. Day to day it has a basket on the rear rack to put a jumper/pop bottle etc in. For touring, the basket comes off, a front rack is installed and panniers are added. Pedals are rat traps with no clips or cleats. Puts me in total non-performance mode.

 

[iow tom]

Pigman i modified a mtb into a drop bar tourer once and it cost me a fortune and didnt work fpr me. It then cost me a small fortune to change it back lol.
Glad yours worked out

 

[NeilM]

Re:

I'm retiring at the end of the year and plan to get out and about and do some touring on bikes.

I have a Genesis which my daughter won me for free and a Trek 830 which I have converted from a £16.50 purchase on the bay, I only have a few hundred shakedown miles on each and replaced the bizarre geared Shimano Tiagra triple on the genesis with an XT triple crank so that I can climb and I'm still trying to find a saddle that suits the Trek.