anyone here into touring? what sort of rig do you have? i currently have a jamis nova for commuting but want to convert to touring and add a triple front ring. thinking of staying with the tiagra i have just to save money and touring i am not that concerned about style or too much with weight. thoughts?

anyone here into touring? what sort of rig do you have? i currently have a jamis nova for commuting but want to convert to touring and add a triple front ring. thinking of staying with the tiagra i have just to save money and touring i am not that concerned about style or too much with weight. thoughts?

My first bicycle tour was this past summer, but it was on a mountain bike. I rode the Great Divide.

Since then I've been looking into touring bikes, 'cause I *definitely* want to do more touring, but It'll be at least a couple years before I'm able to tour again (Didn't have a mortgage to worry about then. Now I do.), so I haven't started any serious bike-shopping..

Surly's long-haul-trucker frame looks like a good bet...

-Trevor

anyone here into touring? what sort of rig do you have? i currently have a jamis nova for commuting but want to convert to touring and add a triple front ring. thinking of staying with the tiagra i have just to save money and touring i am not that concerned about style or too much with weight. thoughts?

I really want to get into touring. I was looking at the Jamis Nova as a good cheap commuter/whatever bike that might also be good for light touring. It seems to have a fairly steep head tube though which might make handling a bit sketchy... how does it handle under a load in your opinion? I would imagine you'd want to keep the weight of your load down to a minimum with this bike. My philosophy is that If I don't buy a touring bike, then I won't be tempted to carry the huge load that a dedicated touring bike will allow me to carry, which I see as a good thing.
I was thinking about a compact 34/48 crank up front with a 12-27 cogset on the back...again if i keep the loads to a minimum this should be enough gear.

PS I've been bugging gregg to turn this into the commuter/touring forum ;-)

Did a credit card tour in the Colorado mountains last summer, and planning another one this summer. I used a regular road bike, and attached a rack and a small rack trunk. Kept the bagage to a minimum - about 10 lbs. Worked really well.

I'm talking about classic, loaded, self-supported, multi-day trips where you might be carrying 40-60 pounds of tent, sleeping bag, food, water, cooking gear, etc. It's obviously not impossible to do this on a sport tourer, a 'cross bike with rack fittings or even an MTB, but it'll work a lot better on a dedicated touring frame. The problem I encountered using other types of bikes for touring was that the top tube wasn't sufficiently stiff, and at speed I'd experience severe shimmying (kind of a tail-wagging-the-dog sensation--pretty ugly), especially on downhills. I've never had this issue on my touring rig, an old Novara Randonee, which is still going strong after a dozen years or so.

The way I've gotten around the large load issue with 'cross bikes is by using a trailer (a B.O.B. Yak); I've done a number of 2-3 day trips towing about 50 lbs on a Bianchi Axis, and it was a good combination. The only problem I've had is when braking on downhills, I've found that the trailer wants to keep going, and I've nearly jackknifed a couple of times; if I ever actually buy my own Yak, I'm going to add some sort of brake to it so it'll drag slightly on descents.

I just finished building a touring bike I'll be using this June on the Lewis & Clark trail starting in St. Louis. I had a custom titanium frame built by Habanero Cycles and a custom steel fork built by Tom Teasdale. I put Shamino Dura Ace triple shifters and front derailler, Shamino XTR rear derailler/cassette, an FSA triple crankset, Chris King headset, Chris King hubs/Mavic A719 rims, Performance Forte Stem/Handlebar, and a Thompson seatpost with a Fizik Ariorne saddle. My racks are Tubus and the panniers are Arkel front low rider, rear are Cannondale, and I have an Arkel small handlebar bag.

The bike rides great not loaded. I havn't ridden it loaded yet, so, I can't report on that aspect of the bike yet. One thing I'd like to say, if you buy a touring bike, think about how often you will use it just for touring. You might want to get something you will enjoy on non touring rides, as well.

Ted

...is that a road triple you're talking about? While I obviously don' t have any idea of your level of experience or fitness, the loads you'll be carrying or the topography/weather you'll encounter, you might want to leave yourself open to using a MTB (or a "compact" road, i.e., 110/74) crankset. I (and most other long-time tourists I know) can't see using the 52-42-30 set up; it's unlikely you'll ever use anything close to your top end, and the bottom end, even with a 32 or 34t cog, might not do the job. I'd guess at least 2/3 of the loaded tourers I see have a 46-34-24/22. The consensus seems to be that a 20 inch low gear is about right.

Got any photos?

Walrus, I've read those thoughts on the perfect gears for touring and I don't have a problem with them. I believe the important gear is the lowest one for getting up the long, steep mountain pass. If one has a high gear, it just might come in handy with a tail wind or going downhill. Otherwise, it's not harming anything. My low gear is 23.82 gear inches, a little higher than some recommend, but, it's lower than my previous tourer, which I used going over several mountain passes in the rockies. Plus, this bike is much lighter and has top of the line components. The only thing different is my age and strength, so, time will tell and I just might wish I had a lower gear. As for as using a mountain bike, they are very uncomfortable to me. I like the road bike feel, especially with the traditional drop handlebars. I did have the head tube made taller, so the handlebars are even with the saddle.

Thanks, Ted