Well as soon as my fixer sells I will be buying a new touring bike at some point. Does anyone know if anyone makes a completely rigid 29er for road use and touring? All the 29ers I have been seeing so far seem to be for mountain.
Also, does anyone know if a 29er for road use and touring is a good option. 29ers have always seemed like they would be great for touring.
My brothers girlfriend has a 29" road bike. Its pretty heavy and its anoying because if you dont have your toes on the pedals they hit the front wheel when you turn. Apart from that its good. I dont see it has any advantages over 26" bikes though.
If I was still biking like I used to I would be sorely tempted to buy a Surley Big Dummy frame and build up a cargo/utility/touring bike out of that. I love my Xtracycle and think that a Big Dummy would be the ultimate for remote touring.
As for 29ers I bet you you could build up a sweet touring machine out of a Karate Monkey.
yeah I like the Karate Monkey for sure as well as the Qball frame.
Sask: The Big Dummy is totally the ultimate. I was wondering about what kind of tour would require such a beast. It seems like it would need to be a multi-week tour for the Big Dummy’s extra carrying capacity to be useful.
How much do you plan to carry? I tend to think a Big Dummy would be way overkill for touring.
I think I’d prefer to carry as little as possible and go with a more roadish setup like the Bianchi Volpe or the Surly Long Haul Trucker.
Yes I agree the Dummy would be overkill for a lot of touring, which is why I said remote touring when bringing it up. I think it would be excellent for doing say the Top of the World Highway in Alaska.
Basically any time you would be carrying enough to warrant a trailer I would opt for a big Dummy or Xtracycle.
I have used my Xtracycled bike for mostly trips in northern Sask on rocky, muddy root strewn trails and it by far out-preformed other bikes using panniers or trailers. On the highway it was less of an advantage but it still felt more like just riding a bike than when towing a trailer on the highway.
It also makes a great grocery getter.
Sorry for bringing this off topic
Back to 29ers
I wonder how many touring frames could fit KH rims and Big Apple tires?
thank god youve got that sig hey!!
well depending on what you want, there’s tons of options. something like a surly long haul trucker is traditional type touring bike. you called it a 29er though, but wanted one for road use, in bike terms a 29er = 700C wheels with big tires for offroad, and a touring bike would have more roadie type tires and just referred to as a 700xwhatever, ie 700x32 is a fine size for a fully loaded touring bike. it sounds like you need a touring bike. the surly would be a fine choice. my shop (which is nowhere near you) sells Jamis and they make a nice all steel tourer called the aurora which is under $900 US and nicely equipped. anyway, more info would be helpful.
I will vouche for the Jamis Aurora. I have ridden heavilly loaded across the US twice on my aurora. It’s pretty amazing for the price. I will say that a wider tire is a littler better - esp on the rear, if you want durability. I ride 700x32 on the back and 700x28 on the front. some folks I’ve ridden with go with the 700x38’s on the back. Those tires generally have amazing tread. (BTW, get Schawlbe Marathon touring tires, they are the best - but bontarager makes a good touring tire too.)
On word of caution regarding the Auroras, and maybe this has changed since I bought mine years ago, it the stock wheels and tires are complete shit. I’ll never ride a ritchey wheelset again, ever. The tires also wear out in 300 miles or so. Maybe Jamis has fixed the problem, but I’m not sure. (Mark?)
Also, keep in mind that a good touring bikes needs to be able to be repaired wherever you are. This means that your parts should be hella common. Don’t get a weird wheelsize that you won’t be able to find tires for in a town of 200. Don’t get all fancy with a touring bike - keep it simple and common. Depending on where you are riding your life could depend on how well you can fix your bike.
My dream touring bike would have either 26" or 700c wheels (not sure on that yet, 26 are stronger but slower), stiff steel frame (must be weldable on the road), and friction shifters (because if they brake you can fix them with a stick). The Jamis has regular Shimano deore brake shifters which are nice - but if they break on the road you are buggered. They do have downtube adjust though, so it’s not too hard to keep them adjusted while riding.
Any advice for a newbie?
Ive been looking into a road bike. I like speed, and lots of it. My mom has a Smoothie cruiser bike, and I can maintain 30mph on that. Id like to push that further.
I also like hills quite a bit. Going up and down. And I also enjoy a bit of offroad. Basic stuff though, nothing bigger than dropping down a curb and gravel roads.
Ive seen a few cheap ones from walmart, but I dont want something that will crumble under light offroad use, or have bad shifting and all that other stuff that can go wrong.
Just PM me about it so this doesnt take the thread away from the original posters wants.
Yeah I agree. I would really love to do some really hardcore long distance touring- the type that requires this setup, but it seems really impractical to have a beast like that sitting around when I can’t tour all that often.
Definitely! I love both the Jamis and the Trucker although I have only tried the trucker… My only concern with the relaxed road geometry of a touring bike is pain in my shoulders and back (even though this relaxed geo is meant to correct this). I am seriously considering either ‘going bent’ or going ‘bent on three wheels’. They are so perfect for touring but again one runs into the problem of practicality for a city dweller.
This is a long shot but I have been racking my brain for months trying to remember the name of a touring bike I found somewhere online. All I can remember is that it was like green and yellow or yellow and silver. The real defining feature was a ‘s’ shaped downtube. If i remember correctly it was 1299 or so and it was aluminum. Oh, and the maker was not one I had heard of before so forget Novara or Trek or anything. I guess if I know these details I should remember the name, but alas. If anyone recognizes this description, let me know.
Levi
I really think you guys are overthinking this. A long, remote tour doesn’t require much more than a short, non-remote tour.
If you are on-road: Get a good steel frame that fits you (really, ANY steel frame that doesn’t come from walmart) and the upgrade your hubs and wheels. Get good strong racks for your panniers (or use a B.O.B. depending on your style.) Upgrade (or downgrade) to friction shifters for reliability and then start riding.
You don’t need to carry any more than you would for a long hike with the exception of bike tools. 4 panniers or one bob is plenty. I had a friend ride from the arctic circle to the bottom of South America - self supported and carrying over 7 liters of water in some places - on a random steel frame bike cobbled together. Expensive wheels (He used the $360 hubs found here: http://www.rivbike.com/products/list/wheels_hubs_and_so_on#product=none) and nice rims - but the rest was cheapo.
To do something more pounding, like offroad touring (say, the great divide bike trail that follows the continental divide and has 3-4 foot drops) most people just use a standard whatever mountain bike with an offroad B.O.B. trailer. (BTW offroaders use BOBs vs panniers because it keeps the weight off their wheels, hubs, and frame. Doing drops with that extra weight will kill your hubs, even the nice ones)
I should mention that most of the roads my buddy was on in central and south america weren’t paved - and his 700x38 wheels with nice hubs and panniers did just fine.
So long story short, don’t worry about building some monster truck bike just because you are going on some tour in the middle of nowhere. Find a steel frame in someone’s basement, upgrade the wheels, clean the rest up, buy some nice racks (or a trailer), and get some decent bags. That’s all you need for ANY tour. More weight = more stuff on your bike breaking. If you get a huge heavy frame, your hubs and spokes will just brake that much faster.
Never tour on an aluminum frame. When it brakes (and frames break more than people like to think) it’ll be damn hard to find someone who can weld it.