New bike!

bainbridge

bainbridge

bainbridge

Soldato
Joined
9 Dec 2009
Posts
5,315
Location
Bristol
After a fantastic ride across Europe last month on my 12 year old bike I had 1100 miles to think about exactly what I want out of a bike.

And here she is:

Cinelli_Hobootleg.jpg
[/url]

Steel frame
35mm tyres (will take 40s)
spare spokes on frame
steel racks front and rear

It's much more agile than I imagined and it's fantastic being able to go off road at will.

Really looking forward to loading up and heading off into the middle of nowhere :)
 
Yes there's a couple of videos of the Tour d'Afrique featuring the bike. I've noticed on the videos the bike has integrated brifters rather than bar end shifters. The bar end shifters are the only thing I don't like, it's inconvenient having to reach down to change gear. Looking at replacing them with brifters.


Planning a couple of long weekend rides from Bristol up into Wales and then maybe cycling up to Aberdeen when I get more time off.
 
I'm not sure what I'd go for if I were in the market for a Touring bike. The traditional choices (Surly Long Haul Trucker or Thorn) just scare me with their weight. It must be possible to buy a decent touring frame that doesn't weigh half a planet?
 
yeah frame weight isn't much of an issue away from racing. Like my new bike is 8.5kg but with pedal, saddlebag, gps & waterbottles its more like 11kg + my 78kg with clothes on, close to 90kg all in. A frame weighing 0.5 or 1kg extra will do nout like.

Like the look of some current Kona travel frames but the current P2 forks just look weird now. Used to love them when they first came out.
 
touch said:
A couple of kg extra on the frame is nothing once you've loaded the bike with ~10kg of kit?
Or, if you're going superlight with your kit, you need to ditch the panniers and get soft framebag and saddlepack so you dont need a proper touring bike anyway.
Click to expand...

I tend to do something more like this, though I generally tour with hotels/hostels rather than camping.

To be honest, Surly LHTs weigh ridiculous amounts - it's not just the frame that weighs a lot but the finishing kit too. It's not that much compared to all your gear but you still notice 3-4kg imo.
 
touch said:
A couple of kg extra on the frame is nothing once you've loaded the bike with ~10kg of kit?
Or, if you're going superlight with your kit, you need to ditch the panniers and get soft framebag and saddlepack so you dont need a proper touring bike anyway.
Click to expand...

Every KG matters when going uphill, you know that. That's why I am such a racing snake, not a spare ounce on me. Oh...:(
 
George Hincapie said:
Every KG matters when going uphill, you know that. That's why I am such a racing snake, not a spare ounce on me. Oh...:(
Click to expand...

There comes a point where the weight doesnt make a difference. When you're riding a loaded bike that weighs >20kg in total, you need to change your riding style. You can push up hills at all, you need to get into a low gear much earlier and spin up slowly.
Touring bikes are heavy because weight is not a consideration for most people who will buy them.

If you want to go super light, you shouldnt be looking at touring bikes at all. You dont need something with pannier mounts because panniers are too heavy, you need lightweight frame bags like the image I posted before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom