I need people's opinions; buy a touring bike or modify my road bike for touring?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on April 10, 2010 at 8:39am

This is really helpful...and that sounds like an awesome trip!!!

The thing I didn't like about the Aurora Elite is that it has road bike gearing in the back. The regular Aurora has mountain bike gearing, giving you a much wider range, particularly in the "granny" realm.

Someone at Jamis must have thought the same thing, because the 2010 Aurora Elite now has a Deore XT setup in the rear. They also added disc brakes...which seem to be cropping up on more and more touring bikes now.

In addition to awesome stopping power, as I understand it, disc brakes make sense on high mileage bikes because you're not wearing out the rim. Replacing disc brake pads and the occasional rotor is much cheaper and easier than replacing a rim.

On the other hand, disc brakes add weight, and some old school touring types don't like discs because they require a "dish" to be incorporated into the wheel lacing, theoretically making the wheel weaker.

That said, I have beaten the hell out of my mountain bike, which has Avid Juicy 7 disc brakes, and the wheels seem to hold up fine. Granted, my mountain bike isn't loaded with 40 pounds of gear...but touring bikes don't typically get ridden off of five-foot drops.

Anyway, do you have any pics from your trip to share?


BirdonBike said:

I recently returned from my first extended tour and on it had to climb some pretty good hills in the Julian Alps with 75 pounds of gear on an updated Miyata 710 with a 12-27 cassette with a 46-36-26 Sugino XD600 crank. My fiancee was riding a brand new Jamis Aurora Elite, which is a great off the shelf Touring bike from Smart Bike Parts who threw in fenders, Brooks saddle, rear panniers, and offered rear rack but we already had our Tubus racks. Her drivetrain was a 12-27 with a 50-39-30. This being our first tour, we didn't really know what to expect and turned out that my drive train was pretty good for me, but we ended up having to change out the crank just before we hit at the heart of the climbs in slovenia.

I loved the feel of the bike fully-loaded with panniers (now I actually really don't like the feel of my bike without the weight) but with my Miyata, which has smaller tubes and 1" quill stem, i had a lot of trouble adjusting the balance of my load to get the ride just right. Since my return, i have bought a new Surly LHT Frame and am simply swapping my components over and putting all the old component back on the miyata for my dedicated city/strolling bike. The Surly LHT is cheap, strong, and dependable.

I would recommend nothing less than 35c tires though and you will definitely love the fact that you have fenders when the first rain comes, especially if you are touring with another person, it is just common courtesy. At some point in our tour, we were riding with a German cyclist riding a beautiful custom built expedition bike with Rolff seven speed hub and 26" wheels and Schwalbe Marathons. I was envious anytime we had to ride on loose gravel or worse, sand, because he could plow through anything with those wheels and tires. There was another point where the beautiful road through a long Albanian mountain valley turned into what look like a dried up river bed and we decided to turn back because our 37c continental travel contacts didn't have enough meat to handle 60km of that road. Now that i have the LHT which can handle wider tires, I have bought Schwalbe Marathon Extremes at 40c. I can roll through anything now, but it might be overkill for riding around the midwest.

That said, the first time you hit 35-40 mph downhill on a fully loaded touring bike is the most magical feeling ever!!!!

Brett Ratner said:

Thanks for all the good input!!!

Here's a couple of things to add about my current setup:

I have a Dura Ace 7800 triple drivetrain...so it's a 10-speed cassette in the rear (which tend to be geared more for racing than for hauling). The biggest 10-speed cassette I've found is a 12-27 tooth. Combined with the triple ring in front, that may give me adequate low gears for climbing...but true touring bikes seem to have 34t cogs in the back.

With fenders, my frame is supposed to take on 700x28c tires. Without, I think it can take 700x32c (but I would rather keep the fenders).

Axiom and Jandd make low rider racks that I can clamp onto my forks (my forks lack eyelets). I already own a rear rack that I clamp on to the rear triangle.

And yes, I have been considering a high-spoke-count wheelset for general purpose use, saving my fancy wheelset for centuries and training rides.

For now, I think I am likely to go with Salvo's advice...try a few shorter trips with the setup I have and see if it works.

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Permalink Reply by BirdonBike on April 10, 2010 at 8:48am

Brett.....take a look at our blog www.birdonbike.com

Brett Ratner said:

This is really helpful...and that sounds like an awesome trip!!!

The thing I didn't like about the Aurora Elite is that it has road bike gearing in the back. The regular Aurora has mountain bike gearing, giving you a much wider range, particularly in the "granny" realm.

Someone at Jamis must have thought the same thing, because the 2010 Aurora Elite now has a Deore XT setup in the rear. They also added disc brakes...which seem to be cropping up on more and more touring bikes now.

In addition to awesome stopping power, as I understand it, disc brakes make sense on high mileage bikes because you're not wearing out the rim. Replacing disc brake pads and the occasional rotor is much cheaper and easier than replacing a rim.

On the other hand, disc brakes add weight, and some old school touring types don't like discs because they require a "dish" to be incorporated into the wheel lacing, theoretically making the wheel weaker.

That said, I have beaten the hell out of my mountain bike, which has Avid Juicy 7 disc brakes, and the wheels seem to hold up fine. Granted, my mountain bike isn't loaded with 40 pounds of gear...but touring bikes don't typically get ridden off of five-foot drops.

Anyway, do you have any pics from your trip to share?


BirdonBike said:

I recently returned from my first extended tour and on it had to climb some pretty good hills in the Julian Alps with 75 pounds of gear on an updated Miyata 710 with a 12-27 cassette with a 46-36-26 Sugino XD600 crank. My fiancee was riding a brand new Jamis Aurora Elite, which is a great off the shelf Touring bike from Smart Bike Parts who threw in fenders, Brooks saddle, rear panniers, and offered rear rack but we already had our Tubus racks. Her drivetrain was a 12-27 with a 50-39-30. This being our first tour, we didn't really know what to expect and turned out that my drive train was pretty good for me, but we ended up having to change out the crank just before we hit at the heart of the climbs in slovenia.

I loved the feel of the bike fully-loaded with panniers (now I actually really don't like the feel of my bike without the weight) but with my Miyata, which has smaller tubes and 1" quill stem, i had a lot of trouble adjusting the balance of my load to get the ride just right. Since my return, i have bought a new Surly LHT Frame and am simply swapping my components over and putting all the old component back on the miyata for my dedicated city/strolling bike. The Surly LHT is cheap, strong, and dependable.

I would recommend nothing less than 35c tires though and you will definitely love the fact that you have fenders when the first rain comes, especially if you are touring with another person, it is just common courtesy. At some point in our tour, we were riding with a German cyclist riding a beautiful custom built expedition bike with Rolff seven speed hub and 26" wheels and Schwalbe Marathons. I was envious anytime we had to ride on loose gravel or worse, sand, because he could plow through anything with those wheels and tires. There was another point where the beautiful road through a long Albanian mountain valley turned into what look like a dried up river bed and we decided to turn back because our 37c continental travel contacts didn't have enough meat to handle 60km of that road. Now that i have the LHT which can handle wider tires, I have bought Schwalbe Marathon Extremes at 40c. I can roll through anything now, but it might be overkill for riding around the midwest.

That said, the first time you hit 35-40 mph downhill on a fully loaded touring bike is the most magical feeling ever!!!!

Brett Ratner said:

Thanks for all the good input!!!

Here's a couple of things to add about my current setup:

I have a Dura Ace 7800 triple drivetrain...so it's a 10-speed cassette in the rear (which tend to be geared more for racing than for hauling). The biggest 10-speed cassette I've found is a 12-27 tooth. Combined with the triple ring in front, that may give me adequate low gears for climbing...but true touring bikes seem to have 34t cogs in the back.

With fenders, my frame is supposed to take on 700x28c tires. Without, I think it can take 700x32c (but I would rather keep the fenders).

Axiom and Jandd make low rider racks that I can clamp onto my forks (my forks lack eyelets). I already own a rear rack that I clamp on to the rear triangle.

And yes, I have been considering a high-spoke-count wheelset for general purpose use, saving my fancy wheelset for centuries and training rides.

For now, I think I am likely to go with Salvo's advice...try a few shorter trips with the setup I have and see if it works.

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