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

Okay, so I want to do some serious unsupported touring in the coming months and years.

I currently own a Surly Pacer road bike with high tension, low spoke count, bladed-spoke wheels. I also own a Burly nomad trailer (see attached photo).

I wondering if I should:

A. Leave the bike as-is and use the trailer to tow my gear on long trips?

B. Outfit my road bike with front/rear racks, panniers, and a beefy 36-spoke wheelset?

C. Pony up the money for a proper touring bike and install racks and panniers?


The advantage of option "A" is that I don't need to purchase anything (although a beefier wheelset would make the bike more roadworthy). The trailer is also nice because it doesn't affect the handling of the bike. Plus when I get to my destination, I can detach the trailer and enjoy a fast bike. The disadvantage is that the trailer is harder to pull in a headwind or up hills and overall the trailer has more rolling resistance than a rack/pannier setup. Plus my road bike doesn't have the gearing to pull a loaded trailer up really steep hills...and with fenders installed, the bike can't take fat tires to handle dirt and gravel roads.

The advantage of option "B" is less rolling resistance than the trailer, and less of an investment than a touring bike. The disadvantage is that I still don't have proper gearing for loaded touring in mountainous areas, or fat tires for dirt and gravel. Plus my road bike's frame is not really designed to take on racks and panniers (I'd have to install the racks using clamps)...and the bike will probably not handle well when carrying heavy loads.

Option "C" is probably the best option, but it represents a sizable investment.

It's worth note that option "B" and "C" will also require the purchase of a smaller/lighter tent and sleeping bag. The trailer has much more cargo space.

I'm probably answering my own question here for the most part, but I'm really interested in everyone's input...especially those who have done some loaded touring.

Thanks!!!


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Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on April 5, 2010 at 4:31pm
Use the trailer and get a new high-spoke (32 min) wheel set and some lower gears. If you break a spoke on a low-spoke wheel, you're walking unless you can field repair. Anything around in the greater-greater Chicago area will not likely require mountain gears (I never used my granny when I rode in Wisconsin, loaded) but if you plan on doing the Rockies then you'll probably have to get a triple. If you can fit 28mm tires with fenders, you should be ok, even on gravel rail-to-trails.
Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on April 5, 2010 at 4:54pm
Of your options, I'm liking C also, but I'd at least look around for a 80's steel tourer. Lots of them are not full blown tourers with canti brakes and all that, but all you really need is slack geometry, eyelets and plenty of clearance for fenders. The later not even being necessary, just nice to have. There is no good reason to blow $1000+ on a new touring bike when you can get a bike 90% as good for a couple of hundred bucks.

What is your frame size? There are a couple of vintage Fuji touring bikes on Craig's right now for like $150 or something.

That all being said, I did my longest tour (2000 miles) on a hard-tail Ross mountain bike, so I can tell you from experience that the bike is one of the least important aspects of touring.
Permalink Reply by Glenn on April 5, 2010 at 6:03pm
I would say new wheel set, from rack and panniers or handlebar bag , a saddlebag and a trailer. That is basically my current set up.

I am how ever working on turning a cheap 90's mountain bike into an expedition touring bike.
which is cheap yet new kinda :-)

good luck
Permalink Reply by Matt AKA Jimbo/BMXican on April 5, 2010 at 6:23pm
Keep in mind that a touring frame has thicker tubes so the bike doesn't feel sluggish while carrying all the weight and a longer seat and chain stay for better handling. Plus disc brakes will help you stop better while carrying more weight and stop the same wet or dry. Not all touring bikes brake the bank either. the Specialized Haul 1 has a steel fork, integrated rack that can carry a lot more than a standard rack, fenders and even comes with front and rear lights, a kickstand and a bell for $659.99 plus you can get $50.00 off Reg. Price or Receive a free accessory pack at Kozy's plus we have the Banjo Market Pannier $20 bucks off. We have a haul at the 3255 Milwaukee and 3712 N. Halsted location if you want to test ride one. I'm at the Milwaukee location and we also have a in door test track.
Permalink Reply by Salvo Lutzery on April 6, 2010 at 1:37am
I say load up the trailer and go on a trip. Take note of the things you like, dislike about the setup and go from there. I have met lots of people on the road with trailers that like em fine. A higher spoke count wheel is always a good idea for city and country riding.
Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 6, 2010 at 2:14am
I would second that advice. For most people it is a continuous work in progress. But it doesn't need to start with a big investment upfront. When we bought our tandem, to be used for loaded touring, we installed racks and fenders, loaded the panniers with books and rode down LFP, In a 2-hour ride we got a pretty good idea what worked and what didn't.

So hook up the trailer, throw a 50 LB bag of dog food in there and take it for a day long trip. At the end of the day you will know whether your road bike + trailer works for you, or whether you need to look for a touring specific bike.

Good luck

Salvo Lutzery said:
I say load up the trailer and go on a trip. Take note of the things you like, dislike about the setup and go from there. I have met lots of people on the road with trailers that like em fine. A higher spoke count wheel is always a good idea for city and country riding.
Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on April 6, 2010 at 2:28am
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.
Permalink Reply by dan brown on April 6, 2010 at 3:37am
this is a great thread btw. my thoughts are there is no clear cut answer; rather it lies in (a) personal preferences, (b) how much $$$ wyou want to shell out, (c) how badly you want to keep your road bike a pure road bike, (d) how much time you have, etc etc.

I just have one question now - WHEN CAN WE GO ON A TRIP !!! woo hoo


DHB

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.
Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on April 6, 2010 at 3:43am
You'll probably need a lower range than a dura-ace triple can support. I think that a 1:1 ratio is the minimum. The lowest gear ratio on my touring bike is 22:28, and i've used it many times. Bailout gears come in handy on a 60mile day full of hills.

IRD and Sram both make wide range 10 speed cassettes (11-34) that are shimano compatible. Get one of those with a xt derailleur and you're set.

I'd say that you'd at least need a new wheel set, cassette, and mtb derailleur to go with option (A).

Trailers are hard to stop, park, and secure.
Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on April 6, 2010 at 12:45pm
Kevin:

Thanks for the really good advice.

Since my Dura Ace setup is a triple, it has a long cage rear derailleur. Would I need to swap out to a Mountain derailleur?

Kelvin Mulcky said:
You'll probably need a lower range than a dura-ace triple can support. I think that a 1:1 ratio is the minimum. The lowest gear ratio on my touring bike is 22:28, and i've used it many times. Bailout gears come in handy on a 60mile day full of hills.

IRD and Sram both make wide range 10 speed cassettes (11-34) that are shimano compatible. Get one of those with a xt derailleur and you're set.

I'd say that you'd at least need a new wheel set, cassette, and mtb derailleur to go with option (A).

Trailers are hard to stop, park, and secure.
Permalink Reply by A.K.A Paul on April 6, 2010 at 3:21pm
I'm in the process of making the same decisions. I'll probably go with buying a new touring bike vs keeping what I have. I had a 48 hole rear wheel built a couple of months ago that I'll transfer over to a new bike when I get it. depending on how much gear you'll be hauling you may want to consider more than 36 holes. Here's a link to an article that I found helpful....

http://www.sentient-entity.toucansurf.com/touring_wheels.html

As well Sheldon Brown has a lot of useful info. I think there's a link in the article.
Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on April 7, 2010 at 3:04am
I think that the shimano road derailleurs are speced to handle a max of 27 teeth on the cassette. That is a bit of a conservative estimate and they actually work with 28t, but not more. Above 28t your derailleur pulleys will rub on the cassette. You can use a LX, XT, or XTR derailleur to handle a larger cassette and they will shift perfectly with the dura-ace sti.

You could also get a smaller-ringed crank (that's what i did to solve a similiar issue before a tour on my cross bike), like 42-32-22. That way you can use a more tightly spaced cassette like 11-28 and still have good hill climbing gears. You'll spin out of 42-11 on big descents, but at 35mph you'll probably be coasting anyways...

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