Messages

1

Gear Talk / Re: wheels for touring. 250lb rider plus load.

« on: August 10, 2022, 02:17:43 am »

That's $160 Canadian. Pretty much what $100us turns into with shipping and exchange. The euro site are a roll of the dice. You might get it without extra fees or you might get dinged for duty, brokerage, and taxes. I've looked for Ryde rims and could only find them over the Atlantic.

2

Gear Talk / Re: wheels for touring. 250lb rider plus load.

« on: August 10, 2022, 01:38:41 am »

Follow up:

I forgot I had started this thread. Sure enough, the rear wheel I had been using when i posted failed due to broken spokes a few days before i was supposed to leave. I desperately went shopping on the long weekend trying to find a shop with wheels and found a factory build with a Alex dm18 rim. Two extremely experienced wheel builders told me these are bomb proof and they look it. So far so good. Still had the questionable front wheel on so I've picked up another dm18 and hope to build a dynamo hub wheel. Still working out if that system is going to work for me but either way I"ll use this rim. I did look into a velocity dyad and it was $160 per rim! DM18 was $25. If I ever ride across a country, maybe I'll splurge but that i one seriously expensive rim.

3

Gear Talk / Re: Chair

« on: August 10, 2022, 01:27:28 am »

Last trip I had a chair but I unloaded some stuff and it included the chair. I did keep my three legged alps stool, and I will never travel without. I felt like vomiting for a couple of hours while riding, got a flat, and it was mid day in cooking heat. Extremely not happy. Got the stool out and it was still no fun but it was much better. Excellent while poking at fires, working on bike, eating and various other things. I will still take a chair on another tirp but last time i didn't really have much time to lounge. Hopefully that will improve as I get more experience.

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Food Talk / Re: Best Foods for Training

« on: May 23, 2022, 11:23:58 pm »

I'm a big fan of beans and rice, biking or at home.

I'm sensitive to excessive refined carb type foods (french bread, white pasta being the worst) but rice and beans sits very well with me and I do not experience blood sugar fluctuations that can really take the wind out of your sails. Even better if you can sort out brown rice, but without something like a dehydrator brown takes too long to cook.

There are numerous variation in how you can eat them. I usually do black or pinto beans. Rice and beans with cheese  in a bowl, as grain bowls with other things, as burritos, with meat or chicken, or fish, and so on.

I plan to get a dehydrator in the near future and try drying the beans to create a quick meal. Instant rice is great if you need to conserve fuel. when you have access to produce, a simple salsa really improves the dish.

5

Gear Talk / Re: Best Water Bottle?

« on: April 08, 2022, 10:16:49 am »

I've started using stainless insulated bottles. Aside from working great, they look dashing on an old school touring bike.

You can go to a value village or some other reused store and there are usually many many water bottles. Should be able to buy them cheap to experiment.

6

Gear Talk / Re: wheels for touring. 250lb rider plus load.

« on: April 08, 2022, 10:08:05 am »

That makes sense.
I've never had a tire fail that wasn't showing obvious signs of wear until the trip before last, when I tore through the tread at the thickest part of the tire and it was unfixable. Only then did it occur to me that the tire in question was probably too old for touring on. Luckily it was just an overnight and I was riding to meet my family at a camp site so my wife just picked me up the next day (less lucky, i was out of water and nothing but salty foods to eat). Nevertheless the experience made me a bit gun shy.

Lessons learned: A) ride on tires in good condition B) carry a tire boot.

7

Gear Talk / Re: wheels for touring. 250lb rider plus load.

« on: April 07, 2022, 11:12:25 pm »

Thanks for your replies.

I'm not sure what four loaded panniers would weigh, and I'm not very good at packing since I'm relatively new to touring. Since I'm inclined to overpack at this point its probably reasonable to assume that they will be heavy. (really need to figure out the food thing).

Routes are rail trails and roads, but i don't know how well surfaced the trails are. Usually there are crappy spots but I've killed wheels just hitting potholes in the past. If I know I'm going to be on rough trails I'd probably use my mountain bike but I'm not too interested in bikepacking in the wild at this point.

My local shop suggested some machine built wheels with WTB rims. I dont remember which but they are apparently pretty robust and 36 hole. This is the store that said they would retension the wheel. Price is good but i don't recall what hubs. Unless I hear people warning me away from WTB rims I think I'll go with those and learn more about maintaining wheels. After 30 years its probably about time i learn more about wheels.

While i have people looking at this thread I'd like to ask about my tires. I shredded a tire and the only replacement I could find at the small town bike shop was a $30 panaracer tour with a wire bead. Suprisingly, it turned out to be one of the nicest rolling tires ive ever used and i love the size of 38x700c, so I replaced the other tire with the same one. Im slightly concerned that such an inexpensive tire might not be suited to what im using them for. The treads are thick, the wire bead is probably strong, and i know they make nice tires, but you dont know what you dont know.

Any thoughts?

8

Gear Talk / wheels for touring. 250lb rider plus load.

« on: April 07, 2022, 04:11:48 pm »

I'm a heavy guy and i need some wheels for my touring bike.

bike:
soma saga
canti rim brakes
135 spacing

Here is what i've been told by various bike shops so far:

machine built wheels are fine
machine built wheels are not fine
32 spoke wheels aren't strong enough
32 spoke wheels are strong enough
Mavic rims are prone to cracking
Mavic rims are not prone to cracking

Not very helpful.

I have a trip in the planning stage with about 100 km of no phone signal and nothing but wilderness so having a wheel fail would be a big problem.

So, can anyone make some recommendations?
Do you think machine wheels are fine, especially if they are re-tensioned with a spoke tension meter?
Who makes reliable rims and distributes in Canada?

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Gear Talk / Re: padded shorts vs padded saddle - newbie here so go easy on me!

« on: April 07, 2022, 03:57:58 pm »

I dont know if your a man or woman but i should also mention that there are seats designed for women that are wider. Obviously we are shaped different in the hips and other bits.

10

Gear Talk / Re: padded shorts vs padded saddle - newbie here so go easy on me!

« on: April 07, 2022, 03:52:48 pm »

Surprised to hear people say they don't wear bike shorts. I've been biking for 30 years and wouldn't dream of going without. Mind you, I would have said the same thing about clip in pedals and now every bike i have is flats.

Here's a story:

Last year I decided to do an excursion of four days around 60 miles a day. The first day went poorly. I wasn't quite ready for the distance, and I failed to note some detours that extended the distance. about two thirds in I started to experience considerable pain from abrasion and it became my biggest problem. The next day i was so uncomfortable that I had to stay over at my camp site, and in the end I only did one more day and cancelled the rest of my trip.

Moral of the story is that if you ignore the butt bicycle interface, you may find trips that mean a lot to you ruined of even cancelled.

My suggestion is this:

Most cyclists use bike shorts. Try riding without them if you like but you have to push it a bit. Bike tours will put you in situations you aren't normally in and everything gets amplified. If you have discomfort then buy some, preferable bib shorts (no waist constriction and they stay up) and buy good ones. DO NOT BUY CHEAP SHORTS. Find out if you like them but don't just ignore them.

Use anti abrasion cream. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dont buy a padded seat. Seats work by supporting the bones in your butt ( i think that is their medical name . When they dont fit or are not adjusted, it can be absolute unbearable hell, especially after 8,10,12 hours on a bike. I hear a lot of people like brooks leather saddles for touring but they are pricey.

Seats are like buying shoes. Personal.

The important thing is this. No seat will be comfortable if it is adjusted incorrectly. You need to be balanced correctly front to back. Intuition will often suggest that if you are uncomfortable on the bike that you should move the seat forward but often it needs to move back so that your center of gravity is in balance with your legs. I rode for decades before i realized this. Seat height is also critical. I had thirty years of awful back pain before i realized my seat was too high.

It's unfortunate but it's usually difficult to get help with these things and many who try to help don't know what they are doing. Reading and trial and error are usually necessary.

If it hurts, you probably need to adjust something.