Touring Bike Selection

[pptouring]

I also own a Co-Motion Americano. I recently installed Clement X'Plor MSO 40 x 700c tires. They are lighter than the 35 x 700c tires I replaced. No fenders yet. They will be next. After that, Old Man Mountain racks. USA made. I ride gravel roads. I hope to ride the GDMBR.
Oh, 24-34 low gear. I won't tour with anything less.
I plan to tour with an all up weight under 235 pounds. If I hit my target, my touring weight will be less than some riders without touring gear.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

 

Yeah you can run fatter tires on the Americano and Cascadia (NorWester Tour) without fenders.

[Venchka]

  I'm planning to put fenders on my bike and convert the MSO tires to tubeless.
I currently have tubes installed. Running 30 psi front and 35 rear unloaded. They are very nice on hard packed gravel.

Wayne

[pptouring]

I'm planning to put fenders on my bike and convert the MSO tires to tubeless.
I currently have tubes installed. Running 30 psi front and 35 rear unloaded. They are very nice on hard packed gravel.

Wayne

Sounds great, please let us know how this works out. With our 26" 2.0 tires unloaded we would run low like that too, but when loaded up we would be around 50psi and this still provided some cushion. Whereas on our other touring bikes with the 700x35, we would have to run them a little harder and you could feel it on the road and this partially why we went with 26" so we could have fatter tires and lower PSI. The thought of going tubeless with STANS liquid has crossed my mind a couple times too. On my XC racing machines I've been using STANS since about 2005 and swear by it. Great stuff.

[Venchka]

Thanks for the plug for Stan's. I appreciate real world feedback.
As for the fenders, I'm going to give it a try. I'll buy from a shop with a liberal return policy in case they don't work.

Wayne

[pptouring]

Thanks for the plug for Stan's. I appreciate real world feedback.
As for the fenders, I'm going to give it a try. I'll buy from a shop with a liberal return policy in case they don't work.

Wayne

One downside with using Stan's and low tire pressure would be hitting a bump and causing the tire to "burp". Breaking the seal/bead on the tire and rim. This only seemed to happen to the guys running very low pressures out on the MTB trails and hitting a lot of roots or taking a turn to fast (this shouldn't be an issue fully loaded ;-)); otherwise, the stuff works great. i hope this makes sense what I am trying to explain.

[Venchka]

It does make sense. I've been prowling the internet to educate myself about tubeless tires and how to manage the system. I'll be careful not to use silly low pressure in the tires. I won't be racing. 
The main thing that I have learned recently is to avoid running too much air pressure in tires. I was a confirmed "5 pounds over the max pressure makes you go faster" person. No more. Plus I reduced my bike weight by 30+ pounds. No, I didn't buy a carbon bike. I lost 30+ pounds of rider weight. I am now aiming for a touring gear target of 30-35 pounds. Hopefully less except on days when I need more water and food. That translates into an all up touring load approximately equal to my old unloaded bike riding weight. If it all works out, I'll be touring with bigger tires than used to and running about half the tire pressure. 40-50 psi instead of 80-90 psi. I am totally ignoring the 55-90 psi numbers on the sidewalls of the Clement X'PLOR MSO 40 x 700 tires. Or any other tires I may have in the future.
Personal weight loss, new tires and lower tire pressure has been like buying a whole new bike and super ultralight camping gear. A whole lot cheaper too.

Wayne

[jcova58]

I converted a Surly Ogre 29er into a tour bike. I'm using WTB slicks, 2.3" and it's a great ride. No wobble, handles heavy loads with the bigger wheels and tires.


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