Bicycle guidance

[WardenB]

Hello. I am a recent retiree, 57 years young, and a novice when it comes to organized bike trips. I am training to go on a tour with Adventure cycling next spring, although I'm not decided about which one. I am curious about the bike. I own a Gary Fisher hybrid. I ride about 10 MPH, although I hope to increase that speed though training. Is a hybrid bike considered to be worthy of a road tour? If not, what kind of bike should I be looking for, that would not cost so much that I end up in the poor house? Any guidance would be appreciated.

[John Nelson]

Are you planning to go on one of the self-contained tours or a supported tour?

If you are planning to go on a supported tour, you'll probably be one of the last ones in if you take a hybrid. If you're planning on a self-contained tour, then a hybrid may work just fine. 10 MPH is a fine speed for self-contained touring, but pretty slow for supported touring.

[aggie]

Do a forum search on bikes.  There have been numerous threads discussing the various bikes for touring.  This includes their approximate cost as well as their pros and cons.  There are a number of bikes that have good reviews and they run a little more than $1000.  (not sure if that is in your budget)

I started touring by first starting on a supported tour using a road bike.  As I got more experience and confidence I bought a bike that was better equipped for touring and started my solo touring. 

[staehpj1]

that would not cost so much that I end up in the poor house?

FWIW, I don't think you ever need to spend a lot for a bike.  If you want to, great, but it isn't a necessity.  A bunch of multi week and multi month tours and never spent more that $1000 or so for a bike.  The bike I went coast to coast on was a new $599 delivered Windsor Touring.  That might be one choice especially if the tour is self supported, but your hybrid could work too.

For a supported tour I'd probably go with a sportier road bike.  Maybe one with a triple and or a wider range cluster if you will be in the mountains.

[WardenB]

Thank you for the input. I appreciate it. I have been out looking at bikes and am considering either a Trek Crossrip, or a Giant Anyroad. I have a ways to go before I am ready for a tour, so I am officially in training.

[Rick.in.AZ]

Hi Warden,

One consideration on what ever bike you pick - does it have mount points for racks? 

If you decide to go self contained, you will probably need both front and rear bags. While most non-racing bikes have fender eyelets on the rear, and probably mounts on the top of the seat stays, make sure the front fork can take a rack - you at least need fender eyelets up there.  Yes, there are ways around it, (old man mountain racks), but why not get what is easy if you can.

On the other hand, if your going supported, probably all you need is a really big seat bag, or a simple rack trunk.

As for speed, I find I do about 10 MPH (overall - stops included) on typical days when fully loaded, but more like 14 with no load. What ever speed you pick, you have to be able to do it all day, day after day.  So keep that in mind.

[bobbys beard]

A hybrid bike is perfectly fine for touring and im sure nearly all hybrids have rack mount points. I'd recommend something with room for 700c wheels. 10mph isn't a bad at all average for a days riding and if you're riding a lot, you will naturally get quicker, so don't worry about it.

As someone mentioned, spending a lot of money isn't necessary. My partner toured for a month with me on a bike that cost £300 with no problems at all. 

[JaneSO]

A hybrid bike is perfectly fine for touring and im sure nearly all hybrids have rack mount points. I'd recommend something with room for 700c wheels. 10mph isn't a bad at all average for a days riding and if you're riding a lot, you will naturally get quicker, so don't worry about it.

As someone mentioned, spending a lot of money isn't necessary. My partner toured for a month with me on a bike that cost £300 with no problems at all. 

Same here, you see a lot of beginners gett fully geared up with all the latest and most expensive gear, and then they realize after a while that they didn't like it as much as they thought. I recommend getting something cheaper to begin with and then upgrading if you really like it. A hybrid works absolutely fine.

[staehpj1]

Same here, you see a lot of beginners gett fully geared up with all the latest and most expensive gear, and then they realize after a while that they didn't like it as much as they thought. I recommend getting something cheaper to begin with and then upgrading if you really like it. A hybrid works absolutely fine.

Also after a while you may find that you have geared up with an expensive bike that was tailored to a different style of touring than you find you want to do.  I know that after a few years of touring on my heavy touring bike I have switched to a much lighter packing style that a much sportier bike seems like a better choice.  I still camp and cook, but with 9-15 pounds of gear.  My heavy touring bike just sits unused these days and I am glad it is an inexpensive bike.

I've know some people for whom more of the pleasure comes from obtaining and having a lot of fancy gear than from making the pedals go round.  I don't know how common that is, but having the stuff is what makes them happy.  I guess that if it makes them happy there is nothing wrong with that, but it is a shame when folks who are not so inclined get sucked into that mindset.

[bobbys beard]

I've know some people for whom more of the pleasure comes from obtaining and having a lot of fancy gear than from making the pedals go round.  I don't know how common that is, but having the stuff is what makes them happy.  I guess that if it makes them happy there is nothing wrong with that, but it is a shame when folks who are not so inclined get sucked into that mindset.

yes, it's really great to see cycling so popular at the moment, but there are a lot of "emperors new clothes" on the roads around here at least. My local bike shop offers "power bike fitting" for €100. thats a third of the cost of my current bike just to adjust the seat and handlebars, (by means of cutting edge technology of course.....)

[Pat Lamb]

With all due respect to Pete's point of view, I'd suggest first defining the load and then seeing if the current bike is sufficient.  If it isn't, then look for something better.  Not everyone tours with 15 pound loads, so the light bike that's OK for that may not be adequate for handling the final load.

Back to the OP, John Nelson's question is the first thing to answer.  If the tour is a supported tour, ride anything.  The truck or van can carry the load.

If it's an unsupported tour, try to do your planning now to figure out what kind of load you'll be carrying.  With a typical load (I think most cross-country tourists weighed at Adventure Cycling headquarters carry 35-40 pounds of gear plus bike), you'll want at least a rear rack and panniers, and possibly a front rack.  (As an aside, I'd avoid putting a front rack on a carbon fork.)  Somewhere between 5 and 50 pounds there's a breakpoint where shimmy becomes a problem with a light bike, and then it's time to beef up the bike.  At 40 pounds of gear, it's probably worth taking a classical touring bike (Surly LHT, Trek 520, Novara Randonee, Fuji Touring, CoMotion Americano) to have the load adequately supported and braced.

Does a full-on loaded touring bike cost a lot?  Unsupported week-long AC tours seem to average about $1,400, about the same as the production touring bike above (except the Americano).  The more you ride, the less a bike costs.  I could afford mine, and still ride it; you'll have to decide how it fits into your budget.

Do try to test ride anything before you buy it.  This late in the year you may have to make a trip to find a touring bike in a shop.

[staehpj1]

With all due respect to Pete's point of view, I'd suggest first defining the load and then seeing if the current bike is sufficient.  If it isn't, then look for something better.  Not everyone tours with 15 pound loads, so the light bike that's OK for that may not be adequate for handling the final load.

My point was definitely NOT that he should pack super light.  It was that spending a lot for an expensive touring bike might be a bad idea until you know what your touring style will be not only now but a few years down the road, because you may well not know what you will eventually want especially when you are just starting out.

I am suggesting that the bike he has might be adequate (hard to tell since we don't really know what he plans to carry) and that if it isn't he may be wise not to go too crazy on the budget for the new bike if he decides he needs one.  There are new bikes in the $600-1000 range that are quite adequate and used ones even cheaper.  With a less expensive option you also get the benefit of not having to worry as much if it will be stolen because it is less likely to be and also less painful to replace if it does.

BTW, I agree on the notion that defining the load comes first.  Starting from scratch, I see the best decision order as, define load, choose baggage style that suits the load (trailer, panniers, bikepacking bags, stuff sacks), then choose the bike that suits the load and baggage style.  The thing is that if you already have the bike, luggage, and/or gear the order of decisions may be altered.

It would suck to have spent $5000 for the ultimate heavy touring bike and another $1000 on heavy duty racks and panniers only to find that you actually prefer to travel ultralight.