1st tour/tourer

[david1701]

I want to get into touring partly for the sake of riding and partly to get to further away places to shoot. I have a tour in mind as a test which is Bude to Sennen following the national cycle routes. Its very hilly but covered by home based rescue (my sister drives an espace ) if something should go terribly wrong. Guessing about a hundred miles by the time I've tweaked the route to be nicer and then home along the south coast maybe which would be 150ish on the way back.

Spaced out over 2 days down and 3 days home thats 50 miles a day, should I be looking to decrease that so that I enjoy it as opposed to pushing at targets. I've never ridden far before, atm I ride 8 miles (4 down hill 4 up)at least 3 times a week, but need to add in doing hilly short 1-1.5 mile loops around my house on other days.

Whats the best way to start distance training? Just pick a 10-15 mile loop and ride it one weekend, then add 5 miles and 5 miles and 5 miles until I get to 50? My major issue is that everywhere round here is very hilly and my history of fitness is poor (atm I'm 90kilos and 1.7m ish which is crap).

I ride a heavy hard tailed mtb with a pannier rack atm, I have been riding my sisters much lighter full sus hybrid but I hate having stuff on my back. I could buy it new tyres (and do the bottom bracket ect) but it was a freecycle bike and I think I'd rather get a secondhand road frame and work on that to have a good basis for what I want (road work with loads on country lanes and real roads).

I'm in the process of building a business which means every expenditure that isn't going to make me money/ get me work is frowned upon so I'm not dropping a grand on a bike. Did they make ali touring/road frames or just steel ones, how do you go about getting/building a bike on a budget. I've studied engineering (admittedly electronics) so with a book can work most things out and see this as a long haul hobby so a tool is a better investment than labour costs (+ the lbs adjusted my brakes instead of telling me my back wheel was out of true).

Sorry for the stupidly long post but any help with any of these issues would be appreciated.

David

 

[aberal]

Whats the best way to start distance training? Just pick a 10-15 mile loop and ride it one weekend, then add 5 miles and 5 miles and 5 miles until I get to 50? My major issue is that everywhere round here is very hilly and my history of fitness is poor (atm I'm 90kilos and 1.7m ish which is crap).

Yes, yes and yes. That's the way to do it. General rule of thumb is to add 10% of distance to each ride and stretch it out from there. But you need to cycle during the week at least once ideally twice. So try 15 miles one weekend then do 5-10 miles Tuesday/Thursday then up it to 20 miles the next weekend, 7.5-10 miles Tuesday/Thursday, 25 miles the weekend thereafter and so on... you'll get the picture. The weather and work and life in general gets in the way week by week, but if you keep up the distances as best you can week by week you'll be gobsmacked and amazed how quickly you can build up some good mileages. Just don't either underdo it or overdo it.

I ride a heavy hard tailed mtb with a pannier rack atm, I have been riding my sisters much lighter full sus hybrid but I hate having stuff on my back. I could buy it new tyres (and do the bottom bracket ect) but it was a freecycle bike and I think I'd rather get a secondhand road frame and work on that to have a good basis for what I want (road work with loads on country lanes and real roads).

Forget full sus or even semi-sus for on the road. The suspension simply soaks up your energy and slows you down. Better your hard tail with road slicks on, that will do the touring business no bother, but if it has front suspension, forget it. Better to get yourself a second hand or decent cheap touring bike - you'll never regret it and it will save you tons of grief. Check out the Revolution Country Traveller for example. A huge amount of bike for a silly price. But there are others for not a lot more.

 

[ZIZAG]

Welcome
And you are very lucky to live in a lovely area .
The Only advise I can give you Is .
Do a trial run .
Load your panniers with all your gear . Tent sleeping bag Sim etc . ( You will soon find out If you have overloaded .) " The bike will feel Unstable "

Pick a route .
Say 10 miles out . Stop for lunch . And then cycle back . Or Extend the miles 15m out and 15m back .
This will give you an Idea of what you are capable of .
Dont overextend yourself .
Go out and enjoy your cycling .And camping out .

Best of luck.

 

[david1701]

I've never camped out so am gonna try it in the paddock seperately

will you guys help me with choosing a frame/bike, quite happy to buy a bare frame and then build it up but I know next to nothing about components right now :s

the area is gorgeous which is why I want to ride so I can see more of it

right now I ride 4+4 miles twice a week which is semi non negotiable as its to help my mum out with her shop when I'm not working. Other days I could do longer rides though (assuming I'm free). So 2 days of shortish rides and 1 day with an ever increasing ride as training?

 

[david1701]

btw the support is waaaay appreciated

 

[Ticktockmy]

There some fair old hills between Bude and Sennen, so you might find some days are a tad wearying, but it all very do-able, As someone suggested, load the bike with all the kit you intend to take with you, then go for a reasonablee practise circular ride say 10 to 15 miles around your home, that way you are not so from home.

If you get knackered. Dont be shy to get off and walk if the hills get to you, or the saddle is burning your arse, that way you will shake yourself and the bike out, its amasing how screws loosen up (use some Loctite on all you rack mounting Screws and use good qualitly Stainless screws as well) when the bike is fully laden and you pumping hard up a hill and the frame is flexing which way and that way.

Also you could at the end of your parctise ride camp in your garden or at least put the tent up and lay out you kits as you would if it was your tour..Practise make perfect and helps set up a routine. if you do that a few times you will find the tour more the easier.

 

[pshore]

I wouldn't dismiss your hardtail mtb so easily. I went touring on my full suspension mtb and it was fine. (see here for pics and info). I just pumped up the rear shock to make it rigid, and locked out the front.

Slick tyres will make your mtb roll as fast as touring tyres.

I think the biggest problem I found was heels hitting the panniers. So long as your pannier rack is long enough to push them back it would be fine. (actually what caused me the most worry was using a using a seatpost rack for touring).

There are advantages to a tourer which is why they exist - they are mainly, drops bars, longer frame to accomodate luggage, steel for smoother ride on more expensive models, mudguards, easier mounting of front panniers, stronger 36 spoked wheels.

I have since bought a Dawes Galaxy and I do love it. It's so versatile as a commuter, tourer and slowish audaxer. I have to say though, if I was buying all my bikes again, I would consider buying a hard tail mtb for off roading and touring, and a skinny tyred bike for the road. I do a lot of off roading though.

Finally, you say your mtb is heavy. Once you stick 20kg of kit on it, you won't notice the difference.

 

[david1701]

the weight I hadn't considered, good shout there.

Length is an issue due to it being layed up with a shagged crank arm (I think why it was on freecycle) I've only done one decent ride on the panniers and if I use my toes on the pedals (which is where spds would clip?) I kick the pannier (which had my laptop in so stopped that pretty quick) with cross country tyres on it rides like a bitch (has to be said) and the front sus doesn't lock, so I could get new forks do the bearing and give it the full overhaul it needs or I could strip it for parts to put into a touring frame

my planned first 12 mile practice run is the coast road down from Bude to Widemouth then turn inland and run home all avoiding the scary roads. I intend to then go further down the coast each time (as that increases the scary hills). I feel I need to improve my road work and traffic skills drastically before I undertake the tour as they are pretty lacking right now.

As for frames would I be better off doing something like this or this a complete shagged bike and stripping it down to rebuild or buying a bare frame like this and choosing parts. Parts wise I have little knowledge of whats good but if you don't mind I'll be begging info from here

To strip I have the mtb but tbh I think all I'd take are wheels (with new tyres and an overhaul) and maybe flat bars but I really really don't know much about the finer points right now

 

[david1701]

I'm assuming its madness to build a new bike and reuse any drive train components so I need all of those. So buying the assembled bike gives me wheels (that need an overhaul), bars (20), shifters/controls (assuming all is well with them) and seatpost/saddle

looking at what makes up a bike I'd also get brakes to give new pads and service, do the actual gear changing mechanisms die?

What should I look out for in choosing a frame, are there places that tinworm means its dead or anything?

 

[MarkF]

Good luck David.

Don't get "fixed" on a tourer. I use a Dawes 501 Discovery, it's not ideal with having carbon forks, so I bought myself a Dawes Horizon tourer. It was good bike, nothing wrong with it, but over distance and climbing, I found the hybrid more comfortable. I'd have no qualms about buying a used £150-£200 Discovery, banging on some marathon +'s and touring.

One day, when I can afford it, I'll buy myself a bespoke steel tourer, that'll replace most of my bikes, but, for the forseeable future I'll use the hybrid, it's prefectly adequate, after all, got me to Barcelona, no problemo!

 

[vernon]

The difficulties you face in building up a bike is making sure that the donor bike(s) and the new frame share similar dimensions.

Pitfall that can be avoided:

Front derailleur can be mounted direct to the frame or to a lug brazed onto the frame. Direct frame mount derailleurs cater for different down tube diameters. You also need to make sure that the derailleur will cope with the fron chain wheels and the tooth difference between top and bottom gears. (Been there, done that)

Rear wheels - make sure that you use wheels with readily available cassettes - 8 or 9 speed are best, 7 speed will do the job but you won't get a decent spread of gears. Make sure that the hub is a cassete hub and not a screw on hub for the rear gears.

Rear derailleur - if you want low gears you'll be needing to use a mountain bike cassette - if the donor bike is a road bike, you'll need to purchase a replacement long arm rear derailleur.

Make sure that the wheels match the frame - 27" wheels and 700c wheels are different diameters and unless the brakes are long drop they'll need to be replaced. I know that it's unlikely but there are some 27" wheeled bikes out there is excellent condition going for a song.

In all honesty - it's a lot less agro to buy a decent second hand tourer as everything will be working and you'll only need to worry about replacing consumables. I persevered with the restoration/rebuilding of a bike and had to overcome a lot of the problems outlined above and more. Buying lots of new parts to add to a frame will make your project more expensive than buying a good s/h bike.

The Dawes Galaxy that you have linked to needs extensive work and will end up being more expensive than a decent s/h bike.
The Raleigh bike might not be compatible with the bits that you already have.
The Raleigh frame does not appear to have any rack mounting points.

Training - more miles more frequently.

Fifty miles per day in Cornwall per day is manageable. I did it with a full camping load and a 130kg body weight on a LEJOG and JOGLE tour.

 

[david1701]

alrighty then, decent places to get secondhand touring complete bikes to give an aggressive overhaul to. Ebay is my first thought and I'm about to scour it, I've tried going going bike but they didn't have many/any tourers on when I looked.

Anywhere else worth a shout, I'm pretty new to the scene so don't really know the good places yet.

I wasn't planning on going fixed, no worries I don't know how to spin and the hills down here are STEEP up and down so I think I'd kill myself If I had a good rigid frame hybrid I'd be using that defo but as I don't it seemed more logical to get a tourer, I'll look out for good S/H hyrbids though to see if any could be good cheap tourers

 

[vernon]

Ebay isn't the best place to buy a bike - prices often head north of stupid. Great for the seller not so good for the buyer.

I managed to get a Dawes Galaxy for £220 in good condition and only needing a new seat from www.adtrader.co.uk. It's a matter of persisting with the searches. I checked daily for a couple of weeks before the Dawes turned up.

Another place to look is the for sale forums of cycling web sites like this one.

I currently tour with a hybrid and have so far done around 1000 trouble free miles.

 

[david1701]

ok so tourer or decent road biased hybrid I'll hunt around adtrader free ads ect, slight downside of living in the arse end of nowhere. I asked in my lbs and he said roadbikes/tourers/hybrids just don't come into him secondhand so I doubt I'll get anything there.

I now have 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 mile training routes set up, just need to ride them now I'm pretty sure my mtb with all terrains on makes the miles count for more

Not planning on actually doing this until later in the season so I have time to hunt, will set a date when I get a bike.

adding 10% not 5 miles a week estimates my training at 18.78 weeks (ok so maybe the calculator isn't the best method) which gives me June but I'm worried my training will be disrupted during the summer when I'm working more. I'm guessing that just throwing on 5 miles a week is quite viable as I'm already pretty comfortable with 8 in a short period of time. Thats 10 weeks to get to 60 miles/day then another week to do 50 2 days on the trot. Say a mates house in Braunton and back. Which means I can leave a lot of gaps for weeks where its not possible to do long rides but keeping up a min of say a 10 mile loop twice a week?

Does that seem like logical training to ye knowledgeable peeps?

 

[vernon]

There's a lot of received wisdoms regarding training and I'd not let yourself get bogged down by the perceived need to stick to a set of rules. I really don't know how authoritative the 5% per week increase is.

As long as you are cycling regularly and upping the miles done you'll be fine. I'd even suggest that for your proposed tour, you don't have to reach your proposed daily milage during training. You'll be fit enough to cope.