Another touring "what bike" thread - Sub 1K

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vickster

Legendary Member
At the risk of thread divert, me too. Never "ignore" or block anyone. If someone is bad or playing games I prefer to see it. And it can be a useful vaccine to protect yourself against contemporary bollocks floating around, twitter storms etc. Have enough of my marbles left to then ignore junk posted.

I was once pmed by someone asking if I had them on IGNORE. i didn't reply. I didn"t have them on ignore. I was just ignoring them after lots of seen poison.
You can still choose to see ignored content. Sometimes, threads make little (even less) sense than usual if several ignored members are posting or being quoted :unsure:
 
Location
España
Poor @CanucksTraveller ☹️
His thread is wandering up and down every cul de sac possible 😀

I think at this stage he'd like to jump on any old thing and ride away from us all!

I'd love to drag it back to his bike choice but my knowledge is limited.
Who's up for the challenge?
 
Location
Brussels
Heading back a few pages I agree with @Vantage that disc brakes are a good thing to have. For me it is less about the absolute stopping power than the consistency of the stopping power. You pull the levers and you stop, sounds simple but it can make a difference on that one occasion , in the rain, at night, when you are tired after a few long days in the saddle and your brain and reflexes are not what they should be.
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
Blue Hills said:
I would budget separately for good wheels. Many new bikes headed for touring come with "OK" wheels but not the best. I would recommend Spa's handbuilt Sputniks.

Is there inherently "bad" about the sort of 36 spoke wheels supplied with mass-produced flat bar hybrids? I found a clapped out alloy framed Ridgeback hybrid dumped in a bush last year and salvaged the wheels off it. They seem to cope OK with my 200 lbs weight plus a crate of beer lashed to the pannier rack. All-up weight of me + Raleigh hybrid + beer must be about 18 stone.
 
Location
London
Is there inherently "bad" about the sort of 36 spoke wheels supplied with mass-produced flat bar hybrids? I found a clapped out alloy framed Ridgeback hybrid dumped in a bush last year and salvaged the wheels off it. They seem to cope OK with my 200 lbs weight plus a crate of beer lashed to the pannier rack. All-up weight of me + Raleigh hybrid + beer must be about 18 stone.
Well I suppose they are machine built.

Some don't have the best quality spokes.

I have seen some that have rusted.

And the hubs may be generic rather than quality shimano.

I like to standardise my hubs as much as possible for various reasons.

I think a good pair of hand built wheels a good investment - my Spa sputniks have been - can always be moved between bikes of course - and since that bike above cost me £30 (yes some bits changed) the expense can be justified.

My Spa wheels have been faultless.

Rose and Taylor Wheels of Germany also have a good reputation I think.

changing your name to bushdiver? :smile:

Re your original point, my Ridgeback Expedition is still on its original wheels despite abuse, but I plan to change those to Spa ones when I get round to it.

Am sure you'll agree that money spent on wheels from a good supplier is better than money spent on a hell of a lot of contemporary cycling fripperies - more gears than you need on the back, gimmicky frames etc, carbon stuff, fancy lacing patterns, low spoke counts,

I also intend to do some wheel building/rebuilding/rerimming in time so I like the idea of starting with something quality.

all the best
 
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Location
London
Poor @CanucksTraveller
His thread is wandering up and down every cul de sac possible 😀

I think at this stage he'd like to jump on any old thing and ride away from us all!

I'd love to drag it back to his bike choice but my knowledge is limited.
Who's up for the challenge?
It's getting there hobbes - chill - there's a lot of useful info in this thread for him I think.

(and just be thankful that a phrase in his initial post wasn't jumped on)

I'll be interested to see what he goes for.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
and just be thankful that a phrase in his initial post wasn't jumped on)

Shucks, we've been falling down on the job.

a Granny ring.

That annoyed me too - granny should not have a capital G.
 
OP
OP
CanucksTraveller

CanucksTraveller

Macho Business Donkey Wrestler
Location
Hertfordshire
Oh the thread has been wonderfully informative and entertaining thank you @Blue Hills
Even the digressions are fun... and only one of the digressions was taking the subject *way* over there somewhere down Galveston way, I mean calling someone's bike ugly is always going to generate pages of friction! :ohmy:

I still haven't quite settled, the Spa and the Genesis are the clear front runners for me but Ridgeback and Dawes are still possibilities too. I'm not in so much of a rush to need a decision by tomorrow or anything.

The big influence of the thread so far has been the encouragement to go to disc brakes, I am sold on that so thanks everyone who were advocates.

Oh and sorry for using the "G" word... I've been off CC for a while so perhaps I'm not up on the latest faux pas. I was formerly (some years ago) teased on here for having a road bike with a third chainring and that was the precise phrase bandied about! ^_^
 
Location
London
Oh the thread has been wonderfully informative and entertaining thank you @Blue Hills
Even the digressions are fun... and only one of the digressions was taking the subject *way* over there somewhere down Galveston way, I mean calling someone's bike ugly is always going to generate pages of friction! :ohmy:

I still haven't quite settled, the Spa and the Genesis are the clear front runners for me but Ridgeback and Dawes are still possibilities too. I'm not in so much of a rush to need a decision by tomorrow or anything.

The big influence of the thread so far has been the encouragement to go to disc brakes, I am sold on that so thanks everyone who were advocates.

Oh and sorry for using the "G" word... I've been off CC for a while so perhaps I'm not up on the latest faux pas. I was formerly (some years ago) teased on here for having a road bike with a third chainring and that was the precise phrase bandied about! ^_^
Oh I wouldn't worry about the "g" word - neither myself or (I am pretty sure @Pale Rider) were ticking you off at all.

At all.

Couple more thoughts - you might like to take a look at Paul Hewitt bikes - also northern of course.

I have one (pics of in the church thread)

Don't seem to hear as much about them in the forums as you did.

Very nice bikes and nice to deal with - would bust your £1,000 though and in truth I think the Spa bikes are better value.

If you aren't in a rush I would also consider/not turn your nose up at second hand (if you pm me I can give you a possible source) - my Hewitt has hardly been ridden (doesn't ;live with me) and not too long after I bought it I saw a very well cared for one, barely ridden, almost the twin of mine, for half what I paid.


If buying second hand test riding/getting a feel for the bike may also be easier.


Oh - triples are great, so thumbs up for that, though can't help pointing out that they are easier with flat bars :smile:
 
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