Budget hybrid to tourer

[Chief Broom]

Hi folks, ive recently sold a gifted e-bike so have £900 to spend on making my good old Dawes 201 into a light tourer First up is of course a nice pair of Ortlieb panniers and a handlebar bag. The 201 has steel forks but no mounting points for front panniers and wondered if i could buy replacement touring forks? Do i need stronger wheels with more spokes? I think the ones i have are 32 spoke
I did wonder how much weight a bike like this could carry as i wouldnt want it folding up like a coat hanger! I dont intend crossing the Gobi...just tootling around the highland roads with a light tent etc

 

[All uphill]

Looks like a good project.

A few thing come to mind:

You might want to ensure the wheels are true and spoke tensions are even. This will give them the best chance of surviving touring.

You could replace the fork, but might a bar bag give you enough capacity to get started?

The biggest limitation I can see is the gearing. With relatively few gears you'll struggle to get the range you need for loaded touring.

Try a short tour - you'll soon find out what works for you. Happy Cycling.

 

[Chief Broom]

Looks like a good project.

A few thing come to mind:

You might want to ensure the wheels are true and spoke tensions are even. This will give them the best chance of surviving touring.

You could replace the fork, but might a bar bag give you enough capacity to get started?

The biggest limitation I can see is the gearing. With relatively few gears you'll struggle to get the range you need for loaded touring.

Try a short tour - you'll soon find out what works for you. Happy Cycling.

Thanks All uphill, you could be right about only needing a bar bag-will see how it goes. I did convert the bike from 8 speed to 10 and have been doing a lot of hill work recently

 

[raleighnut]

I did it years ago with my Ridgeback (Tange CrMo frame) but I did spec a 36 spoke '4 cross pattern' rear wheel and to give it reliability a 3x7 drivetrain, this gives it quite a spread of gearing with a 30-28 bottom gear and a 52-13 top.