Converting MTB to Full-On Expedition Tourer

[Nigeyy]

Youch! That initial post was old.... just didn't notice it when I replied. I bet he's past building one by now....

 

[calibanzwei]

I can confirm that the custom handbuilt wheels I bought from Petematthews.com are truly wonderful and would reccommend ths website to anybody wishig to buy a new set of wheels or upgrading.I do think that Pete Matthews is the worlds best wheel builder.

4 year necro-post... Lee Matthews... Pete Matthews... I smell a rat!

 

[fossyant]

4 year necro-post... Lee Matthews... Pete Matthews... I smell a rat!

There is a Link - Lee has been told to behave by the Mods.

 

[doog]

Appreciate the thread is old but its a subject that always comes up.I have an old Raleigh mtb frame (4130 Chromoly) that's in good nick. When I added up the price of parts to convert it to a tourer (doing most of it myself) it just wasn't financially viable, a decent set of wheels being the main expense.

 

[hubbike]

Well even if you're all 4 years late, thanks for the advice.

In fact I did build up a mtb, cost me a few hundred quid and was fantastic for touring scottish hill tracks and islands etc... see here
I was lucky enough to get quite a few bits cheap at a local bike recylcing centre, where I was also able to rent a work stand.

After a year or so I sold it and bought a Roberts Roughstuff. I cycled the length of south america on the roughstuff without a hitch. I sometimes wonder what my touring life would have been like on that black trek...who knows?!

 

[Drago]

A 4 year old thread resurrection, not bad.

You don't need to do much to it though do you. If you have a rigid mtn bike, it's a change of tyres and a change of bars, plus some racks & mudguards. It can be quite a cheap way to get a tourer.

Last year on Arran, I looked across at a bike next to mine, I was on my mtn bike and with a shock realized it was the same bike fitted with drops and guards and racks and things and fully laden as a tourer.

How about a 6.5 year thread resurrection?

I've just built something very similar for touring and all surface, all weather use. Saracens Tuffrtrax frame from 1996, Miche wheels with dynohub, rear Tortec carrier, front carrier, guards, lights, all the trimmings. Aside from the freshly powdercoated frame and new XLC headset it was assembled entirely from parts from my Forbidden Bike Box of Mystery (tm), parts from other bikes that have been cast aside as upgraded parts have been fitted.

Powdercoating, tyres, cables, new chain etc gave me change from a hundred sovs.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I've just built something very similar for touring and all surface, all weather use. Saracens Tuffrtrax frame from 1996, Miche wheels with dynohub, rear Tortec carrier, front carrier, guards, lights, all the trimmings. Aside from the freshly powdercoated frame and new XLC headset it was assembled entirely from parts from my Forbidden Bike Box of Mystery (tm), parts from other bikes that have been cast aside as upgraded parts have been fitted.

Powdercoating, tyres, cables, new chain etc gave me change from a hundred sovs.

Pictures are needed! That's how bikes should be optimised for the rider's intended use. No need to spend silly money. Start out with a frame of sensible geometry and build features and go from there. Old Saracens from the 1990's look like pretty decent bikes. I saw one go for only £22 recently and it was in really tidy condition, not a thrashed wreck. No-one seems to want 26" steel framed rigids these days.

 

[Blue Hills]

Interesting skipdiver.

Why do you think this is?

Am not a twitterbod but apparently there is a hashtag

#26aintdead

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Why do you think this is?

Marketing hype and fashion mainly. If you look at any manufacturer's or retailers MTB offering, the vast majority of them today will be hardtails or full-sus, and the wheels will usually be 27.5" or 29". Try to go out today and buy a new high quality 26" rigid with a butted lightweight steel frame.....
The bulk of the 26" still being made are at the BSO/Cheap end of the market and even then, the majority of them have suspension.
Buyers are now being conditioned by all the marketing spend to believe that if it doesn't have oversized wheels and suspension, then it isn't a proper MTB. This means they will buy secondhand junk BSO's with suspension, and yet turn their noses up at a 90's rigid with a quality Reynolds or Tange cro-moly frame! How else can you explain me acquiring a 1991-vintage Raleigh with 501 frame and quality component spec for the sum total of fifteen quid? I've also got a nice old lugged Dawes MTB (or should it be ATB?) currently in bits, made of Reynolds 500 that I paid eight quid for, again quality frame and mechanicals - but well used with a partially seized BB now sorted. Stripped, cleaned and regreased headset & BB, zero parts cost - job done.

 

[Crackle]

Some of us have still got 90s mtn bikes which we use as tourers. Retired from mtn biking because today's mtn bikes do the job far better.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

My first tourer was an old 90s Mongoose MTB with rigid fork. Too big really but it was great for the £20 I bought it for.

Now I have a Surly DT. I know which I prefer even though it cost much more.

 

[Salar]

Well,

If I was doing it on the "cheap" I'd use an early mtb frame with braze ons.

I have and have owned quite a few bikes from the 70's,80's and 90's and I've always found the frames to be relatively corrosion free internally.

 

[Drago]

Pictures are needed! That's how bikes should be optimised for the rider's intended use. No need to spend silly money. Start out with a frame of sensible geometry and build features and go from there. Old Saracens from the 1990's look like pretty decent bikes. I saw one go for only £22 recently and it was in really tidy condition, not a thrashed wreck. No-one seems to want 26" steel framed rigids these days.

Pictures shall be forthcoming. I'm planning to use it on Monday for a coaching session, and maybe blag an OS Benchmark on the way around, so I'll snap a pic then.

 

[albal]

My old ATB Raleigh 1989, refurbished in 2010. Since then I've ridden 18000 miles on it. Absolutely no hesitation in taking it on long tours. Heavy. Reliable. Wheels were Rigida andra 30.

 

[Drago]

As promised...