How are you fixed for touring?

[moonsafari]

yep, i tour on a fixed wheel Salsa Casseroll and commute 32 miles a day, 3 times a week fixed. i also have a geared tourer but on the Salsa, i do pack pretty light with an Ortlieb bar bag and a dry bag lashed to a Salsa Minimilist Rack. i just did a tour of the East side of the Dales and stayed at the Dales Bike Centre. 48x19 if anyones bothered.

 

[TheDoctor]

Not fixed, but I'm aiming for a long weekend singlespeed tour in May, probably in northern France.
I'm not sure it's a terribly sensible idea, but it should be a laugh if nothing else.

I've now got a fixed rear wheel on order, so I'll be doing a fixed tour of Northern France!!!
Flip-flob hub, with a 15T fixed and 17T freewheel on a 39T chainring, giving 70" and 61" as a bail-out.
And I'm doing a local randonee while I'm over there.
What could possibly go wrong?

 

[snorri]

Fixed is just fine for touring!

That's incredible, some people just don't listen to that little voice inside their head saying NO!

 

[TheDoctor]

That's incredible, some people just don't listen to that little voice inside their head saying NO!

I'm busily ignoring it myself.
I mean, I've got a touring bike (in bits in the living room), a carbon road bike, a Brommie, a slicked up MTB - why would I use a fixed?
Because I can!!!!

 

[clarion]

I've done day rides up to 130km on my fixed (well, night rides actually, in the main). And I've been cycle camping, but only somewhere not too lumpy. I do have an S3X hub, so use gears of (approx) 53", 63" & 85". Same bike I use for commuting. If I get the bottom gear slippage problem sorted, I may well tour on it more often, though I'd put on a sprocket 1t larger. It's just not nice going from standing on a fixed gear to neutral suddenly. Prefer not to.

For those purists, I have also done longer day rides on my singlespeed fixed 1981 Carlton. But no touring.

 

[alans]

I know of a guy on another foum who has toured extensively on fixed,including a long journey in America.He has carried full camping kit using panniers or a trailer.
At the opposite end of the spectrum I limit my luggage to a bar bag & small saddle pak when riding fixed:longest ride being 103km

 

[Alex11]

Back in the 30s - 50s, many people toured without gears. I've recently read a book about cycle touring written in (I guess) the late 1940s and a gear of low 60s is recommended for normal terrain, dropping to mid 50s for hilly terrain. AW hubs should be geared to have a top gear of about 68" for touring. The author didn't recommend derailleur gears, as they are an unnecessary expense and complication....

I've done quite a few 50-60 mile rides on a 63" fixed gear bike in hilly terrain (with some luggage but definitely not a full touring load) at 14 or 15 mph average and I would say it's do-able if you accept that occasionally you will have to walk. I would probably go with SS freewheel for carrying heavy loads in a very hilly area as going down a steep hill on a heavily loaded bike with a low fixed gear could get interesting.

Whats the name of that book? I'm very interested in giving that a read

 

[lukesdad]

750 miles last week touring on a single,not sure id fancy that fixed.

 

[Alex11]

SS I definitely think you can tour on... Fixed is much harder going

 

[tyred]

Whats the name of that book? I'm very interested in giving that a read

I had only borrowed it from a friend in the VCC. I think it was called something like "The Cyclists Handbook"

 

[tyred]

SS I definitely think you can tour on... Fixed is much harder going

My concern wouldn't be so much climbing hills but coming back down the other side with a touring load to push you on to silly cadences. It's do-able but I think a freewheel would make it better.

We need to remember that touring in the 1930s or 1940s to most people probably meant the main roads before they became over-populated with cars and are usually the most level route through a given area and also a few odds and ends in a large Carradice saddle bag, probably staying at hostels for a weekend away rather than lugging 50 - 60lb of luggage for a few weeks camping.

I also know of one man (died before Christmas in his mid 90s) quite local to me who did a lot of touring at that time (on a 3 speed sports roadster!) and often planned everything in advance by posting extra luggage to be held at post-offices en-route for his collection and he would have posted his dirty clothes home again after collecting the fresh gear. Sometimes, he would have made arrangements to stay at a particular hotel somewhere during the trip, posted his luggage to the hotel to be held until he arrived, left his dirty clothes at the hotel to be washed, would have called back on his way home, collected the clean clothes and mailed the dirty stuff back home.

 

[Alex11]

I had only borrowed it from a friend in the VCC. I think it was called something like "The Cyclists Handbook"

This? http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Long-Di...9487/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343904535&sr=8-2

 

[tyred]

This? http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Long-Di...9487/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343904535&sr=8-2

No, mine was a small blue hard backed book and probably many years out of print.

 

[Alex11]

No, mine was a small blue hard backed book and probably many years out of print.

This? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Every-Cycli...r_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343905332&sr=1-14

:-)

 

[tyred]

This? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Every-Cycli...r_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343905332&sr=1-14

:-)

I think it might be