Road bike for cycle camping

[westcoaster]

Hope you guys can help me. I've recently bought my first drop bar road bike (a Trek Pilot 2.0, alu frame, carbon forks, 27 speed) and I'm thinking about doing a short camping tour, maybe two to three nights. I've done similar before on a steel Dawes Sardar but I sold that on and now I'm wondering if the Trek will be OK. I've fitted a rear rack which can take max. load of 25 kg but I won't carry anywhere near that.

The tyres are 25mm 700C and the wheels are 32 spoke. I'm thinking of fitting 28mm Conti Contacts. I'll be carrying tent (3kg), thermarest trail lite (1kg), sleeping bag (not bought it yet but say 1.7 kg - recommendations welcome), plus a gas stove, basic cooking and eating tools, camera, phone etc. in a bar bag, minimum clothes and toiletries. Rear panniers are Altura dryline 56.

Do you think I'm expecting too much of the bike? My feeling is that if it's designed to take a rack it should be OK as long as the wheels are up to it but I'd welcome your comments.

Happy days, now that the sun is shining!

 

[aberal]

32 spokes should be fine, but you'd be better/safer with 36. So I'd suggest prepare for the worst and take some spare spokes. The frame should be ok.

 

[vernon]

I've toured on a road bike using 25mm tyres. As I probably weigh the same if not more than you plus your bike and your luggage, the 32 spoke wheels on the bike coped ok though there was some flex in the frame and the gearing was a tad high as it had no granny ring. If you a are light camping you will get away with it.

You might find the bottom gear a bit too high when you are climbing hills but you can always use the 24" gear i.e. two feet.

 

[westcoaster]

Thanks for the comments so far. I'm not too heavy myself at 78 kg soaking wet so hopefully that will mitigate the stresses on the rear wheel.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

get a trailer, if funds permit. i've got a burley encore that i use for ferrying two small kids around, but which i have also used for cargo.

burley do a proper touring trailer, that would be ideal.

the advantage of a trailer is that the bike feels like a regular bike in terms of handling and you can forget it's there if you don't look at your speedo too often.

 

[Paladin - York]

Hi westcoaster,

Re sleeping bag - for the UK, April - October, I usually take my Mountain Equipment helium 250, recommended sleep zone +25C - 0C, 700+ down. Weight - not sure but light and easily fits into a side pannier. Will be using it in May, Cape Wrath to York.

Good luck

Hope you guys can help me. I've recently bought my first drop bar road bike (a Trek Pilot 2.0, alu frame, carbon forks, 27 speed) and I'm thinking about doing a short camping tour, maybe two to three nights. I've done similar before on a steel Dawes Sardar but I sold that on and now I'm wondering if the Trek will be OK. I've fitted a rear rack which can take max. load of 25 kg but I won't carry anywhere near that.

The tyres are 25mm 700C and the wheels are 32 spoke. I'm thinking of fitting 28mm Conti Contacts. I'll be carrying tent (3kg), thermarest trail lite (1kg), sleeping bag (not bought it yet but say 1.7 kg - recommendations welcome), plus a gas stove, basic cooking and eating tools, camera, phone etc. in a bar bag, minimum clothes and toiletries. Rear panniers are Altura dryline 56.

Do you think I'm expecting too much of the bike? My feeling is that if it's designed to take a rack it should be OK as long as the wheels are up to it but I'd welcome your comments.

Happy days, now that the sun is shining!

 

[willem]

Road bikes are a bad idea for touring, and particularly with camping gear. They may break down, the gearing is too high, and they will not handle very well. Now that you have one, the thing is to take as little as possible (aim for 10 kg max). However, your gear does seem to be on the heavy side. 3 kg for a solo tent is heavy (about 1 kg is the norm for ultralight), current state of the art mattresses like the Thrmarest Neoair are 400-500 grams, and a sleeping bag should be about 500 grams (e.g Phd design). If you want a cheaper but still light bag, the Alpkit Pipedream 400 is your best bet. Ortlieb do special edition lighter (and somewhat cheaper) panniers: http://www.outdoorworks.de/index.php?site=index.html&prod=7337&vid=86748&function=set_lang&lang=en
Willem

 

[Jerry Atrik]

I cant believe you got rid of your Dawes Sardar , one of the best touring bikes ever , in my humble opinion .

 

[frank9755]

Road bikes are a bad idea for touring, and particularly with camping gear. They may break down, the gearing is too high, and they will not handle very well. Now that you have one, the thing is to take as little as possible (aim for 10 kg max). However, your gear does seem to be on the heavy side. 3 kg for a solo tent is heavy (about 1 kg is the norm for ultralight), current state of the art mattresses like the Thrmarest Neoair are 400-500 grams, and a sleeping bag should be about 500 grams (e.g Phd design). If you want a cheaper but still light bag, the Alpkit Pipedream 400 is your best bet. Ortlieb do special edition lighter (and somewhat cheaper) panniers: http://www.outdoorwo...et_lang&lang=en
Willem

Agree with that. I've upgraded my camping kit in the last year (using input from some of Willem's suggestions from various posts, so thank-you!). I went on a tour last week carrying about half the weight of my previous camping tour a year ago. My Terra Nova Laser Competition tent is just 1kg and Alpkit Pipedream 400 is 0.75kg - and are also great quality for my needs.


Better still if you can ditch the rack / panniers and get your luggage in a saddlebag. Weight too far back on a short wheelbase bike can make for some interesting handling on twisty descents

 

[aberal]

Road bikes are a bad idea for touring, and particularly with camping gear. They may break down, the gearing is too high, and they will not handle very well.

The Trek Pilot 2.0 has a triple chainset 50/39/30 so the gearing is not too high for a 2-3 night tour, which is what the OP is talking about. Assuming he is not touring the Alps.

Do agree though about trying to keep the weight down - the 3kg tent in particular is a tad too heavy, and not just that. If you are carrying only two panniers I'd guess that you would pretty much fill them with tent/sleeping bag/mat. If you are travelling solo, in Summer, just under 30 quid would get your this Gelert at 1.5kg. Pack size of the tent is another thing to consider as longish poles can be a tad tricky to stow away. So long as you can keep the weight as low as possible, a short trip handling on the "relaxed" geometry of the Trek would be acceptable. Idealy, though, you might want to ditch the cooking equipment and eat out.

 

[frank9755]

The Trek Pilot 2.0 has a triple chainset 50/39/30 so the gearing is not too high for a 2-3 night tour, which is what the OP is talking about. Assuming he is not touring the Alps.

But only a 26T on the back. I wouldn't want to tour on that gearing and Scotland is hardly flat!

 

[willem]

The volume of the tent does not matter that much for me: I keep it on top of the rack rather than inside the panniers. Tents are made to get wet, and if and when they are I do not want them with my sleeping bag and dry clothes. The volume of the sleeping bag and the mattress are far more important for me. As for cooking, a few nights of eating out will cost as much as pretty fancy cooking kit.
willem

 

[tbtb]

The bike's fine. Trek rated it to 275kg (according to another forum) so you've room to spare, and it has quite relaxed angles I think so it's not tooooo twitchy. Keep the gear to a minimum and you'll enjoy the weight advantages on hills.

Having said that, your list sounds heavy, fine on the Sardar but a bit of a load on a more flexy bike. The tent, sleeping bag, mat are all more than twice the weight I am aiming for (on a similar bike) and you're adding an 800g bar bag also and taking the kitchen gear. Ideally you'd replace the lot but seeing as you didn't ask us for shopping advice really, I'll limit my shopping advice to £50.

I'd consider losing the bar bag, fitting everything in those big panniers and putting the tent on top of the rack. If you have a wee velcro-attaching underseat bag, put it on the handlebars if you want easy access to a camera etc.

The big advantage of your current mat is on rocky ground in winter. I'd consider spending £15 for a cheap foam sleeping mat (200g), perfect in summer on soft ground. For £30 you get 3/4 length thin version of the thermarest (other brands available nowadays at lower price, slightly heavier) if budgets are flexible.

I'd consider the tent options but might stick with the big fellow this time. It's no doubt very spacious! Interesting point - it's sometimes cheaper and better to have two cheaper items rather than one do-it-all. Two tents, one tiny, low to ground £50 and the other a cheap festival dome tent, for example, would cover some people's needs better than a £500 Hilleberg. For only 2 nights away, in fair weather, you might grab a £20 festival dome tent. Importantly, this one is 1.8kg. It's only 2 nights. Worst case, it pours and you stay dry. Oh, no that's the best case. Worst case, you have a great story to tell. But it's cheap, light, spacious. Lots of headroom!

I'd bin the 1.7kg sleeping bag idea. The Alpkit mentioned above is ideal for 3 season use (full length zip allows some temp control if too hot) but it's £130 and out of stock. You can go much cheaper (and a bit lighter) if you figure it's just for warmer weather.

I'd review the cooking also. Perhaps you know where you'll camp and google tells you of catered options (pub food etc). Or, just for tea and the fun of the process, my current temptation is the 13g Titanium Esbit Stove (£8). You have to add a pot/cup/windshield/fuel tabs and apparently it's as fast as gas, if less flexible - you can't extinguish them once they're going I think). Neat kits where it all packs away well are available but I'm in early days researching this.

 

[Muddyfox]

I cant believe you got rid of your Dawes Sardar , one of the best touring bikes ever , in my humble opinion .

You are very biased though Jerry

 

[doog]

I would be very careful using a standard road 32 spoke wheel and carrying that weight. I was touring with rear panniers only and like you a 3kg + tent on a Tricross. I dont know what wheels you have but I hit a pot hole, broke a spoke and wrecked the wheel, miles from anywhere. I limped home with a severely damaged wheel that had to be binned.

Simple beginners mistake that I wont be making again. I have invested in a stronger rear wheel (36 spoke) and cut 1.2kg (and the rest) on changing the tent to a Vaude Hogan Ultralite.

I also found that with rear panniers only the bike was too heavy at the rear for that sort of bike ie road / CX (although mine is heavier than yours- see how you get on). Its flexes like mad on the hills.

End result m investing in a Surly Long Haul trucker which I will build up but in the mean time using the Tricross with lighter gear, better wheels to do a Spain to UK tour...still dont feel 100% happy about the bike though.( Theres nothing worse than having no confidence in your bike!)