Spoilt for choice

[steveindenmark]

At the start of the Autumn I promised myself a really nice touring bike in the Spring. During the Winter I have tightened the purse strings and have done a lot of overtime at work. Now Spring is getting close, I think I deserve to get that bike.

The problem is that I am spoilt for choice. I have just short of £2000 in the piggy bank and was thinking of a Koga WorldTraveller 29 or the Koga Randonneur, which are both under my price. But then I got to thinking "Do I really need that particular bike"? I am never going to ride round the world, but I may get down to the Atlas mountains in September

At the moment I travel on a TREK Lexa SL road bike with rear rack. I don`t carry cooking gear but I do carry tent, sleeping bag and mat. The total weight is about 15kg. The problem is that I can only fit 25c tyres on my Trek and I would like to ride on tracks more. It is difficult to fot a front rack as it has carbon forks and I would also like trekking handlebars. I would also like to start carrying cooking gear and so the weight will go up.

I am in Denmark and so handmade British bikes are off the list.

Any advice would be helpful.

Steve

 

[lulubel]

Are you looking for steel or alu, or don't you mind what frame material?

 

[Nigeyy]

That's a lot of money to spend. I'd be tempted to spend some of it on a tour, rather than all on a bike (obviously that's just my thought and to each their own, nothing wrong with that).

Anyway.... along these lines.... could you combine the two? Why not use some of the money to travel to the UK, pick up a British bike and ride back (taking a saddle you are comfortable with, along with panniers with your normal touring load?

I know there are problems associated with this (e.g. pannier fit, bike fit even with a saddle you trust, getting appropriate racks, more money), but nothing ventured, nothing gained? Just a thought, it could be a pretty cool experience.

And sorry to be a downer, but I'd say get something other than an LHT. Don't get me wrong, they're good bikes but they're just another Taiwanese frame with added-on slick marketing -and a lot of people have 'em, so buck the trend and get something more unique!

 

[P.H]

The Kogas are lovely bikes, if it's a full on tourer you're looking for they're probably up there with the best.
I'm not sure of your reasons for changing your mind. I understand the idea of a lighter bike, but if you're going to carry a bit more gear and consider tracks, then there's not much difference between the requirements for a round the world bike or one for more modest tours. You could save a bit of weight on components, but that goes as much for the Kogas as any other frame. You could also look at some of the titanium frames, capable of being built up light or as a full on tourer, the Spa Cycles Tourer or the Sabbath Silk Route look like great bikes. If you are looking more for road bike handling and are prepared to sacrifice some of the load lugging capabilities, the fashionable CX derived bikes might suit. The Van Nicholas Amazon is as close to an all rounder as I've seen, or the very popular Specialized Tricross. If you'd like the option of disk brakes, the Genesis Criox De Fer might fit the bill, or my favorite of that genre the SOMA Double Cross.
You are as your title suggests spoilt for choice. I don't think there's a bad bike available for that sort of money. One thing you might want to give some thought to is how many bikes you expect to end up with. It's something I have got wrong in the past, buying an allrounder then other more specialised bikes that made the allrounder redundant. If I'd had a better vision of what I wanted to end up with I'd have got there sooner (And cheaper)

 

[steveindenmark]

Nigeyy, I was thinking along those lines myself. I have the money in my hand and I don`t mind spending it but do I really need to spend it on a RTW bike when I am not going RTW. In the end I want to end up with a very nice touring bike. I would not come over to the UK for a touring holiday as it took me long enough to escape the UK. I think I will be looking at a steel frame. I will look at some more threads on here and see if I can get some ideas.

PH..Thanks for those ideas, I will take a time to go through them. At the moment I have my Trek Lexa SL which I really like. Great for roads with a very light load but not very good for tracks. I have a Kickbike which is great wherever I go with it but not good with luggage. My Tonaro electric bike is just for ease and fun. One more bike that will take a decent load and go over tracks will finish the stable.

Steve

 

[Nigeyy]

Alas I'm in the States, so can't pass on any ideas -but the more boutique bikes here are Comotion and Rivendell (https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/index.html?page_id=174493) and http://co-motion.com/singles/americano. Not sure you could get a roundtrip ticket to the States and buy one of these for 2 grand....

Hey, so how is escaping the UK and living in Denmark? I've never been to Denmark but heard its a great place to cycle (and live). I left the UK way back in 1990 (though I'm not sure I'd say it was escaping! I do like to go back).

FYI: my touring bike is an older model steel Dawes Sardar, very impressed with it. It really suits me.

[quote="steveindenmark, post: 2316039, member: 13227"I would not come over to the UK for a touring holiday as it took me long enough to escape the UK. I think I will be looking at a steel frame. I will look at some more threads on here and see if I can get some ideas.
Steve[/quote]

 

[Ticktockmy]

The problem you have is that you could spend £2000 pounds on a touring bike with all the super duper gear fitted on it and it turns out not to be for you, and again you could go and buy a cheap bike, and it could turn out to be the best thing since cut bread was invented. Problem is each and everyone of us is different both in how we are made shape and weight wise, we are all different in our physical abilities and mental abilities, thus when we get good advise on here and it is good advise, you still need to take that advise and temper it to suit you and your good and bad strengths, both physically and mentally. My suggestion for what it is worth, taking account what peeps on here have said. then go around your local LBS's and look and try/sit on the which bikes they have in the shop, compare this with the on-line shop spec's and from that you can get a better idea what bike will suit you. I really don't think you need to spend 2 grand on a touring bike. You only need to ride through Africa or Asia to see what amazing work cheap bikes do, carrying far greater loads over really bad terrain and roads than we every do.

I personally have for many years now built touring bikes up to suit me, and my requirements, picking and mixing different manufactures components . Ok it may not be in your mind to do that, but for sure you will understand your bike so much more the better, when things break then you can be better aware how to fix it.
The current bike I use for touring, is built around a MTB frame as follows:

I made my Mountain bike up to so suit my own requirements for pottering around on the trails and byways and also for touring:
Charge Duster 2010 frame, (has bigger diamenter tubes than the Duster 2011 frame)
RockShox Recon Silver TK Solo Air 100mm Suspension Fork
Hope Tech X2 Disc Brake front and rear.
Truvativ Noir XC 3.3 Team Triple Chainset.( got it for £90 so could not miss such a good bargain)
Shimano XT M770 Derailleur and levers front and rear..
Race Face Evolve MTB Handlebar
Charge Spoon saddle
Mavic Crossride XC717 front wheeL
Halo SAS Pro 26 Inch Rear Mtb Wheel (heavy wheel but great for when I am touring off road fully laden)
Old man mountain Sherpa racks on the front and rear.
Current tyres are Schwalbe Marathon XR's for touring otherwise when not set up for touring: I use Panaracer Fire XC Pro's.

Hope that helps.
Bob G.