touring bikes

[galaxy1]

what sort of wheels do people use on their tourers? Wider road wheels or the 26in mountainbikey type wheels? Also, apart from the galaxy,what other tourers are available. I'm feeling quite inspired at the moment

 

[RedBike]

Both types of wheel.

Quite a few of the main bike manufactures have a tourer (or a bike that can be used as a tourer) somewhere within their lineup. Dawes themselves do the Horizon and the Kara-Kum as well as the Galaxy range.

For me the stereotypical tourers are Thorns, the Galaxy and the Ridgeback Panorama. Loads of others though.

 

[vernon]

what sort of wheels do people use on their tourers? Wider road wheels or the 26in mountainbikey type wheels? Also, apart from the galaxy,what other tourers are available. I'm feeling quite inspired at the moment

There are a lot of variables to take into account when choosing a bike.

For budget touring - a second hand Galaxy or one of the budget tourers from Edinburgh Bike Co-Operative or as I've personally discovered - the B'Twin Trail7 hybrid from Decathlon (£299 inc mudguards, hub dynamo lighting and rear rack)

Leafing through this forum you will find references to bikes by :

Thorn
Roberts
Longstaff
Mercian
Surly
Ridgeback
and possibly Cannondale

You'll also come across the steel vs aluminium arguments i.e. repairability and comfort. I found that the B'Twin aluminium framed bike that I bought last week to replace the steel framed Galaxy whose drop out had fractured in Orleans was just as comfortable as the bike that it replaced. It made economic senses to go for a budget replacement tourer - the B'Twin fitted the bill perfectly.

26" or 700c - once again differing points of view some argue that 26" rims spokes and tyres are easier to obtain if trekiking world wide. Others argue that the 700c rolls better. If you are working at the budget end then the argument does not exist. 700c it is!

There will not be many folk who have direct experience of riding many different types of tourers on tours and the advice that you will receive is more likely to be received wisdoms 'steel is real' or judgements based on single model ownership e.g. 'The Dawes Galaxy works for me - it should work for you.'

I've toured with:

a 700c wheeled steel framed 12 speed road bike - manageable but only just
a 700c wheeled steel framed 21 speed Galaxy - fine bike but drop out fractured twice
a 700c wheeled steel framed Ridgeback hybrid - worked well but not as 'relaxed' as the Galaxy
a 700c wheeled aluminium framed B'Twin hybrid/tourer - works well happy with the first 450km of riding

I've not had any 26" wheeled tourers so can not offer any advice on this aspect.

At the end oif the day the decision is yours and yours alone to make. If the bike is correctly described as a tourer, it will more than likely meet your needs providing it fits within your budget.

 

[HelenD123]

Leafing through this forum you will find references to bikes by :

Thorn
Roberts
Longstaff
Mercian
Surly
Ridgeback
and possibly Cannondale

Also Hewitt Cheviot/SE. I think a few forummers have one of these.

 

[Dave Davenport]

You need to think about what type of touring you want to do. We've got Thorn Sherpa's (26" wheel) and have used them on 'rough stuff' and plan to use them for adventure touring in the future. We've just spent two weeks in the French alps and did some big climbs loaded with camping gear and they were great, but if you wanted to stick to tarmac and maybe travel a bit lighter a 700c wheeled job might well be better.

 

[Comatosed]

I've toured with 26 inch semi slicks which were ok, but much prefer my 28 inch tyres which are a bit wider than standard road tyres.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I will add Dave Yates to the list. Well recommended.

 

[galaxy1]

Thanks folks. I'm going to have a bit of a surf and look some of these bikes up. DOes the 700 wheel really roll better than the 26in? Which are stronger ,is that a factor as well or is it just a question of availability?

 

[Gerry Attrick]

A 26 inch wheel will be stronger than a 700C, but as above poster has said, the important thing is what are you going to use the bike for? What types of surface do you intend to cycle? If you are on mainly tarmac or surfaced trails, then I suggest 700C as it is faster rolling. However, if you are venturing off road, touring outside Europe or carrying everything including the kitchen sink, then 26 inch may be the way to go.

 

[vernon]

I will add Dave Yates to the list. Well recommended.

I've got one of those - use it for Audaxing though. It is a very nice bike.

 

[vernon]

Thanks folks. I'm going to have a bit of a surf and look some of these bikes up. DOes the 700 wheel really roll better than the 26in? Which are stronger ,is that a factor as well or is it just a question of availability?

You can build a strong wheel with the correct choice of spokes rims and hubs for either size of wheel.

 

[RedBike]

In theory 700c should roll better and 26" should be stronger (and tyres/tubes will be more readily available.)

In practice it all depends on build quality.

 

[asterix]

For touring I use 26x1.75 Panaracer tyres on a steel frame with oversize 531 tubing. It's a combination that allows me to use rough trails with confidence and with relative comfort. Unladen it's fast enough to give a road bike a contest, altho that may just be the effects of having removed 20 kilos after a week or so riding laden.

I can't say I honestly notice any difference in rolling resistance between 26" and 700c, other than the latter is a perhaps bit nimbler in turning.

 

[willem]

It all begins with the kind of riding you want to do. Over the years I have found that I increasingly prefer small roads and sometimes stretches of gravel roads etc. The reason for this is quite simple: traffic has become so much denser that all but the smallest roads have become dangerous territory. When I started touring in the later seventies I often would ride my Viscount Aerospace Pro (yes that one -still have it) on 32-35 mm tyres along pretty major roads with smooth tarmac and little traffic. I don't need to tell anyone you cannot do that anymore. For me, speed of transportation is now quite irrelevant, but involvement in the scenery is what matters instead.

So I now ride a different bike: it is still a steel drop bar bike, but it is now a custom frame with oversize tubing, 26 inch wheels and a Rohloff hub. I prefer 26 inch wheels for this kind of riding, as for the same weight they allow wider tyres offering more comfort, and better grip on bad road surfaces. 26 inch wheels may indeed be marginally slower (but only marginally so), but speed really depends much more on tyre quality or when you are climbing on luggage weight. So yes, narrower 28 inch wheels may be a bit faster, but they are not equally adept at bad roads. The world has changed, and so we need different bikes.

This is not to say there is no room for narrow tyres and 28 inch wheels. A lightly loaded Audax bike can be fun indeed, but only for hostelling or really ultralight camping and for riding on preferably decent tarmac. In fact, I am now putting together some ultralight camping gear precisely for this, first with the old Viscount, and if I like it I may get a new audax bike for it.

For alround touring use I do indeed believe that the 26 inch wheel is the most versatile. Fit it, as I do, with 26x1.75 Panaracer Pasela's and you have a very fast bike that can handle moderate loads. For heavier use there are the 50 mm versions of the Schwalbe Big Apple, the ordinary Marathon, the Schwalbe Supreme and Extreme, and for ultimate third world conditions, the Marathon XR. For semi off road there is the Schwalbe Hurricane. In short, you can transform your bike according to the conditions. To some extent you can do the same with 28 inch tourers like the Dawes Galaxy, and particularly if you fit wider tyres they will still be quite ok on gravel, but not to the same extent as wide 26 inch tyres.

Willem

 

[samid]

A 26 inch wheel will be stronger than a 700C

...all else being equal - which it never really is. A high quality handbuilt 700c wheel will definitely be stronger than a lousy 26".