touring on a x1

[Blue Hills]

Nice bike.

Can I ask how long your tours are on that setup?

I ask as i could be accused of overpacking

 

[Aushiker]

Nice bike.

Can I ask how long your tours are on that setup?

Thanks. That particular ride was of the Holland Track so that was six days of riding. Basically Hyden to Coolgardie and then a half day to Kalgoorlie (Western Australia). I did two water drops plus was able to get water from rock pools so didn't need to carry too much water. My next ride coming up in December will be from Esperance to Albany (along the coast mainly) in Western Australia. That will require carrying up to 15 litres of water on three sections so will be adding a Salsa Alternator 170 Rack to the bike to handle the extra load.

 

[Bodhbh]

I ask as i could be accused of overpacking

There no such thing as overpacking, only inappropriate gearing.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

There's some cracking bikes on that website.

 

[albal]

I will be light touring. So the simplicity of the x1 has got me thinking. Plenty of tourers use Rholoff? What's the difference? I like the look of the light blue, aware of others.

 

[Tigerbiten]

Plenty of tourers use Rohloff? What's the difference?

Gear range and robustness.

A Rohloff has just over a 5x gear range, so 20"-100" with even 14% steps is easy.
It's only when you get to a 10-50 12 speed do you get anywhere near the same range with a 1x system and the steps between gears (12%-20%) are uneven.

I'd think I'd trust an IHG to just keep going rather than an 11/12 speed.
Probably makes no difference Europe/USofA, but once you're truly off the beaten track then yes.

 

[TheDoctor]

That's a reason why my touring setup is 7 or 8 speed - you're using a wider, cheaper and easily available chain, and it's quite easy to bodge it if necessary.
Granted, it doesn't have the gear range of a Rolhoff, but if I'm looking for a gear below 27" I could walk, and I don't need a gear higher than about 80".

 

[Ticktockmy]

That's a reason why my touring setup is 7 or 8 speed - you're using a wider, cheaper and easily available chain, and it's quite easy to bodge it if necessary.
Granted, it doesn't have the gear range of a Rolhoff, but if I'm looking for a gear below 27" I could walk, and I don't need a gear higher than about 80".

I am as like minded as TheDoctor, regarding gears for touring, not a problem here in Europe & the UK, but with some of my adventures in Asia and Africa, simple and easily replaceable gearing is a requirement. I did look at fitting a hub gear, but in my mind the units can be very reliable, cost put me off, also if they do fail it can be expensive to get repaired if you are in some remote part of Asia.

 

[FishFright]

Anyone ride a x1 chainset on a tour? I only ask as Light Blue have ceased selling double chainset on the new Robinson. X1 only.

http://www.lightbluecycles.co.uk/Sport/5LB5R150O/Robinson-RD-105 is this the one they arent selling ? Also is the X1 moniker saying that its a 1 X set up ?

Or am I just confused (again)?

 

[TheDoctor]

I think the OP means that the bike used to come with a double chainset, but soon will only be available with a X1 (single)
And yes, X1 (or 1X) normally refers to a single chainring setup.

 

[Blue Hills]

That's a reason why my touring setup is 7 or 8 speed - you're using a wider, cheaper and easily available chain, and it's quite easy to bodge it if necessary.
Granted, it doesn't have the gear range of a Rolhoff, but if I'm looking for a gear below 27" I could walk, and I don't need a gear higher than about 80".

Liked your post. 8 speed is underappreciated these days. But to clarify, how many do you have at the front?

 

[TheDoctor]

The Ribble tourer I posted upthread has a 36T chainring - just the one - and a 12-32 7 speed cassette.
My roadbike, which I rarely ride as I don't get on with drops anymore, will have a 13-26 8 speed cassette and a 44-34 chainset. And flat bars.
As soon as I get round to assembling it....

 

[albal]

http://www.lightbluecycles.co.uk/Sport/5LB5R150O/Robinson-RD-105 is this the one they arent selling ? Also is the X1 moniker saying that its a 1 X set up ?

Or am I just confused (again)?

Yes. Thats correct. Only supplied with a single chainring.

 

[Ridgeways]

My next ride coming up in December will be from Esperance to Albany (along the coast mainly) in Western Australia. That will require carrying up to 15 litres of water on three sections so will be adding a Salsa Alternator 170 Rack to the bike to handle the extra load.

15 litres of water for that trip? I didn’t carry more about 5-10 litres crossing the Nullabor and the Sinai, but accept that it is playing safe to take as much you can.

I took my younger brother on a trip around the SW corner of WA back in 1978, getting to Albany from the more verdant direction. We cycled from Perth down the coast to Bunbury; inland to Collie & Donnybrook before heading back to the coast at Busselton; down to Augusta, then to Pemberton, & via Walpole to Albany, before heading back in a more or less straight line [kinking from Cranbrook to Katanning and Kojanup] along the Albany highway.

We were using bog standard road bikes with double chain-rings and 5 rear sprockets; 10 speed bikes were about the most that were obtainable back then.

 

[Ridgeways]

By the way, when you are carrying that much water, have you used the classic Aussie hessian water bags? For the Nullarbor trip I had them either side of my front panniers. They could carry 7 litres each, though I never filled them that much, and I had a small Esky mounted on top for filling with ice to keep cans of cold beer in [when it was possible to get that at the occasional Motel stops]. The hessian bags keep the water icy cold through evaporation, and could carry about as much as you say you want to.