Touring tyres

[steveindenmark]

My partner Jannie and I are both keen cyclists but we have never toured but hope to this summer.

After lengthy discussions we have decided to tour light, without camping gear and with just handlebar bags and rear panniers. We both ride TREK road bikes.

We will be covering 100+ km per day and it will be mainly on metalled roads and cycle paths with the occasional gravel path thrown in.

Our tyres at the moment are 700 X 25C as this is the largest tyres our TREKS will take if we want mud guards fitted inside the forks. Is there any advantage of ditching the mudguards for 700 X 28C tyres and fitting external mud guards?

Jannie is due a new bike and her birthday is coming up. Any suggestions for a good touring road bike in the £500 area?

Steve

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

What is the bigger question is where you will be touring and in what weather?
Are you likely to cycle in rain?
A lot of tourers don't cycle in the rain so mud guards are not necessary in their eyes.
But they are on my bike and on my husbands bike because we cycle in rain.
So assuming your name indicates the place you are in, then personally I would be going with mud guards - I have toured twice in Denmark, once I was really lucky with the weather (if you think tarmac melting in the heat is lucky) and once we have been not so fortunate and had lots of rain and we were both very grateful for the mudguards on the tarmac roads/cycle ways where it does not run off so easily as with gravel.

 

[Yellow7]

When touring (especialy in britain) you can never guarantee the weather and there's nothing worse than getting caught out in the rain and not having mud-guards so in my view i'd never leave home without them. For what protection they offer it seems silly not to use them if possible.

Tyres. I can’t say enough about the Continental ‘Travel Contact’ and also the Schwalbe ‘Marathon Plus Tour’. August I returned from cycling to Cape Town with just one (1!) puncture. My bike has 26" wheels, fully loaded and had no popped spokes (24 Seven cycles in Stony Stratford built the wheels using DRC MT19 rims that I chose and still running true, without ever adjusting spoke nipples)

Mark Wallisonwheels

 

[PpPete]

I did JoGLE on 700x25 in 2010 with no probs. Very lightly loaded though.

 

[Bigsharn]

I swear by my Schwalbe Marathon Plus', but I don't think they do them <28c

 

[willem]

These are interesting issues. Personally, I would prefer to camp. I like it much more, and it also saves a small fortune: you can earn back the investment in camping gear in one or two years. Bu there is a weight penalty, even though it is not that big. Between the two of you, camping stuff need not weigh more than 5 kg (2 kg for a tent, 1 kg each for bag and mattress, and 1 kg for the kitchen, roughly). But on a road bike, weight is a serious issue, both because of the narrow tyres, and because of its light construction (esp rear wheels are a problem).
The more heavily you load the bike, and the rougher the roads you take, the wider the tyres you will need. Total luggage for two camping people would be about 25 kg for the two of you. If as is often the case (but only if, of course) you are the heavier and stronger of the two, I would split the load unevenly: you take 15 kg and your girlfriend 10 kg.
For a light rider (60-65 kg?) with only 10 kg luggage 32 mm tyres would be OK, but for a heavier rider (say 75 kg or more) and 15 kg of luggage, I think 35 mm is the minimum. If you want to extend your range to more than the occasional gravel path, these figures should be 35 and 37 mm. For even more serious stuff, wide 26 inch tyres are what I recommend and use myself.
If you translate this to bike designs, you can see that your girlfriend can probably get away with an audax bike with 57 mm drop brakes and clearance for 32 mm max. A good example of such a bike would be the Thorn Audax mk III. In your case (still assuming that you are indeed bigger) a bike with cantilever brakes and clearance for 35-37 mm tyres would be better. An example would be the Thorn Club Tour. If both of you like the extended usability of wider tyres, you could both ride a bike like the Club Tour, she with 35 mm tyres, and you with 37 mm. If you are really into the rough stuff, look at a bike like the Thorn Sherpa.
So if you try to do this with your existing bike you can see that your bike is probably furthest away from the ideal. If I had to choose between 25 mm with regular mudguards and 28 mm with add on mudguards, I would choose the latter (particularly in your case), and choose a warm and sunny destination. The most recent crop of add on mudguards has rather more extended coverage than the earlier ones, but take overshoes to keep your feet dry. As for tyres, I think you would not enjoy heavy ultra puncture proof tyres like Marathon Plusses. The Panaracer Pasela is a much nicer tyre to ride, and even the non puncture proof version that I now ride is quite feasible, and rides even better. They are relatively wide, however (a 28 mm really is 28 mm), so 28 mm may not fit your frames (order one and try, it may work on one bike or the other, front but not rear, etc). As for reliability, you may wish to get a handbuilt traditional 36 spoke rear wheel for your bike. And fit lower gearing.
Enjoy your rides,
Willem

 

[steveindenmark]

Thank you all for your input.

Willem, I enjoy camping when we are on the motorbike but after cycling 150km I want a roof over my head and a hot shower close to my soft bed and a TV to watch if I feel so inclined.

I will look at those bikes, they sound interesting. I think that there are a lot of audax bikes that would fit the bill. I have TREK lexa SL and I am sure if we travel light it would go just about anywhere with 25C tyres on it.

If Pete can do Jogle on 25C tyres thast sounds good enough for me.

Steve