Multi day touring / adventure bike

[arimajol]

As the responses show, there are a lot of choices. Your question about wheel size depends on the type of surfaces you'll ride on. If I was staying on paved roads I'd stick with 700c, but if you think you'll be riding unpaved roads a good amount of time, the wide tires you can get with 650b might be a good benefit.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by arimajol

As the responses show, there are a lot of choices. Your question about wheel size depends on the type of surfaces you'll ride on. If I was staying on paved roads I'd stick with 700c, but if you think you'll be riding unpaved roads a good amount of time, the wide tires you can get with 650b might be a good benefit.

I think the size of bike and rider might figure into choosing wheels size.

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

I think the size of bike and rider might figure into choosing wheels size.

Agree there, my 56cm midnight special takes 650 so I tried them out, I’m 6’ and 160ish lb. I was disappointed with how they felt. Felt slower and not much other gains aside from volume where it is clearly superior in some use cases like a trail or very gnarly gravel.

My takeaway is if you like to go fast and can deal with 38-45mm 700 it’s a much better choice for the taller rider.

[charliedid]

Buy a Kona Sutra.

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by gibbo

It will need to have the capacity for front and rear racks and full fenders. I am leaning towards a steel frame to keep the budget reasonable as we will be purchasing quite a bit of gear like tent, sleeping bags, ect.... Riding surface will be a mix of gravel and pavement.

Most modern mixed-terrain bike touring rigs (aka "bikepacking") are paired with lightweight camping gear to reduce the need for the traditional 4-pannier setup. Tents, which might've traditionally taken up an entire pannier or two are now rolled up in front of the handlebar. And sleeping bags can now be compressed into a seatbag.

How much you're willing to spend on ultralight camp gear will dictate your luggage requirements.

Personally, I would spend money on lighter gear and move away from the older 4-pannier setup because the bike rides so much nicer with less weight--especially rear weight.

[David in Maine]

While I can certainly see the appeal of the newer bikepacking style with ultralight camping gear there are definitely some trade-offs. My wife and I tour with the typical 4 pannier load and enjoy the spaciousness of our 3 person tent, the comfort of our full length inflateable pads, and having space in our panniers to shop for real food and wine on the road to feast on in the campsite. My wife's custom touring bike is built around 26" wheels so she can run wide tires and full fenders without toe overlap. Toe overlap on a loaded touring bike is a bad idea!

David

[slowpoke]

Yup, I think the tradeoff is whether a person is optimizing for when they're riding or camping. That said, modern tents can be lightweight and spacious, but at the price of your wallet and durability.

Also, there is a middle-ground of only having large front panniers and a frame bag, and a large seatbag for lighter-weight compressibles.

[Johnnysmooth]

Seen some nice touring bikes over at Co-Motion
Been thinking about such myself as I haven't done any touring since rt after college when I took a 5month jaunt across Europe, camping in fields, on farms and even in a coupe of caves. An unforgettable trip

[gibbo]

Road surfaced will be a mix of pavement and gravel.
The capacity for full racks is a must.
I am wondering if a Roloff internal rear hub can provide enough gear range?
I am thinking Dynamo front hub for power, any thoughts on this?


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[charliedid]

Originally Posted by gibbo

Road surfaced will be a mix of pavement and gravel.
The capacity for full racks is a must.
I am wondering if a Roloff internal rear hub can provide enough gear range?
I am thinking Dynamo front hub for power, any thoughts on this?


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Rohloff will generally be totally suitable for touring but it is very heavy. You also mentioned "reasonable" budget. A Rohloff will be a minimum of $1200 for the hub and very few bikes if any come stock. Maybe the Tout Terrain but I can't recall. Co-Motion would be a bike to look at and they also do Pinion as well. That said they are great but expect a bike built to handle this hub to be $5000 minimum. I've sold a pile of Sutras and we often built a dyno front wheel at the time of sale with the same rim to save cost. Dyno is super nice to have on a touring bike.

Also shifters are an issue with Rohloff and I think a twist shift is still the only option though co-motion made a slick one for a drop bar.

[gibbo]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Rohloff will generally be totally suitable for touring but it is very heavy. You also mentioned "reasonable" budget. A Rohloff will be a minimum of $1200 for the hub and very few bikes if any come stock. Maybe the Tout Terrain but I can't recall. Co-Motion would be a bike to look at and they also do Pinion as well. That said they are great but expect a bike built to handle this hub to be $5000 minimum. I've sold a pile of Sutras and we often built a dyno front wheel at the time of sale with the same rim to save cost. Dyno is super nice to have on a touring bike.

Also shifters are an issue with Rohloff and I think a twist shift is still the only option though co-motion made a slick one for a drop bar.

Thanks for that info, I had no clue the Rohloff was so expensive! External gears it is!


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[thekenoshakid]

Don't know what the availability/cost is like in Australia, but Niner's RLT steel has all the mounting points you'll need and rides well loaded up with panniers without giving up much to ride nicely unloaded on dirt or paved too.

[Cornfed]

I've done a number of mutli-day/week trips on the Salsa Vaya and you couldn't ask for a more comfortable and functional touring bike, imo. Clearance for big tires, fenders, and mud. A plethora of mounts everywhere, including the fork. Disc brakes for the loaded downhills, and wide gearing for the loaded uphills. Just a great bike for any adventure and very reasonably priced.

One suggestion: see if you can't make do with frame bags instead of panniers. Lighter, quieter, and easier to move and modify to suit.

Have fun!

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by thekenoshakid

Don't know what the availability/cost is like in Australia, but Niner's RLT steel has all the mounting points you'll need and rides well loaded up with panniers without giving up much to ride nicely unloaded on dirt or paved too.

It's a great bike but it is no loaded touring rig to be sure. light to moderate bikepacking in the hills sure...of course people ride all sorts of things as touring bikes and do fine I guess. Pretty stark differences if you compare wheelbase and chainstays on those two bikes. Just my 2 cents.

[buddybikes]

Originally Posted by jtakeda

For a true touring and adventure only bike I would look no further than Tumbleweed.

http://www.tumbleweed.cc/store/prospector

Disclaimer--I know Daniel and hes a great guy and an excellent mechanic. You can read about his philosophy and watch the short doc of him riding thru the Peruvian Andes--but his whole thing is "if it breaks when I'm out there will I be able to limp home, fix it or get it fixed at a shop ANYWHERE"

He designs the bikes with those and comfort in mind.

Perhaps, but... We toured significantly on 700c wheels, good Reynolds frame with eyelets. One bike worth mentioning anyway is the Lynskey touring frame. Just finished riding it this eve.