Cycling UK Forum

Hi Laura, welcome to the forum.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a fast, comfortable, lightweight tourer. Tourers are known to be heavy and slow, but if set-up correctly, very comfortable. Taking your time and enjoying the scenery is what it's all about.
Going second hand can get you a good bike for alot less money, but finding what you want in the size you want could prove to be difficult.
The only tourer that I personally know of that would fit into your wish list would be the Dawes Vantage and goes for around £600 new. My recommendation on this bike is biased as I have one and I love it to bits. The other reason I advise it is the sizes it's available in. The smallest is 17". I'm 5'3" and the 19" fits me quite well, but with a lady's shorter torso, the 17" would be better for you. Going to a bike shop and trying it out for size is the best option though.
Another bike I would suggest is the Specialized Tri-Cross. It isn't a tourer as such, but a general purpose do everything bike. Lighter than a tourer, but comes without mudguards or rack and goes for around £750.
One other option, is to just keep your current bike, fit mudguards, rack and panniers for when touring and bobs your auntie.

I looked at the Tektro mini V's after losing my rag at the poor performance from my Oryx's and aftermarket pads. £20 a pair seemed steep when these were less than half price http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005 ... 01_s00_i00 and work perfectly well.
Fitting was a bit awkward as my mudguards are on the large side and took some bodging, but even with the stock Tektro pads that come fitted, avoiding a mass pile-up because some plonker at the front of the pack decides to slam his brakes on at 20mph on downhill in the middle of an A road for no good reason is less scary.

I can see two possibilities here...
1: The rubber boot that covers the top of the seatpost may not be lubricated. Vaseline would work best as oil degrades rubber.
2: Your saddle. The Dawes Sport Touring saddle that came fitted to my Vantage used to creak all the time. It has since been replaced.
Your other option would be to completely clean all previous lubricant off and regrease.

gaz wrote:
The cycling part of their website seems somewhat London centric.

That's because London is the centre of the universe, didn't you know?

+1 for the Cateye BM 300G mirror. I have mine mounted to a Deda oversize drop bar and whilst I agree that the use of a philips head screw isn't the brightest idea given the torque needed to stop the thing moving all around, it does stay in place over everything but the roughest of surfaces.
I do run 700 x 32's at 70 psi though which do smooth things out a bit

I've had similar problems with BikeRouteToaster and have noticed that it gets hung up when using auto routing while plotting along an offroad route.
Your best bet is to turn off the auto routing and plot manually until you get the route back onto recognised roads.

Kona's Project 2 spring to mind if it's a mountain bike as they are suspension corrected although they don't have any pannier rack mounts as far as I know.
Surely have a range of chromoly steel forks and I think Salsa. I'm sure there's more out there.

I got myself a pair of DHB T1 shoes from Wiggle and I can seriously say that they are one of the most comfy shoes I have ever worn. Cheap too at £40 ish. Shame they dont make'em anymore.

wow.

Tesco sponge (14p a pk) some shower gel and a bit of warm water. Blot the pads and straps with said sponge then rinse off and leave to dry. Takes 5 mins and maybe an hour to dry. Easy.

Your best bet is steel. They're cheap and have enough spring to smooth out a rough road to some degree.
Alloy may be lighter but they're gonna be stiff as can be and have no "give".
Carbon fibre will be pricy and personally I wouldn't trust the stuff if my life depended on it, but that's just me.
Some will also argue the point for steel based on that it's easier to repair than alloy or carbon fibre but personally I think it's a silly arguement because seriously, would you trust Dave from round the corner and his dads welding kit to patch up your forks if they fail?

If it isn't stamped on the seatpost itself, take it to a bike shop where if they are any good, will be able to measure it for you and tell you what they have in stock for that size.
There is no "standard" size.

I have the very same saddle pack myself. I bought it a few weeks ago, although mine came from Geoff Smith cycles. After several hundred miles, I've had no issues with the buckles or any other build quality issues and try as I may, I cannot find any "Made in China/PRC" labels on the pack itself or the packaging.

I keep an emergency stash of fresh air there for when im gasping for air on the hill climbs.

You might be able to find some old rigid forks at a bicycle recycle centre (they're popping up in alot of towns now) and if they use threaded steerers, one option is this http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=6254
The only other obstacle I can think of would be that older forks may not be suspension corrected, but you could always take a test ride to see how the handling differs. It may not be all that much.