I have looked through past threads but the bikes linked to are out of production due to the constant race to change models every year.
I think an MTB may be an issue due to heel clearance for panniers (judging by my trusty old MTB), so would like to focus on a relaxed road or hybrid frame.
The choice seems to be between a budget new build or a quality used tourer.
Budget £350-400.
My friend is slightly larger than me so the frame probably needs to be 58 cms or more (or 26" if looking at used classic tourers).
On a recent quick look for both new and used the bargains seem to be in smaller frame sizes.
Probably a hard task as my initial search for my new tourer saw a budget creep similar to most Government projects.
58cm is not that big. If he's big, don't expect a cheap new bike to work without rebuilding the wheels before he uses it. I reckon an early 90s MTB would be perfect. If I could only ever have one bike, it would be an early nineties mountain bike. Good for a bit of everything.
Decathlon have an XL B'twin Triban 500 for £350 which they say fits someone 6'3" to 6'7" tall, however bottom gear as supplied is ~32" and it has a 6061 T6 Al alloy frame and CF fork. I have used a 520 on a tour after changing the gearing to get a 22.5" bottom gear and my only gripe so far is the durability of the eyelets: one I damaged the threads without much effort and one for a water bottle has simply fallen out. [url]https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-road-bike-red-id_8377759 [/url]
just to clarify, is a load expected to be carried or not? The reason I ask this is that this (or preference) may make the difference between choosing an audaxy type bike (with 28mm max tyres) and a more loaded touring type bike (which might take 35-38mm tyres and mudguards).
There's no doubt that you ought to be able to get a first class used machine for that money, but not so easily in that frame size perhaps.
Brucey wrote:just to clarify, is a load expected to be carried or not? The reason I ask this is that this (or preference) may make the difference between choosing an audaxy type bike (with 28mm max tyres) and a more loaded touring type bike (which might take 35-38mm tyres and mudguards).
There's no doubt that you ought to be able to get a first class used machine for that money, but not so easily in that frame size perhaps.
cheers
Well, I'm not carrying his kit!
Assume credit card touring with possibly an emergency camping backup.
The panniers are less significant {cough} than the rider.
Flat and boring trip across the Netherlands to Germany so wind resistance is probably more important than climbing ability.
In that case you don't need to worry about finding a bike with low gears and just about anything which is in reasonable nick, the right size and can have luggage attached to it would do. I met someone touring on a small wheeled shopping bike which was not ideal but did the job.
its got good points, unknown points and bad points. Overall, for the money, you ought to be able to live with the latter.
Bad points include - basic transmission parts - 32 spoke wheels not 36 spoke - gearing is higher than ideal for a touring machine - some 'change it immediately' type parts eg the saddle
Unknown points include - frame geometry - what wheel rims you get exactly
Good points include - stainless steel spokes - 7s cassette hub (presumably 135mm OLN) makes for an inherently strong low-dish rear wheel - most of the parts are at least going to be serviceable - the frameset looks OK at least (not that you can tell for sure, proof of the pudding and all that).
So the wheels for example don't have the seeds of greatness about them but they probably have the seeds of adequacy; if they are stress-relieved, and the hubs correctly set up and lubricated, they ought to give good service (if you don't do these things the wheelset could fail in the first 500 miles, depending on how badly it is built/set up). [ KT hubs, like most budget hubs, are both less tolerant of bad adjustment, and more likely to come with (you guessed it) bad adjustment. Spending twenty minutes servicing them when they are new is not going to be time wasted; if you wait until they manifest signs of trouble it might be too late and if the hubs are falling apart a new wheelset may be the only realistic solution. The correct bearing adjustment is a tiny bit of free play that just disappears when the QR is used to secure the wheel in the frame; no free play when the QR is loose means the bearings are badly adjusted and will wear out prematurely. Gear oil in the freehub body and better grease in the main bearings too and you are good to go. ] Ditto the derailleurs; they at least are easy to change when they wear out; you just have to hope that they don't do a death plunge into the rear wheel/chainrings and cause a load of collateral damage first.
The rear cassette looks like an 11-28 and the chainset 34-50. This will be OK for unladen riding or a loaded tour with no big hills. For more serious touring I'd fit a chainset with smaller chainrings to give an alpine double (eg 26-44 chainrings); I think the LH shifter won't support a triple chainset which would otherwise be preferable.
BTW with any new bike do be sure to check the rim tapes; a lot of new bikes come with rubbish rubber rim tapes (not really suitable for double-wall rims) and these will cause problems down the line. It really isn't a bad idea to aim to replace them with something decent (like velox) before heading on tour. Unfortunately given that they are keeping the identity of the rims a secret, it isn't possible to say what tapes are needed.
Overall I agree with the priorities in this bike which appear to be frameset, wheelset, transmission, everything else. The only thing I'd have done much differently (for the money) is not to have bothered with the STIs; I'd have spent the money on something else, but maybe that wouldn't have been so appealing to a novice rider. The largest size they have is 57cm it seems. Touch and go whether this is going to be big enough for your chum; you might need a longer stem from the word go.
