Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
Post Reply
BikeBuddha
Posts: 52
Joined: 11 Aug 2019, 6:15pm

Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by BikeBuddha »

You get a lot of opinions, not just on forums, but everywhere. I proudly showed the bike I plan on getting, to a young Latvian with a lot of biking experience. I told him that I might end up in Africa and very remote areas, in my search for whatever one searches for while travelling.

The young man questioned 26" wheels. He questioned rim brakes, and gave me three bikes to test... all mountain bike types.

The idea is, why not have a 29" downhill racing wheel... super strong and can take anything. It rolls over anything, and climbs hills as easily as 26" wheels. I remained quiet.

Why not have disc brakes? Ease of replacement parts, I said. He said, "Why not just take a couple of extra rotors, and spare pads? Why ware out your rims? Don't trust bike sellers who are just trying to get rid of old stock?" I sensed a conspiracy theory coming on.

Basically, he thought that touring bike design is just too old fashioned. With modern tech, and carrying 2kg of spare parts, you can do your world tour. He thought hydraulic disc brakes are ok and easy to bleed. That belt drives are fantastic. And yes, those large wheels.

Now, I am relooking at disc brakes. I am questioning my proposed purchase. After all, why spend so much money on something that has such ancient technology and rim brakes? Surely his suggestion of taking spare rotors, and pads, would be best? Surely, i could have other spares weighting to be shipped from a home base?

The world is noise... opinions. The world seems hard to fathom.
MarcusT
Posts: 443
Joined: 31 Jan 2017, 10:33am

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by MarcusT »

I built my "touring bike" from frame a few years ago. And I also considered tech vs parts availability vs ease of maintenance.
First thing, I would never consider bring major spare parts like hubs, rotors, etc.
In the end, I went with rim brakes for easy adjustments (carry an extra cable) and pads can be found anywhere as opposed to disc brake pads, where there are dozens and dozens of types.
I also went with a 3 X 9 set up, because not sure if the other continents will carry 10-11-12 speed chains.
I chose 700c wheels, because 26" is becoming rarer and rarer.
The 27.5" and 29" are fine, but remote areas, if they have those sizes, will probably be in MTB knobby type
I know there will be some disagreement from other members, but these are the decisions I made and why.

My parts kit contains, cables, brake pads, spokes, lube, spare tubes, tyre.
Of course depending on my destination
Many tourers don't consider fashion when they plan a trip, but some do
I wish it were as easy as riding a bike
pwa
Posts: 17366
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by pwa »

Brake choice is something to ponder, but having disc brakes does not stop a bike being a "tourer". Whatever brake system you have, on a long tour it is wise to take spares and to know how to maintain your kit.

My tourers have had either 27" or 700c wheels, which I consider "traditional", with 26" wheel tourers a relative latecomer to the scene. But again, a tourer can have any wheel size and still be a tourer. You decide for yourself, hopefully factoring in where exactly you intend touring.

A tourer (as opposed to a bike modified to be able to be used as one) is a bike with a large gear range and some super-low gears, and which will easily take (if required) a fairly generous amount of baggage without too much faff. And it must handle okay with baggage. Everything else is negotiable.
rareposter
Posts: 1988
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 2:40pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by rareposter »

I don't think the issue is that touring bikes are old-fashioned.

I think the issue is that you're planning on spending a lot of money on a bike which, for your own reasons you have decided you *need* based (from what I can gather) largely on one guy's blogs and with limited real-world touring experience of your own.

Disc brakes are more or less hassle free. Take a few spare pads (they weigh hardly anything and are tiny). Rotors will last years. The rotors on my CX/gravel bike did 7 years in all conditions before needing replacing. There's a guy on YouTube who runs a bike touring channel called CyclingAbout who got 3 years out of his and he spends his entire life on the road fully laden touring. The reason that disc brakes are quite a late-comer to the world of touring is that the early designs ran into issues with the rack mounts catching on the calipers but decent frame and rack design means that's no longer a problem. Personally I'd say they're worth it not for the stopping power but for the fact that you're not wearing out rims, a broken spoke / out of true wheel is less of an issue and they're virtually maintenance-free. The fact that they stop the bike reliably in all conditions is just a bonus.

As per previous comments, I would not go for 26" rims now, they're virtually obsolete. No modern MTB uses them, everything has gone to 27.5" or 29" so the wheels are certainly strong enough. If you build a tourer for 700c wheels you can quite often use 27.5" (650b) in there as well. A lot of modern gravel bikes opt for this, it will allow 700 tyres up to about a 42mm width or you can run 650b wheels with tyres up to 65mm in some cases. Yes, the mix up between metric and imperial is annoying. Wider tyres are good - much more comfort, better rim protection (especially when laden), more grip. You might choose to use 700c wheels on road tours and 650b on off-road tours (although in practice most people find one set-up they're happy with and stick with it!).

I would strongly reconsider what you're buying.
Have a look at something like this for one do-it-all bike:
https://www.koga.com/en/koga-signature/ ... er-s-2.htm

Or, a bit more leftfield, split your budget and go for two bikes - you can get a titanium expedition MTB *and* a titanium gravel bike for your original budget of £4000.
https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-broken-road-deore
https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-cami ... -hydraulic

Here's the link to the YouTube content I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of content on there from his tours around the world - some of it is places/people etc, some of it is about the kit he uses.
https://www.youtube.com/c/Cyclingabout/videos

However ultimately, a lot of people reach this point based on some of their own real-world experiences, not from opinions on forums - and it is purely opinions, there's no "right or wrong" answer in touring. There's no such thing as "best". There's stuff which is best for you or best within xxx budget or best for pack size and so on. And a lot of that stuff, especially "best for you" you won't find from comments on forums or reading blogs, you'll find it out from being out there using it.

You had a great offer from another poster on here to test ride their bike. Koga (that I linked to above) offer a free test ride programme. Even the Alpkit bikes have a 28 day ride guarantee - if you don't like it, send it back for a full refund. It's not easy doing that when a guy has built a custom frame for you - OBW won't be taking the bike back or giving you a refund!
hamster
Posts: 4131
Joined: 2 Feb 2007, 12:42pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by hamster »

29" etc might be the thing in the developed world, but certainly 26" is still dominant elsewhere, where they also keep stuff longer and repair it repeatedly.

Personally I would go with your approach and have simple stuff that's easy to repair or make do. There again I'm still running 7 speed and bar ends...and my tourer is a 30 year old steel MTB frame - and my main ride is a rigid singlespeed.

In the end it's a philosophy - go simple or trust to technology. It's a bit like mountaineering or polar exploration: light and fast living off the land or come equipped for a siege.

However, the main problem with modern stuff is that it uses lots of proprietary bits. When you see somebody throw your bike onto the roof of a bus you might think twice about discs!
m-gineering
Posts: 254
Joined: 23 May 2015, 12:01pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by m-gineering »

rareposter wrote: 18 Jan 2022, 8:47am Disc brakes are more or less hassle free
Hydraulic disk brakes sure ain't. Definite worth it on an MTB though where the superior modulation in a muddy descent makes a lot of difference. And when they fail it's only a hour's walk back to the car and off to the bikeshop. Part of the reason they won't last is that diskbrakes for bicycles do not have dust seals to protect the innards and they will start to leak or jam.
On a touring bike in remote parts old fashioned rimbrakes are much easier to keep going
Marten

Touring advice for NL: www.m-gineering.nl/touringg.htm
cycle tramp
Posts: 3531
Joined: 5 Aug 2009, 7:22pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by cycle tramp »

rareposter wrote: 18 Jan 2022, 8:47am I don't think the issue is that touring bikes are old-fashioned.

I think the issue is that you're planning on spending a lot of money on a bike which, for your own reasons you have decided you *need* based (from what I can gather) largely on one guy's blogs and with limited real-world touring experience of your own.

As per previous comments, I would not go for 26" rims now, they're virtually obsolete. No modern MTB uses them, everything has gone to 27.5" or 29" so the wheels are certainly strong enough. If you build a tourer for 700c wheels you can quite often use 27.5" (650b) in there as well. A lot of modern gravel bikes opt for this, it will allow 700 tyres up to about a 42mm width or you can run 650b wheels with tyres up to 65mm in some cases. Yes, the mix up between metric and imperial is annoying. Wider tyres are good - much more comfort, better rim protection (especially when laden), more grip. You might choose to use 700c wheels on road tours and 650b on off-road tours (although in practice most people find one set-up they're happy with and stick with it!).
Are 26 inch wheels obsolete? Saint John Street Cycles seems to stock plenty of 26 inch rims and a wide selection of tyres. Further more whilst the adult mountain bike has moved predominantly to the 29 inch wheel size, the 26 inch wheel size appears to have been adopted by electric bicycles, jump bikes and mountain bikes for teenagers....

...then there is a question of wheel diameters. A 26 inch wheel shod with a 2 inch wide tyre has the same diameter as a 650b wheel shod with a 40mm wide tyre, and with the right frame you can run a 26 inch wheel, and a 2 inch wide tyre, and still have space for mudguards. A 26 inch wheel is also stronger, than a 29 inch wheel, which is worth thinking about if you are considering carrying a heavier load.

..however if you do go with disc braking you have future proofed the frame, as has already been stated you can use either size wheel.
Motorhead: god was never on your sidehttps://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=m ... +your+side
User avatar
simonineaston
Posts: 8003
Joined: 9 May 2007, 1:06pm
Location: ...at a cricket ground

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by simonineaston »

I suppose a lot depends on where you're going to tour. Perhaps rather than type of bike, I might be tempted to to think more about mean time between failures, with respect to components. Not that such data is available - but you get my drift. What's it matter what sort of bike you use so long as it only breaks down in a manner appropriate to its surroundings...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
cycle tramp
Posts: 3531
Joined: 5 Aug 2009, 7:22pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by cycle tramp »

BikeBuddha wrote: 18 Jan 2022, 12:11am You get a lot of opinions, not just on forums, but everywhere.

The world is noise... opinions. The world seems hard to fathom.
Absolutely. The best way through, is to grab the world by the scruff on the neck and shout at it until it gives you want you damn well want.

I needed a bicycle on which in could carry heavy loads across rough farm tracks, rutted footpaths and broken tarmac, and that the same bike could cope with a fair amount of rider abuse and mechanical nelegent. And by Harry, I got one.

Yes it's got 26 wheels, yes it's got a steel frame. Do I give a flying rats buttock if someone thinks it's old fashioned, that the wheel size is obsolete or that the braking isn't the latest high tech hydra-whatsits? No I damned well don't. I'm too busy either riding it, or working out where I'm going to ride it next.

This is your life - you owe it to yourself to be 100% honest about what you want from it, and having worked that bit out to try and achieve it.
If anyone has any advice for you, then that's fine, but if it's not built on their own experience or from their own failures, then that's not really advice - that's just passing the time of day.
Motorhead: god was never on your sidehttps://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=m ... +your+side
pq
Posts: 1294
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 11:41pm
Location: St Antonin Noble Val, France
Contact:

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by pq »

So he had a lot of cycling experience? You don't say what that is. Frankly touring in most of Africa raises entirely different issues than the ones most experienced cyclists have faced. And he may just have been lucky to suffer no serious mechanicals. I see a lot of genuinely experienced cyclists offering completely inappropriate advice to someone who's planning to do something like this. What you need is advice from someone who's done a lot of touring in remote, poverty stricken destinations.

You need a bike which is robust, easy to fix and which works with parts you'll be able to find along the way. In other words something old fashioned. The latest cycling trends have not reached rural Africa.

So the ideal bike would have a steel frame, 26" wheels, rim brakes (Use CSS rims of you're bothered about wear), derailleurs, preferably non indexed and no more than 9 speed (or a Rohloff), and a square taper bottom bracket. You'll need spares of course but not that much and with some fairly basic mechanical knowledge you'll be able to keep the bike running.
One link to your website is enough. G
mattsccm
Posts: 5101
Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 9:44pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by mattsccm »

It is all opinion and need. I for one swear by hydro discs. Apart from Pads nothing breaks. My MTB ones dates from 2006 and have never even been bled. My road ones dont do much more than 4000 miles a year as i dont commute on it but have been untouched since new in 2014. Bent discs straighten better than bent rims. On the other hand I csn't abide modern single ring set ups.
User avatar
matt2matt2002
Posts: 1126
Joined: 25 Oct 2009, 7:45pm
Location: Aberdeen Scotland UK

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by matt2matt2002 »

My bike is old fashioned.
I'm old fashioned.
We suit each other.
2017 Ethiopia.5 weeks.
2018 Marrakech 2 weeks.
2023 Thailand 8 weeks.
Always on a Thorn Raven/Rohloff hub.
Tangled Metal
Posts: 9505
Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by Tangled Metal »

I think 10 years ago yes but with gravel bikes and people bike packing light there's been a shift in design of touring bikes and there's a more modern outlook available with the traditional.
pwa
Posts: 17366
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by pwa »

Tangled Metal wrote: 19 Jan 2022, 7:23am I think 10 years ago yes but with gravel bikes and people bike packing light there's been a shift in design of touring bikes and there's a more modern outlook available with the traditional.
And a touring bike will have plenty of attachment points for you to put on or take off guards, racks or whatever, meaning you can tailor it to whatever your next excursion is. I spent fifteen minutes taking racks and guards off my tourer prior to a jaunt up Mt Ventoux, putting them back on when I returned to base. No problem at all. If you are going with kids or a weaker adult you may end up carrying a lot so that they have less to carry.
User avatar
pjclinch
Posts: 5470
Joined: 29 Oct 2007, 2:32pm
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Contact:

Re: Are touring bikes old fashioned?

Post by pjclinch »

if (no, no, I mean when) I win the lottery my Backwoods Tourer will be this...https://www.shandcycles.com/shop/bikes/tam-rohloff/

I think I'd prefer 27.5" over 29ers but I just prefer smaller wheels generally (Moulton for my day-to-day hack bike). There was nothing wrong with 26" but they're disappearing for high-end application, and even if the reasons they're disappearing are fashion the fact is getting a decent 26" wheel and/or tyre is now going to be harder than a decent 27/5 or 29.

I don't really see why I'd want any bike without hydraulic discs if I could have hydraulic discs. Harder to repair, yes, but IME not very likely to go wrong, and just much better performance (not stopping power, but control of stopping power). I'd sooner have hydraulic rims than cable discs (my road tourer has HS-33s, they've been brilliant)

Is that Shand Tam old fashioned? I don't think so, especially with a Gates belt and Rohloff. It's certainly a tourer that should take just about anything a typical tour, even through Africa, will throw at it.

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
Post Reply