Best 'forever' touring bicycle with 3K budget?

[PH]

I tend to agree with borisface's idea to buy for now rather than some envisaged lifetime, not for component reasons, but because I have no idea what my prefect bike will be in 10 or 15 years time, if I'm lucky enough to still be riding.
EDIT - Cross posted some of the same points Bmblbzzz makes.

Or indeed whether you will be elevated to that status.

[BenMrBen]

Thanks so much for the advice everyone!

After a long chat and a lot of emails with Oxford Bike Works I've decided to go down a slightly different avenue. I've gradually realised what I want are two different bikes - a modern, utilitarian world tourer that can handle anything including long tours and last decades (I admit 'forever' is a slight exaggeration, but you catch my drift ) , and a lighter, faster bikepacking style bike for shorter weekend trips and multiday rides with my partner around Europe going by train.

I spoke to Oxford Bike Works and considered building a more expensive custom bike that fit both of these specs. Yet I gradually realised it wouldnt be worth the extra money and time, and that no bike could ever do both so effectively.

So, instead I'm going to get an Oxford Bike Works Disc Expedition built with all the bells and whistles I have long wanted and been unable to add to my Dawes Ultra Galaxy. It completely fits the original spec I wanted (disc brakes, dynamo with lights and usb charger, 700cc wheels with 35c marathons, flat bars, mudguards, kick stand). The only difference is that its an all-reliable, heavier beast of a tourer that will not in any way resemble the speedy bike I originally wanted, simply because that just can't really be done. I'm also happy to leave the more technical details in their hands knowing their solid reputation for building indestructible touring machines.

With that said, my current Dawes Ultra Galaxy does still fit the light tourer spec I want pretty well, and I'm likely going to tear the back rack from it and use that for shorter, faster rides.

Once again, thanks for the fantastic advice and I would be more than happy to share some pictures when it is all built come Spring!

[Jdsk]

That's very interesting. Thanks for sharing the decision.

Have fun

Jonathan

[borisface]

'Instead I'm going to get an Oxford Bike Works Disc Expedition built with all the bells and whistles'

OMG don't even get started on a discussion as to whether bikes should have bells!

It sounds like you've made a sensible decision.

[Bmblbzzz]

Two bikes! Excellent decision!

[LittleGreyCat]

A brief aside on kickstands.

Until recently all my bikes since I was in my early teens have had a kickstand.
I just assumed that was what bikes did.

Come my new Spa Wayfarer I added as an aside (very late in the process) can you fit a kickstand?
I was told the frame was not designed to take one, and it would be inadvisable.
Grumbling on the forum, I was told that nobody needed a kickstand and just lean it up against a gate or something.
So it is a question to be asked early in the conversation!

[plancashire]

But forever includes now. To buy a bike that you don't want now but think you might want later is not only an odd idea, it's not forever. You might buy a bike for a specific purpose or trip that you have planned for next year, say, or something you intend to do in your copious leisure time after retirement, but that's not forever (and I'd also say it's probably best deferred to nearer the actual event, because things change).

My tout terrain has proved to be enduring. I lowered the gears a bit - SRAM rings still readily available, also Hebie Chainglider in 38T. I thought I'd never use the front rack bosses but then my wife's luggage got too much for her up hills, so I now mount a front rack for tours. The kickstand was designed as part of the frame and is a boon. I can charge from the dynamo - best way is to charge a small powerbank and then use it as needed - but I don't use it a lot. If you want a bike with all the bits designed in look across the Channel.

[Bmblbzzz]

Tout Terrain are available on big island too! Great that you've got a bike that really suits you. How long have you had it? Is the kickstand a bottom bracket model or on the rear dropout? I had a mtb used for touring which had a kickstand (that I added) on the rear dropout, it was useful but not so useful that I miss it. I've ridden other people's bikes with kickstands at the bb, possibly more stable but harder to use (pedals have to be at correct rotation) and sometimes annoying while riding.

[PH]

With that said, my current Dawes Ultra Galaxy does still fit the light tourer spec I want pretty well, and I'm likely going to tear the back rack from it and use that for shorter, faster rides.

Two bikes are IMO a better way meet your requirements if they're that diverse. I'd suggested upthread that you narrow them, but either way one bike for the original remit was optimistic.
I ran my Hewitt tourer in a lighter spec when I bought a heavier duty touring bike, tyres made the biggest difference, but once relived of touring duties it didn't lose out much to the Audax bike.

[PH]

Grumbling on the forum, I was told that nobody needed a kickstand and just lean it up against a gate or something.

I'd never had kickstand, or considered one necessary, until I got an E-bike with one, now I miss my other bikes not having one. Not all the time and not enough to bodge one to fit, but if I were to buy new it'd be on my list.

[plancashire]

Tout Terrain are available on big island too! Great that you've got a bike that really suits you. How long have you had it? Is the kickstand a bottom bracket model or on the rear dropout? I had a mtb used for touring which had a kickstand (that I added) on the rear dropout, it was useful but not so useful that I miss it. I've ridden other people's bikes with kickstands at the bb, possibly more stable but harder to use (pedals have to be at correct rotation) and sometimes annoying while riding.

I bought the bike in 2015. It has the standard (80mm?) fixing for a stand just forward of the rear wheel axle. It works well. The front wheel tends to turn but I just rest it against something or tie a bungee through it and the frame. Almost all bikes here in Germany other than pure road (racing style) bikes have stands. They are particularly useful where the provided bike rack is a Felgenkiller (the sort that grips the front wheel and damages it) - just use your stand and rest the front wheel on the provided metalwork.

When buying a stand make sure the length is adjustable. Hebie is, Pletscher not always.

[BenMrBen]

It's been over a year but I thought an update here might be useful...

Last April I picked up a brand new Oxford Bike Works Expedition Disc, and its been fantastic so far. It's a wonderfully comfortable and safe feeling bike that's been able to easily handle anything I've throw at it so far. It's not fast, but that's really not the point...

I've taken on multiple multi-week fully loaded trips in Spain and Italy and I've loved so many things about it - including how upright the riding position is, the utility of having a dynamo both for lights and for a USB charger for my Garmin (it's not powerful enough to charge a phone).

Richard at Oxford Bike Works did a great job building it to the specs I wanted too, and has been very helpful answering a few questions about it since, highly recommended!

[yostumpy]

Lightly used HP Velotechnik Streetmachine GTE.

People often ask me.........whats it like.. Well, I say.....

Imagine you are sitting on a peice of wood, on a roof rack, on an old Series Landrover crossing the desert, that is a normal bike,
Now, imagine the same journey, in an armchair, inside a hovercraft....

[simonhill]

Thanks for the update MrB.

Photos??

I'm surprised I didn't chip in on the original discussion but probably still partying after NYE.

Then again I'd have little to say. I bought my forever (or final) go anywhere tourer in 2013. Pretty much state of the art for rugged long haul tourer then: Surly LHT, Deore groupset (V brakes), Sputnik 26" wheels, Tubus rack, etc, etc. Now it looks like something out of the Ark.

It'll be interesting to see how your bike matches up to the current in 10 or 15 years, but I doubt you'll care. Can things change that much again??

[Navrig]

Wasn't there a famous person who once said "It's not about the bike"?

And he was right until you realise that you do get attached to an inanimate object and it becomes a safe place to go.

However when it's time to go or it suffers a terminal breakage or is stolen it becomes "not about the bike" again.