Cycling UK Forum

Afternoon All, I'm sure this subject has been discussed before, and I have searched the forum and found a few comments that have come in handy, but here goes-
I am looking to buy a tourer for commuting to work and (hopefully) getting out for some day rides/impromptu 'lets go there' type of thing.
All I really want to know is the main differences people have encountered when switching from riding a mtb to a tourer such as the different riding position, dropped handle bars, different wheel size, different gearing (do you get more speed/more power etc) and also how the gears on a tourer work - the bike I am looking at is the EBC Country Explorer with Shimano Sora shifters, which look very different/confusing when compared to the rapid fires on my MTB.
I hope this all makes sense and I appreciate any advice/information,

thanks,

Graham

I swapped an MTB for a tourer and back again (becuase I wrote the tourer off after 5 weeks ) Its was a £150 hardtail MTB for a £450 tourer.

Swapping to the tourer, I didn't notice much difference, tbh, but having got used to the bike, I was forced to swap back. the handlebars on the MTB now feel about a mile wide, the gearing feels really, really low, and because the brakes on the tourer were right were my hands were I keep forgetting I have to move back into the middle to brake!

My Boyfriend also said the tourer felt really narrow at the pedals ("I feel like my ankles are tied together" were his exact words) but I didnt notice that.

Shimano Sora are STI shifters, which I absolutely loved as I could brake and change gear from where my hands were comfortable. (I find flat bars really uncomfortable so spend 90% of the time on my bar ends on the MTB) They're really just like rapid fire shifters mounted at 90 degrees (if that makes sense!)

The only problem you might find is that the brakes feel absolutely useless unless you're right down on the drops!

I'm finding drop bars difficult to get used to. I don't think my tourer fits properly - trouble is, only having ridden mountain bikes, I had no idea what size frame I needed, and none of the shops in my area sell tourers, so I couldn't try before I bought. Sora brifters are easy enough to use, I was surprised how easy and natural it felt to change gear - but I think there's a design fault. It's impossible to brake properly from the hoods, you have get down into the drops, unless your fingers are freakishly long. Many tourers use mountain bike drivetrains, so you shouldn't notice any difference there.

Thanks Mythical, sorry to hear you wrote it off

My MTB doesnt have bar ends/bull bars but my hands do seem to want to move into that position when I am riding on road so that will probably be a bit more comfortable.

The gearing sounds good, am I right in thinking that it will feel like there is more 'power' on the tourer?

I think I know what you mean about the sora shifters would they be left and right rather than top and bottom?

Graham

I transitioned from a hybrid to a Tourer and it felt like someone had stuck a rocket up my bottom, the difference in speed and enjoyment was amazing! However I've struggled with the braking and find that decent brake blocks make a huge difference (I use Kool Stops). I also changed my front brake for a different one because of fork judder. One of the compromises with tourers is that they use a mixture of road, MTB and old stuff which sometimes causes issues.

Once I got that sorted it's great. The combined Sora brake and gear shifters are totally intuative and the extra positions that I can put my hands and get out of the wind are great. The Revolution has interrupter brake levers which would give you even more flexibility. Go for it you won't regret it!

Thanks everyone, looks like I will definitely be going for it then, just need to convince t'other half to let me part with the cash....

thanks again

Graham

Hi

Ive done the change this week, swapping an old steel MTB for a steel tourer. My commute is a 20 mile round trip on roads & cycle paths and today was my second outing. It feels faster but so far its still taking me 45/50mins to travel 10 miles. Ive got used to the shifters and the brakes are pretty good (direct pull). The skinny tyres have forced me avoid some of the rougher stretches, although the detours dont add that much distance. I need to sort out the seat, its a bit too far forward I think. The major bug bear is the pedals - straps. The straps have been taken off and when I get the money Im going to put on some m324s like my old mtb.
Ive kept old faithfull mtb - useful for nipping down the shops/winter/escorting childern - so I now have 3 bikes. Three years ago I only had one bike! My excuse was that I had turned 40 and was having a mid life crisis. I bought it on the firms BTW scheme to get some money off.


Norman

Hi Norman,

the pedals are one of the other things I am worried about, I have only ever ridden a bike with flats, never straps/clips so I think I will probably get some flats on it if I am allowed to get one, lol!
I will be keeping my MTB aswell, will hopefully be doing a good bit of offroading over the summer, so it will be needed!!

Graham

grahamdk wrote:Afternoon All, I'm sure this subject has been discussed before, and I have searched the forum and found a few comments that have come in handy, but here goes-
I am looking to buy a tourer for commuting to work and (hopefully) getting out for some day rides/impromptu 'lets go there' type of thing.
All I really want to know is the main differences people have encountered when switching from riding a mtb to a tourer such as the different riding position, dropped handle bars, different wheel size, different gearing (do you get more speed/more power etc) and also how the gears on a tourer work - the bike I am looking at is the EBC Country Explorer with Shimano Sora shifters, which look very different/confusing when compared to the rapid fires on my MTB.
I hope this all makes sense and I appreciate any advice/information,

thanks,

Graham

do a search on here for 'country explorer' you'll find my review of the one I bought last year. I changed the contact points for leather bar tape with phat bar gel inserts, the pedals for shimano singlesided clipless M324's I think, and the saddle for a Brooks B17. and ultimately the brakes though that is another story. The last drop bar bike I owned was in the early 80's since then everything has had flat bars and been a Brompton an ATB or a hardtail MTB.

The sora shifter arrangement takes some learning if your reflexes are rapidfire or sram or gripshift and I still find myself thinking/saying "bigger ring bigger lever, smaller ring smaller lever". and of course bigger ring at the front has the opposite effect to bigger ring at the back.

Go for it, you will soon learn.

grahamdk wrote:Hi Norman,

the pedals are one of the other things I am worried about, I have only ever ridden a bike with flats, never straps/clips so I think I will probably get some flats on it if I am allowed to get one, lol!
I will be keeping my MTB aswell, will hopefully be doing a good bit of offroading over the summer, so it will be needed!!

Graham

I recently changed to an old tourer, my first road bike, and at first found the strap pedals very strange as I used to ride with the centre of my foot or sometimes even the heel on my mountain bike flats. Now I have to use the ball of the foot. What I have found though with straps is that you change your riding style completely. The point of straps as far as I can see, is that you pull up on the upstroke as well as pushing down on the downstroke. You don't have to do this obviously but it can give you a huge boost in power when you do -- really useful for those hills sometimes or when your racing to catch a light. You just have to experiment with your pedal action -- also I have found that tilting the foot so that the toes are the lowest point gives you even more power but it becomes uncomfortable after a while.

keep the straps!!! --- also they look better!

You can also spin the pedals faster, which makes you less fatigued and saves strain on your knees.

Hi

I have 2 bikes one is an old steel MTB the other is an 05 Dawes horizon which is very similar to the EBC Traveller, at the time I bought mine it was a bit of badge engineering as far as the EBC bike was concerned.

The handling is the big difference, the handle bars on the EBC bike are a bit narrrower you will find it harder to change direction and slightly disconcerting to start with however its much more stable than an MTB. You will find that you dont have quite the same control when changing direction but when the bike gets going its much easier to keep on course. I was sold on the feel of the thing very quickly into the test ride.

Much faster than an MTB with 2" tyres( about 3 - 4MPH on the flat ) even with 37mm tyres, its much better at covering distances and less tiring than an MTB ie less drag easier to maintain your speed, I assume you do not have 1.5 " slicks on the mtb if you do the tourer wont have that much less rolling resistance but the gearing will give it a higher top speed assuming you have the power in your legs to push it.

The tourer will not climb hills quite so easily as the mtb but will have a higher top speed. I have left much fitter MTB riders behind on long downhills as they just could not peddle fast enough.

The riding position I find much more comfortable and less tiring on a tourer but that might be countered by individual set up.

Clips are ok, not the problem people imagine them to be, if you leave the straps slack you get all of the benifits of the clips but they are very easy to get in and out of, better than clipless for commuting as you do not need 2 pairs of shoes.

The Sora shiftrers are not confusing to use, faster than rapid fires when releasing the tension on the spring, slightly less so when changing up against the spring tension. I prefer these shifters to the rapid fire type used on the MTB, the only draw back I find is that you do not know the gear you are in unless you get a compatible flight deck computer.

Not as good as the MTB off road but still ok for less demanding forest roads and canal towpaths.

When going out on a bike unless its on a rough off road track I will always take the Horizon over the mtb even when the mtb has 1.5" slicks.

My EBC Country Explorer does fine on slightly gnarly climbs and downhills on the bits of SDW I've tried it on provided

a) you ride it with a degree of sympathy i.e. like it isn't a phat tired MTB
b) you can live with the rattling mudguards

in fact the 700c wheels roll way better than 26" ones to the extent I was seriously considering a 29-er when cyclescheme renewal falls due but that plan has changed now. I've done a few hundred yards of single track on it (just to see Singular Peregrine stylee) and in the trees it transforms into a slow(er) steering tank with inconveniently mounted brake levers and slippy tyres but I didn't fall off, nothing broke or bent, and I didn't hit anything.

The biggest difference? On Saturday I rode it 141km, on Sunday I went out on my MTB for the first time in ages. The MTB felt twitchy, nervous, unstable, uncontrollable and down right scary in comparison!

btw '08 and onwards Sora does have gear indicators - no numbers just a red arrow but surely your legs tell you what gear you are in anyway?