Cycling UK Forum

So I've bought a surly long haul whilst in the states ...at 630 quid to tempting not too

I've decided therefore to not sell my spare bike a marin bear valley mtb but instead turn it into a full on tourer for my dad,
at 71 he still cycles on average 5-8 miles a day and he goes on long distance regular camping trips....but he's tighter than a ducks buttcheek so his bike is a really cheap and incredibly heavy halfords job where as the marin is an incredibly strong but lightweight steel bike

My intentions are to use the original stx rc groupset/brakes/wheels etc as all are incredibly low mileage items but upgrade the tyres to schwalbe marathon plus's and fit sks guards along with thorn rear and front racks

has any one used 26 x 2.0's or even 26 x 2.25's on a marin bear valley or/and turned a steel framed mtb into a tourer

I'd like to convert it and ready it up for his chrimbo pressie

travelling wrote: My intentions are to use the original stx rc groupset/brakes/wheels etc as all are incredibly low mileage items but upgrade the tyres to schwalbe marathon plus's and fit sks guards along with thorn rear and front racks...
turned a steel framed mtb into a tourer

I've done this with an old specialised Rockhopper. If you've got suspension forks* there's an old man mountain rack that fits on the brake bosses and a long supplied skewer. It transpired that the bottom bracket bearing seized so this needed to be replaced. The main change was to upgrade the rear wheels and hubs to cope with the higher loads; ie a 36 spoke hub and more durable rims. It turned out to be a bit of a faff and expensive vis a vis the the cost of the bike. But very worthwhile. I also replaced the saddle with a brooks.

The basic approach is to look at the major components and decide weather they seem suitable for its new role. You need middle of the road durable stuff. A through assessment / tweaking session should produce a workable list.

Optional extra's: rear view mirror, cycle computer, bar bell with compass in the middle, bottle cages, bar ends, new chain.

*it would have been sensible to upgrade these too; with panniers there a much heavier load and these were old bottom of the range ones.

Cheers barren

thankfully no suss forks all old skool, I had thought of upgrading the wheels to a 36 so it was good to hear another here here in that direction. The old man mountain front rack looks good and solves the problem of the standard forks having no eyelets but I will stick to the rear thorn expedition rack

the brooks will be a b63 ..he likes springs..as old as he is the bike was bought and paid for sometime ago so deleting the cost of the bike means all in all the upgrades make sense. can't wait to see his face chrimbo morn

travelling wrote:thankfully no suss forks all old skool, I had thought of upgrading the wheels to a 36 so it was good to hear another here here in that direction.

I also did the front but could only get the right hubs in 32h so went with that. Basically I followed the advice here. http://www.adventure-cycling-guide.co.uk/bike3.htm

If the sizing works its an excellent idea.

travelling wrote:Cheers barren

thankfully no suss forks all old skool, I had thought of upgrading the wheels to a 36 so it was good to hear another here here in that direction. The old man mountain front rack looks good and solves the problem of the standard forks having no eyelets but I will stick to the rear thorn expedition rack

the brooks will be a b63 ..he likes springs..as old as he is the bike was bought and paid for sometime ago so deleting the cost of the bike means all in all the upgrades make sense. can't wait to see his face chrimbo morn

Have a look at TUBUS racks - they have a fitting kit for non-eyeletted forks.

Thanks for the replies

I had been looking at surly nice rack, old man mountain cold springs as neither need front eyes but thanks for the tubus tip

Barren thanks for that link, I had it a few years ago but lost it I always found it more real world advice so I'm glad to get it back

I did a similar conversion to an early 1990's Marin rigid cromo MTB. Worked very well. One thing that I found beneficial was to get a stem with a little more rise and a little less length as those old XC bikes tended to be a little stretched out. If yours is newer then it might be more upright.

There was loads of tyre clearance, although I just stayed with medium sized Marathon Pluses.

Snap! I did the same conversion to a 1990 Marin. The wheels are very strong just because they are 26" with MTB rims. They make great tourers.
2.1 tyres should fit fine, 2.25 might be a bit of a squeeze and will depend on the tread I suspect.

My dearly beloved tours on 1998 bear valley. last year of the steel frames. ditched shox & replaced with standard forks. Mods only really include anatomical saddle, shorter higher rising stem,three quarter length mudguards and bog standard mountain alu rack.

32 spoke wheels (richie rims on shimano generic hubs (seemed well sealed) have lasted surprisingly well). has had a fair bashing on rough touring. Use 1.75 inch continental travel contacts, which seem to work well in most conditions - but wouldn't use there tyres for heavy long long complete back of beyond tours. Would put Tubus racks on for this type of tour.

biggest downside on our bear valley is the weak rear mech hanger, which has bent a couple of times, and is now weakened as a result. On bumpy terrain we compensate for the prababy less springy stem with lower tyre pressures which may reduce distances achievable.

If you're worried the mech hanger is weakened, you could try one of these mech hanger protectors:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=16877

The jury is out on them as far as I can tell. Some think they're great, others concerned it just diverts an impact into the frame. I have one on my on one, but have yet to stack it hard enough to find out................

I did it to my Voodoo Erzulie - converted it I mean
I actually went the whole hog and had rack mounts fitted to frame and forks. I dont know that I would do that again if I were to repeat the exercise, having now seen the quality of theTubus mounts. I found I had to do a little light metal work to fit mudguards, making one or two brackets from Aluminium strip. You might be luckier, but it was nothing to lose sleep over! The other main change I made was to replace the stem as Si suggested, bringing the bars a little higher and quite a bit closer. That was tricky because high rise stems are no longer as common as they used to be, but I got one in the end. I used it last year for a tour in Wales - no problems and a great deal of satisfaction. FWIW I used Conti Travel contacts in 1.75.
I notice you make no mention of changing the straight bars to drops. I didnt - didnt fancy the cost and hassle, didnt want to lose fully indexed gears, and the bike was basically comfortable as it was. I did however shorten the bars a bit, bringing my hands closer in to reduce the bend in my wrists. There are some very good anatomical grips available nowadays, as you probably know, but I stuck with my short bar ends and double wrapped everything in Specialised bar tape.
I hadnt used the bike at all this year until last week, having been in thrall to my new toy, a Thorn Mk3. I found this comfortable, but when I got back onto my Voodoo I found it comfortable in a different way. I was a little less stretched out and It was a nice change. I think I'll be using it a little more often now...

I didn't think about drop bars as at 71 I know on occasions he has a bad back so a more upright bar was needed

I did think of some butterfly bars but then noticed something called modolo dumbo bars at sjs, I think they will give him a huge amount of adjustment

Has any one tried them?

Well that went well

Spoke to the old man last night on the interweb thingy as he describes msn only to find out that at 71 he's calling it a day on the touring/ camping and has bought himself a boardman from halfords for his daily ride..apparently his hip is reacting to the colder weather and is slowing him down

I'm happy that at 71 he's still cycling and he's bought himself a lighter bike but now I have a spare bike...I think when I get back to the u.k. the marin will be on ebay

He may change his mind when Spring weather appears next year.
If you get your Dad to go touring again, treat him to an Exped Downmat for sleeping on in a tent - comfortable and warm - just right for him.

travelling wrote:the marin will be on ebay

There might be people on here who would consider it too;