Cycling UK Forum

Hi Guys, looking to get an entry level bike for touring, this year devon, but next year possibly Europe.

Have Been looking around and this site is by far the best community for advice. I have whittled it down to 3 bikes:

Dawes Vanatge: 2010 http://www.peakbikeshop.co.uk/dawes-bik ... -bike-2010
Dawes Horizon 2010 http://www.discovercycling.com/bikes/bi ... ike-1.html
CB Regent 2010 http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cla ... e-ec022483

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated - thanks in advance

Steve

Any of them.

The Regent's gears look a bit high for a touring bike (30-52 front, 12-26 rear) That might be a problem if you're planning on carrying luggage and riding up hills.
Between the two Dawes bikes, the Horizon gives you better-quality gears and a proper Reynolds steel frame. The £563.99 price quoted on the linked website sounds like a good deal. (Remarkably good, in fact. I've never heard of discovercycling.com before - has anyone else?)
You could also consider Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op's own brand tourers (http://www.edinburghbicycle.com). Or Ridgeback if you can push your budget up to £600.

+1 for the Claud Butler being over-geared for a tourer.

Something second hand like one of these( depending on how tall you are) might be a better bet
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bob-Jackson-Touri ... 439f344705

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raleigh-Randonneu ... 3a5ab63e9c

There are more alternatives to touring bikes than Dawes or other lookalikes, although Dawes are very good on road. There is not much to distinguish between any of the bikes you highlighted - The Thorn / German /Dutch approach offers a radical, tougher, more versatile and comfortable bike. Read through this lot, and the other Thorn brochures and then find (or put together) a lower cost alternative: http://www.sjscycles.com/thornpdf/Thorn ... oLoRes.pdf

Loads of experience and common sense in this brochure which explains why they made the choices of wheels, tyres and frame geometry that they have. I agree with so much of what they say, my own experience of different types of touring bikes leads me to almost identical conclusions.

Al

Thanks Guys, all been a great help so far. I'm not sure how to differentiate gears and how good they are (high/low gearing, over geared?)

Shedmeister wrote:Thanks Guys, all been a great help so far. I'm not sure how to differentiate gears and how good they are (high/low gearing, over geared?)

Over- geared = gears too high, or no low enough gears.
The bike in question has a double chainset (2 chainrings)
The other bikes have triple chainsets (3 chainrings) including one small chainring eg.26 teeth.
Low gears = small front chainring, big rear sprocket. = up big hills !

Shedmeister wrote:Thanks Guys, all been a great help so far. I'm not sure how to differentiate gears and how good they are (high/low gearing, over geared?)

For touring you need at least 21gears and preferably 27,three chainrings on the front and 7,8or9 on the rear.I'd recomend the front three to be 26tooth,36t,48t the rear needs to have a 32 or 34 tooth largest sprocket.
That means you're lowest gear will be 26t(front)with 32t or 34t rear,low enough to get you up those Devonshire hills(which can be quite steep).
Overgeared is when you can't get a gear low enough to pedal up the steepest hill you're likely to encounter and have to resort to walking,nothing wrong with that as there is ahill somewhere that can make the strongest and lowest geared tourist walk! but if it can be avoided then all the better .

I do wonder if we've all gone a bit soft, insisting on micro-gears to haul ourselves up hills.

In my twenties I used to ride the hills of the peak district on a bike with a 52/42 chainset and a 13-18 block. Never once had to get off and walk. As a concession, i'd sometimes use a 21 or 23 sprocket, if we were going up Winnats. I also toured the Alps on a bike with a single 36T front ring and a 14-28 block, carrying all my luggage in a saddlebag and h/bar bag. Again, never once had to walk over the likes of the Galibier, Glandon, Madelaine and Col d'Iseran. Also toured Scotland with 2 panniers and a saddlebag, again on a 52/42 and a 14-28 block. Also, ridden up the Hardknott Pass on 42 x 28.

If you're overweight or old or you're camping, then you may need ultra-low gears, but not otherwise. As for needing 27 gears, how on earth did I ever manage with 5 or 10?

Big T wrote:I do wonder if we've all gone a bit soft, insisting on micro-gears to haul ourselves up hills.

In my twenties I used to ride the hills of the peak district on a bike with a 52/42 chainset and a 13-18 block. Never once had to get off and walk. As a concession, i'd sometimes use a 21 or 23 sprocket, if we were going up Winnats. I also toured the Alps on a bike with a single 36T front ring and a 14-28 block, carrying all my luggage in a saddlebag and h/bar bag. Again, never once had to walk over the likes of the Galibier, Glandon, Madelaine and Col d'Iseran. Also toured Scotland with 2 panniers and a saddlebag, again on a 52/42 and a 14-28 block. Also, ridden up the Hardknott Pass on 42 x 28.

If you're overweight or old or you're camping, then you may need ultra-low gears, but not otherwise. As for needing 27 gears, how on earth did I ever manage with 5 or 10?

Wen ah wer uh lad!

Big T wrote:I do wonder if we've all gone a bit soft, insisting on micro-gears to haul ourselves up hills.

In my twenties I used to ride the hills of the peak district on a bike with a 52/42 chainset and a 13-18 block. Never once had to get off and walk. As a concession, i'd sometimes use a 21 or 23 sprocket, if we were going up Winnats. I also toured the Alps on a bike with a single 36T front ring and a 14-28 block, carrying all my luggage in a saddlebag and h/bar bag. Again, never once had to walk over the likes of the Galibier, Glandon, Madelaine and Col d'Iseran. Also toured Scotland with 2 panniers and a saddlebag, again on a 52/42 and a 14-28 block. Also, ridden up the Hardknott Pass on 42 x 28.

If you're overweight or old or you're camping, then you may need ultra-low gears, but not otherwise. As for needing 27 gears, how on earth did I ever manage with 5 or 10?

Yes, so did I but I'm much more comfortable now with all my gears, and if I had had them 25 years ago my knees would be in better shape now.

how on earth did I ever manage with 5 or 10?

Probably cos you had no choice. Those older bikes are not cheap. You can probably get a much more modern alternative S/H for the same money. This http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Edinburgh-Co-Op-Revolution-Country-Explorer-/190395347344?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item2c54727190 is a good deal. Disc brakes as well which are useful on a heavily loaded tourer.

Right i'm getting there, gears i really need are 28-38-48. What does be the frame need to be? - does it have to be steel? I am planning to take camping gear. plus i am 6 foot with a 32" leg so what size frame do you all reckon i need?

Why buy new when you can pick up a perfectly usable older British 531 or such like touring bike like a Galaxy or Dalesman for under £200 and just upgrade bits if you particularly want to or when they need replacing. Bought myself a 531 frame Overbury's tourer for £175 and have done a bit of modifying to get indexed gears with second hand ergo levers, I spent about another £100 including new back tyre, cables, bar tape: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21677#p283308