Cycling UK Forum

mrjemm wrote:After reading some posts here, I've just been having a look around at ebay's steel frames, and there really are some tempters! Even a Thorn frame, though it's up to 13 bids. Nice Konas, Oranges and Konas have caught my eye, and I'd imagine great for a project like this. I must tear myself away before I get carried away.

I built my own, same bike as the guy above, Trek820.

I think one of the best frames for a base is the Specialized Rockhopper, not the modern version with suspension forks but the original version with a nicely racked steel fork, has rear rack and mudguard fixings, easy enough to fit a low rider adapter if you want to go the full hog.

Just strip it, £30 for a powder coat, and rebuild with low-mid range Shimano and they're bomb proof.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Specialised-R ... 793wt_1104

Trigger wrote:Just strip it, £30 for a powder coat, and rebuild with low-mid range Shimano and they're bomb proof.

Just? Just???? For many (most?) people this is impossible or they simply don't have the time or the right frame doesn't come up in time for their trip. They would buy new (no bikes available at a medium price) or secondhand (how rare is a Thorn??). I am with you 100% on this Trigger (my own exp tourer is a 1991 Dawes Edge) but even I baulk at some jobs.

PS If there is someone looking for some bike industry work and knows how to put cheap exp tourers together, there's a ready and waiting market....

hard to beat this as a starting point



for 279 quid.

racks, mudguards, lots of spare spokes for the 32h wheels, and w.h.y. and you are off....

cheers

531colin wrote:.......You and Gearoid. have an opinion on drop bars, and you both state your opinion as fact, ie drop bars are uncomfortable. (or bar "X" is better)
I have tried bullbars at both road and mountain width, and I have gone back to drops.
Look at Gearoid's bike. My brake lever hoods are where his treehooks are. So my brakes are where I ride most of the time, and where I have most control; on Gearoid's bike I would have to move my hands back and in to brake, which is not ideal off road. Flat bar brake levers you grip, and so grip the bar harder....not ideal on a rough descent on rigid forks. I brake from the hoods, so the bars can (and do!) bounce under my hands. BTW, I'm 65 in June, and arthritis in my hands has stopped me building wheels....I have no special powers. There is a monster thread somewhere about "drops or flats for touring" or some such, which explored all sorts of options.
As for KISS, my avatar is the mount I'm working on to get downtube or bar end levers where I want them....next to the hoods.

Spot on,IMHO those that like flats can have them its their choice however for the reasons Colin gives,drops are a very good on and offroad bar,if the right dropbar is chosen ie;wide, shallow,short reach "compact" bars,set quite high so the drops can be ridden for long periods,are the answer for good alround use.
Kelly's (other home made alternatives are available ) are the answer for rough stuff/expedition touring IMO where STI/Ergo's may take a hit rendering them inoperable.

This is my expedition bike, but it doesn't come cheap!!



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I had just ridden a mixture of off-road and road to get up to the Causeway and there is nothing this bike won't handle.

What you want is available, but not necessarily on your budget, but you may get a second hand Thorn for a good price that will do the job, where all you have to change is tyres

Trigger wrote:

mrjemm wrote:After reading some posts here, I've just been having a look around at ebay's steel frames, and there really are some tempters! Even a Thorn frame, though it's up to 13 bids. Nice Konas, Oranges and Konas have caught my eye, and I'd imagine great for a project like this. I must tear myself away before I get carried away.

I built my own, same bike as the guy above, Trek820.

I think one of the best frames for a base is the Specialized Rockhopper, not the modern version with suspension forks but the original version with a nicely racked steel fork, has rear rack and mudguard fixings, easy enough to fit a low rider adapter if you want to go the full hog.

depends how much abuse you'll be giving it. one of the more famous RTW riders snapped three 1990's Rockhopper frames, before upgrading to a Surly (admittedly their Instigator) and then had no more frame problems.

I had an Orange P7 in 1998 (nickel plated, with the cables running along the top of the top tube),and then another new one in 2003 (cables routed underneath). the 2003 P7 felt very flimsy indeed, had a shortened rear triangle and they'd removed braze-ons, etc. the early P7's, or Clockworks, would be a better base than the later ones.

cheers

horizon wrote:

Trigger wrote:Just strip it, £30 for a powder coat, and rebuild with low-mid range Shimano and they're bomb proof.

Just? Just???? For many (most?) people this is impossible

I suppose, but I've never worked on anything so easy as a bike to take apart/put back together, few nuts and bolts and a few bearings is about all there is to them, they aren't space shuttles

For the people willing to do it, they not only get a bargain, the exact components that they want and a colour of their choice but also an understanding of their bike for the journey ahead. I agree, bikes are simple things which means you can repair, alter and service them at home which you cannot so easily do with a car nowadays and why I'm a strong supporter of keeping things as simple as possible. And no carbon...

Wow! Thanks, everyone, for all of your replies! I wasn't expecting quite such a response!

It looks like I've obviously found a bit of a sore point: the sort of bike that quite a lot of people want, but that very few manufacturers seem to make: "There's no demand for that, but you're the fifth person who's asked this week.." It may perhaps be a bit of a niche market, but you'd think it would be a big enough niche for the manufacturers to try to fill it, nevertheless..

I note what some people are suggesting about trying to find an old-skool mountain bike frame in good condition and kitting it up. That did rather wryly amuse me as my first "proper" bike way back when was indeed a 1991 Trek mountain bike, suitably modified ("expedition bike", I do like that as a term for the species, and I think it describes my usage pretty much spot-on..) and it served me very well for a number of years. I'm afraid I'm really not very mechanically minded (and have no real inclination to become so), so such a project would probably be a bit beyond me (although I can understand how others would relish the challenge). It perhaps raises the question, though: does anybody know whether any of the bike shops in my area would maybe be able to build a custom(ish) (ie, custom collection of components, not an individually-sized frame) bike for me at a price within my budget?

Regarding budget, I could perhaps stretch to £700 or so, if that might open up any new alternatives that haven't already been mentioned? I saw there were a few recommendations of bikes well over £1000; I'm sure they're really great bikes, but definitely more than I feel I can justify spending (or without recourse to my credit card - I've been saving up for a while, but obviously only have so much cash to hand). And the more expensive the bike, the harder to insure and/or the hit if it gets stolen, etc.

Ash28 wrote:http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_810603_langId_-1_categoryId_165534

Many thanks for that! To be honest, Halfords would never have occurred to me as a place to look, but that bike looks very interesting, and, searching the forums here, there do seem to be quite a number of positive posts about Carrera Subway bikes of various kinds. Carrera seems to be a Halfords own-brand, are they really actually fairly OK bikes (old prejudices die hard, I'm afraid)?

Crucially, are the frames strong (but not drainpipe-heavy), and in particular, would it really be up to the kind of relatively frequent off-road use that I have in mind? So many bikes seem to be advertised as "light trail use only" (which sort of hints at nothing more scarey than a towpath or a smooth Sustrans trail only): is that really more just marketing spin to try to push you towards spending a bit more on something with a suspension fork for rougher trails instead, or a genuine concern? I'm just never quite sure whether "hybrid" frames can properly take the kind of use that a rigid MTB frame of yore would have done, or not? For example, that little extra triangle linking the top tube and seat post looks a bit fugly, and also makes me wonder if it was a bit of a post-design add-on if they maybe later realised the frame wasn't strong enough otherwise (or am I being too cynical)?

Still, it seems to meet pretty much all of my requirements: rigid fork, flat bars, mountings for racks rear and front (and mudguards, of course), mecha disk brakes ..and the price is certainly very tempting (almost too much so - has the bike ever properly sold at the full price, or is this one of these "fake sales" (28 days only at "inflated" full price)? Although from my not very knowledgeable reading of the spec, the full price does seem fairly plausible..

Obviously this bike isn't going to do me a round the world tour (but, then, I'm not planning one ..imminently ), but if it gets a reasonably unqualified thumbs up then maybe it might just do me, for now at least. If it's really not cheese in disguise, at the very worst it looks like it would do me quite eminently fine for a bike for this summer, perhaps with cascading down to "spare bike" next year or thereafter, by which time I might have saved up for something higher spec (having taken a smaller dent in the bike fund for now than expected - and it creeps into the "no hassle" price range for Bike to Work, too, making it even cheaper)..

I cast my eye over one of these in the flesh the other day. Obviously everybody will have 'contact point' preferences, but after that I think you would just put mudguards and racks on it, grab a fistful of spokes and off you go.

I guess the chainset is the other bit you might change; the one fitted isn't terribly posh, and maybe you might want to change the ratios. Most folk would just use it till it wore out I expect.

I think the frame is basically an MTB frame and will be strong enough for touring with a reasonable load. Demoting it to commuting/second bike status later on makes perfect sense.

BTW if you get one, do check that the rim tapes fitted are not going to cause trouble; you would be amazed how often this happens.

cheers

For some more money a cannondale bad boy might be worth a look. It is basically a rigid mtb with slicks. Frame is v nice looking in the flesh. Saddle is quite poor but otherwise a nice bike. Not sure on rack mounts.

afaik no front rack mounts

cheers

A European style trekking bike would do what you want and fit in with your budget - http://www.btwincycle.com/EN/riverside-7-36344781/ . No disc brakes but magura hydraulic rim brakes which are easy to look after - you just have to replace the pads now and again.
There's a fairly comprehensive test here where the guy uses one on a mixture of roads and off road for a few hundred kms.
If you don't read French open the link in chrome - it does a reasonable translation of French http://www.atacamag.com/Test-velo-de-trek-Riverside-7

The Carrera Subway is pretty much everything that the OP is asking for.

Tough MTB frame, rigid fork with all the mounts needed for racks and mudguards. Plus, cable operated disc brakes.

For serious load carrying, I'd replace the wheels with handmade 36-spoked ones.

The OP asks about Halfords quality, but note that these bikes are not made by Halfords, but by a large Taiwanese manufacturer. That is no bad thing - the Taiwanese made bikes for all the big US/EU brands.