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Touring bike


HeyJude

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What would be the ideal bike for long distance travelling, with panniers? 

 

Traditional touring bikes have some of the following traits:

1. Steel frames: because they're strong, can flex and can be fixed a lot easier than alu or carbon.

2. They have a more relaxed sitting position than a road bike. ie a higher stack. 

3. They have longer chainstays, to give stability under load and prevent your heel from hitting the rear panniers. 

4. Bombproof wheels with lots of spokes. 

 5. A big gear range. A "mullet" configuration is common: road in the front, mtb at the back. This is tricky to do, and is why they often come with bar end shifters instead of brifters. That and bar end shifters are very robust. 

 

A typical touring bike:

https://konaworld.com/sutra.cfm

 

People will say you can tour on any bike, and you can. But you asked for the ideal one. 

 

They are tough to find in RSA, but a guy was selling a size 56 specialized sequoia on here recently. That would work pretty well for light to medium touring. 

 

Looks like he still is:

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/gravel-and-cyclocross-bikes/1754/specialized-sequoia

 

In truth an MTB would probably be fine too, but would have less luggage space. 

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Traditional touring bikes have some of the following traits:

1. Steel frames: because they're strong, can flex and can be fixed a lot easier than alu or carbon.

2. They have a more relaxed sitting position than a road bike. ie a higher stack. 

3. They have longer chainstays, to give stability under load and prevent your heel from hitting the rear panniers. 

4. Bombproof wheels with lots of spokes. 

 5. A big gear range. A "mullet" configuration is common: road in the front, mtb at the back. This is tricky to do, and is why they often come with bar end shifters instead of brifters. That and bar end shifters are very robust. 

 

A typical touring bike:

https://konaworld.com/sutra.cfm

 

People will say you can tour on any bike, and you can. But you asked for the ideal one. 

 

They are tough to find in RSA, but a guy was selling a size 56 specialized sequoia on here recently. That would work pretty well for light to medium touring. 

 

Looks like he still is:

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/gravel-and-cyclocross-bikes/1754/specialized-sequoia

 

In truth an MTB would probably be fine too, but would have less luggage space. 

 

 That's a great price on that trek!

Thanks so much for this reply.

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Thanks so much for this reply.

 

No Prob. This guy is also selling a couple of touring bikes. These fully kitted out and ready to go:

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/commuter-bikes/412384/2-x-touring-bikes-vsf-800-fahradd

 

I don't know too much about the brand he's selling, but from what I've read they are decent german brand that make a lot of these types of bikes:

https://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/en/

 

The spec is certainly very good (Shimano XT tripple, brooks saddle, etc). 

 

Another decent resource:

https://www.cycletouring.co.za/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Trek 920 is on special now. 

 

920 is a go-anywhere adventure touring bike. It's built with drop-bars and 29er mountain bike wheels for balance and capability on any surface you'll encounter on a bikepacking expedition. It comes with front and rear racks for a ridiculous amount of carrying capacity, so all you have to do is pick a spot on the map and go.

post-57330-0-25298500-1597754403_thumb.jpg

Edited by Pieter-za
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Thanks, I will have a look. I do not know the brand, but I am looking at something that will be simple to fix.

A Rohloff hub does not need to be simple to fix as you will have passed it down to your grandchildren before it wears out or breaks down.

Edited by eddy
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A Rohloff hub does not need to be simple to fix as you will have passed it down to your grandchildren before it wears out or breaks down.

They also don't really 'fix' anything.. You take out the drive system, box it, ship it to them at their cost and they will send you a refurbished one straight from the workshop in Germany with new oil, new plastic rollers and a new grub screw..... Free

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