# now that this is a touring forum...



## Frith (Oct 3, 2002)

gregg finally relented and changed the name of the board to commuting and touring due to my inceasant nagging 

So where have you toured?

Where do you hope to tour?

basic rundown on your rig?

Me...
where? nowhere....yet. I have plans to do a tour of cape breton island in Nova Scotia this summer.
I'd really like to check out Thailand and surrounding countries but that is going to take some time and money...(rarely do the two coincide)

rig? Man i'm a bad person to be starting this thread.... I don't have one yet  I have a race bike and a fixed gear but no tourer. My plans are to build up a Marinoni ciclo (their sport touring frame). Failing that a cheaper option and probably more versatile too would be a jamis nova cyclocross frame. I'm an ultralight minimalist type so I think a full on tourer would be overkill for my purposes.


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## brad nicholson (Feb 11, 2004)

*cheers all!*

my name is brad i am writing from heidelberg germany, i am originally from north carolina. all the cycle touring i have done to this point has been either mountain bike camping or road bike camping with a car and riding out and back at night. i am into backpacking and climbing as well so think that touring will be a good addition. 

i am currently using a jamis nova that i am changing over to a triple front crank with 11-34 rear cassette. i have orderd a full set of rei panniers, traverse and expeditions. when i get everything mounted i will post a pic. 

i currently commute daily on my cross bike with full fenders and lights. 

i am looking to tour this summer in normandy france and hopefully the german austria border with trips to the rhine valley and black forest. the good thing is that my house in germany is a great base...

if anyone wants to meet for a tour let me know! [email protected]


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## Dave_Stohler (Jan 22, 2004)

*My touring rig:*

I have an older heavy-duty C'Dale from the late 80's. It's a 24" frame, and it has a 6-cog rear, triple rings, full racks and panniers, and a Shimano Nexus dynohub. 

The gearing is usually 13-28 rear (although i have several freewheels, and extra cogs to make more..), and the rings are a half-step+granny setup, with 32,48,and 52 teeth. This gives me 18 distinct ratios.

The resto if the bike uses the best Suntour index components, and I have a raddoneur bar on it, and a Brooks B66 saddle (or a B72, depending on which I choose for the ride).

I know that you asked about upstate riding, Frith, and I'll suggest a long tour for you-one which I plan to do sometime soon: the NY state barge/erie canal. You can ride on a well-maintained MUT all the way from Lockport to well into Wayne county. From there, you follow Rt. 31 along the canal towards Syracuse. Along the way, you can follow the old abandoned canal bed, going through Port Byron, etc, through Syracuse, then following along the erie canal park most of the way to Utica, on the MUT that runs along the old bed. From Utice, there are other stretches of road, old abandoned canal trails, and MUTs to Watervliet, near Albany. Then hop the Amtrak back west.


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## Lucky (Feb 9, 2004)

Frith said:


> gregg finally relented and changed the name of the board to commuting and touring due to my inceasant nagging
> 
> So where have you toured?
> 
> ...


I let my touring bike go a bunch of years ago when my husband and I got a tandem to tour on. Now that I'm divorced, I've got a road bike, 4 mtbikes and a BMX'er, but no tourer. I looked at the '04 websites, and the Trek 520 looks like a nice package for an off-the-shelf tour bike at about $1500. I thought about building up my pwn, but the pre-built bike is more cost-effective. Fuji has a nice bike, too. I think it's the World.

My favorite tour was a 4-week adventure in New Zealand in '89-'90. My idea of a touring bike back then was a race bike with a triple and a set of rack eyelets. Since me and 40lbs of gear weigh about as much as the average guy, I could get away with light wheels, and actually toured on 700x23 tires. I never had any troubles, but I don't think I'd do this now. I'm discovering the joy of creature comforts as I get older, and bigger, cushier tires would be better for long days on the road.

The one drawback of touring on the tandem was lack of luggage space. A trailer would have fixed that, but we never got one. When we toured Germany, we each got one front and one rear pannier each for clothing. The handlebar bag and rack-top were for other gear and snacks. I learned to pack light.

I'd like to go up to Vemont's Northeast Kingdom and do some touring. It may not happen this year, though, for a variety of reasons.

Someday, someday, I want to do a transcontinental trip. Taking the time off work is my biggest stumbling block.

Kathy


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## consciouspilot (Feb 25, 2004)

Two tours in the last year: a loop through Vermont for a week and Southeast Arizona for two weeks. Touring rig is the Trek 520 with the BOB trailer. I would not change a thing. I recommend the 520 so much that I'm sure someone would think I work for Trek. I don't. I am hoping to tour New Hampshire and Maine this fall, and somewhere south in the winter.


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

*Touring is my preferred sort of riding...*

...I just don't get to indulge in it as often as I'd like.

My one "real" touring rig is a ca. 1991 Novara Randonee, absolutely nothing exotic or trick about it--a very basic but dependable rig. I've also used a Bianchi Axis for several rides, using a B.O.B. Yak rather than panniers--this worked out very well.

I seem to do most of my touring along the California coast, as far north as Humboldt County and as far south as San Diego. My favorite stretch would have to be riding south from Monterey through Big Sur down to San Luis Obispo.

Places I want to tour? I'd like to start in Maine some autumn, heading south through New England as the leaves turn color, and wind up going through the Hudson River valley. I want to go back to Japan someday and ride through the rural areas. I want to visit Europe, and especially want to check out some of the bike "highways" they have. China is another must. Death Valley. The Four Corners area. Washington State. Tuscany. Iceland. British Columbia. It's a big world, and I'd like to ride most of it.


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## tedd (Apr 12, 2002)

*My touring*

Hello, my name is Ted and I will be retiring from the Post Office this June. I put together a touring bike over the winter. It is a Habanero titanium frame, steel fork, Shimano Dura Ace triple components, and custom wheels (Chris Kings hubs & Mavic A719 rims). On June 12th, I will start a 2 month tour following the Lewis & Clark trail from Hartford, Il. to Astoria, Or. My previous touring was 20 years ago, the longest being 32 days starting in Denver, Co to Durango, Co, and up to Edmunton, Can. Hopefully, I will have just as much fun on this tour, as I did 20 years ago.

Ted


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## swimmincg (Jul 22, 2004)

my rooommate and i will be going on our first tour in may after we graduate. we will be starting in DC and riding the skyline and blueridge parkway back to atlanta. since this is our first tour, things will be interesting seeing that we dont have dedicated touring rigs, but our converted road rides (mine an OCR 1 fitted with a jandd rear rack and ortlieb panniers). 

any suggestions from the veterans?


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## Spinfinity (Feb 3, 2004)

*Longer tours*

New Orleans, LA to New Britain. CT via Key West.
Bronx, NY to Columbus, OH
Hamden, CT to Montreal and back (honeymoon) 

My touring rig is a Lyon Sportster, Reynolds 853 with a Campy Triple and 12-23, 9 speed cassette. It's kind of a sport-touring bike that works real well for brevet riding. I have used only rear panniers and a handlebar bag, but believe, in theory, that four smaller bags are better than two big ones. 

Much of my touring was done on an Austro-Daimler Inter 10 with a 52-42 and a six speed 14-24 free wheel. That set-up broke my heart going across the Appalachians in southern Pennsylvania, but started me learning that sometimes old and smart is better than young and strong.


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## commutenow (Sep 26, 2004)

*1985 Trek 620*

I bought a used Trek touring bike and am having it powder coated John Deere Green with the racks powder coated yellow. I will be using a Brooks Finesse saddle, older components some will be original some I will switch out. The triple is touring gearing for loaded rides. I am using Shimano double sided SPD pedals so in case I do not want to be clipped in. Nitto stem for the comfortable position that does not leave your back whacked out. I will be using Ortlieb panniers in back and smaller ones in front. I hope to have a better wheelset with wide tires soon. I will try the bike out for the Oklahoma Freewheel across the state ride in late June. I will post pictures when it is built up. If a person can find an older Trek 720,620 or 520 they are great frames when touring was more popular.


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

So where have you toured?
SanJuan Islands - 2001 with Bicycle Adventures. Great tour. Not cheap, but it was the last big ride before our daughter was born. We had a great time.
RAGBRAI - 2000 - Our first week long tour. Lots of fun, but traded in the Aluminum bikes when we got back and had some custom TI rides made. Much better

Where do you hope to tour?
No big tours planned. It would be great to get over to Ireland or down to New Zealand

basic rundown on your rig?
Two rigs. Geared ride is a Serotta Legend TI with Dura-Ace. Fixed is a converted Quattro Assi.


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## Gripped (Nov 27, 2002)

Back in the 80's, a friend and I did some touring -- all of it tent camping and unsupported. Our fist ride was a nice tour over four days down the Blue Ridge Parkway. We started somewhere east of Boone and rode to my house in Asheville. After that, we did a few tours in the lower penensula of Michigan. Then in '84 my friend and I and two others went from Boston to Bar Harbor. We took the ferry to Yarmouth, NS the road up the Atlantic before heading overland to take a ferry to PEI. We road across PEI and then took another ferry to NB. We road down the bay to Maine and headed overland to Bangor, ME. We had intended to ride all the way back to Ann Arbor but after 30 days out, we were kind of tired. The only night we spent in a hotel was the night we "gave up" in Bangor. Our next big tour was around the Georgian bay in ON. The first day riding up the Bruce penensula was brutal -- steady 15mph head/cross winds for 50 miles. It snowed on us in Sudbury in August and we had to put on all our clothes. I saw a black bear run across the road 50 feet in front of me in a break in traffic. We were out about 9 day (no hotels) and it was my favorite tour.

Haven't done any in years. Maybe when I'm an old fart, I can get back into it. Maybe take the kids (one 5 months and antoher 4 years right now) when they can tackle it.

Oh yeah, on the big NE trip, we were stopped at a store (somewhere in Maine) taking a break when a Pepsi truck was delivering. Once of the bays of bottles (12 oz glass) collapsed and fell out of the truck. The driver told us that all the bottles on the ground were waste and we could help ourselves to as many as we wanted. I single handedly loaded up 64 bottles and carried them about 10 miles up and down rollers to our camp site. We ended up with over 150 between the four of us. We were pretty popular around the campground that evening as we shared our largese.


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