Road touring gear? Touring advice?

[jonathan]

I don't have any personal experience with touring, but I do love some Bunyan Velo Magazine- http://bunyanvelo.com/

[hugh.]

Anyone here riden Alaska to Argentina? I think that's my next tour.

[Rusty]

Thanks for all those great tips Hugh! I am slowly getting my gear in order and plan to have a trip going by spring.

[Narcoleptic Insomniac]

You might want to look into using saddle/frame/handlebar bags in place of racks. Here's a good article http://www.bikepacking.com/plan/guide-to-bikepacking-bags/

[Rusty]

You might want to look into using saddle/frame/handlebar bags in place of racks. Here's a good article http://www.bikepacking.com/plan/guide-to-bikepacking-bags/

I plan to get a frame bag since I'm getting the Jandd front rack that is more or less a glorified rear rack but i figure it with be a good pair with my fairdale rear rack for the light journeys I'll be embarking on. Handlebar bag might be a smart addition though.

Any tips on planning camp reservations? How to plan weather, choosing non busy times throughout the year, etc.

Thank you again for the advice!

[Prodigal Son]

Plan them when you want them. Look at historic weather.

[happycatbasket]

You can always make your own frame bag if you're handy with a sewing machine. I used a blackburn frame bag on my most recent tour (on long rides, I just use it to hold a hydration bladder) and I'm planning on building my own pack for my next trip this coming summer. My surly front rack is super strong. It's style does look a little clunky, but a large wald basket up front and panniers cover up the ugly real well.

I live in Santa Cruz and made a round trip to Yosemite and back over the summer. Definitely overpacked and could still fit everything into my two large arkel panniers and the wald basket I have lashed to the top of my rack. I brought a bivy even though my hennesy hammock has been screaming for use over the past few years. I think parks are starting to come down on hammock use, so it'd make sense to call ahead to be sure that you can wrap the things around trees. Then again, you can renegade camp anywhere out of sight/site so if you're counting on making do where ever you end up, a hammock could still work.

I spent a lot of time on pavement and think that you might want to consider finding some gravel roads worth riding around. One of my friends pulled a weekend 50 miler in Arroyo Seco over the summer, so that's an idea. Anyways, just keep it in mind. The largest tires that you can fit in your frame should be more than enough to deal with gravel roads / light xc mountain biking. I think those fairdales max out at 45mm or 50mm? Marin has some bikepacking trails/options worth googling. I'm planning on tandem camping with my lady out there once the rainy season comes to an end. Del Valle has camping in livermore that I've ridden to. It has some relatively serious elevation gain to go over in the last three miles, but the downhill after the climb is worth it. I've also ridden and camped at Joseph Grant in san jose / alum rock area. It also has some climbing on the way in. JG doesn't have a lake like Del Valle, so I'd rank that public campspot lower. New Brighton state beach in santa cruz always has some bicycle camping spots open, so you could always use that as a longer trip over the 17 if you want some more mileage without really going out of the way for destinations.

I can't remember which or what, but either state parks or national parks will always have bicycle-in/hike-in camping available and will not turn you away. It'd be worth calling whatever park you're looking for and ask about bicycle-in spots.

[Rusty]

Wow thank you so much for all the local advice. Those all sound like some great and obtainable rides. I like the idea of renegade for when I get good but I think for someone who is new to camping I will still to legal campsites.

Tent will probably be my go to since it seems more fitting for me. Have yet to purchase that and my sleeping items as they'll be last after I get my bike retrofitted. Just placed my order for the Jandd Tall Boy front rack from my lbs. Excited to get that thing on, it's got a narrow platform but plenty of room for panniers which I will be using up front. Definitely gonna get a Wald at some point to bolt to it. Gotta look into some bigger tire options for sure but I won't be able to go much bigger than what I'm at.

What sort of repair items did you bring? Obviously tools for flat fixes, but did you get spare cable or any parts handy?

[Narcoleptic Insomniac]

Spare spokes and chain links for sure.

[Rusty]

definitely thought about links gotta go get some of those

Along with trying to get the accessory components of the bike ready I also would like to switch some of the stock parts out. Was thinking I'd start with seat post and stem as a priority followed by the cranks then work my way to the wheel set. Gonna go for some Thompson components because bikeguide....the last thing I want is to have bike faliure.

[hugh.]

Bring spare tubes as well as a patch kit. I would swap the tube out on the side of the road and patch the old tube later when you get to camp.
Bring spare nuts and bolts for your rack, chain oil, wrenches/allen keys/bike tools. I did bring a spare rear derailleur but it depends on your route.

Thomson stuff is pimp. I had their seatpost and stem.

[Rusty]

been loosely researching 650b wheel info online and I'm curious on your guys thoughts. I am in love with my fairdales geo but I would love some bigger tire options. 

conversions involving disk breaks just mean changing out rims/spokes, or more?

Thanks

[happycatbasket]

Hugh.'s suggestion on spares is spot on. Small rack related bolts and things are nice to have just in case. I've actually had one of my racks loosen and drop a bolt during some riding (all my bad for not tightening) and had to run off course to grab some spare bolts from a bike shop as a result. An extra cable might be nice too as they're super light and you can probably string them up anywhere.

I did the 650b conversion thing with my Trek 520. I have some 2" Schwalbe Big Bens in there and was only able to fit around 40mm tires on my 700c wheels. There are some pretty good deals on discarded stock wheelsets at places randombikeparts if you use googlefu well enough. It's nice to have both the 700c and 650b wheels available, but I haven't actually switched back to the 700c because the bigger tires feel pretty nice and I use my touring bike for nighttime cross-country and fireroad stuffs after work. I used the wider tires on my tour and never had an issue. If you're just buying new rims, you'll need new spokes to match but that's about it.

Low tire pressures feel awesome. However, 40MM to 50mmish isn't that huge of a change so make sure you keep your expectations in check. I only question whether or not my switch was worth it because now I'm building up a road/dirt tourer and ditching this setup to play with 27.5+ tires and those wheels where the reason I couldn't get the, "make them bigger" talk out of my head. That being said, riding what you have, or just doing small upgrades, is the best way to feel out what exactly you want/need so buying separate wheels wasn't exactly a waste (for me) because they still saw plenty of miles.

[Rusty]

again, thanks for the proper advice!

So is it just a matter of getting some rims and tires and relacing my hubs? Kind of like what you're saying about having both sets at hand but for what it's worth I think I'd rather have the clearance than anything else. Kind of ride my big bike like its my BMX....

I think before I do anything to the wheels, besides a good service sooner than later, I need to replace core components. Since I got my front rack I've lightly loaded it a few times and the flex is pretty bad. Not sure if it's mostly the alloy stock stem, the fact that the Archer bars I have are uncut and fairly wide, or both. Either way I plan to maybe cut a half inch off each side and upgrade to a shorter Thomson stem, and hopefully a matching post if time/money is right.

Let's talk drive trains. I'm not too savvy with road gear & brands but I don't need anything crazy. I know sram gear is nice....? 

[happycatbasket]

one month later...

what sort of rack do you have? my surly nice rack is steel and doesn't flex "that" much, but with bags and basket loaded, it sure as hell feels as though it does. I think it's mostly the bags, but could imagine the rack swaying a slight amount. who knows. in any case, it usually takes me around fifteen minutes to get used to it and then it feels fine.

sram gear is deece. you might have to change out your shifters to get whatever new drivetrain stuff figured out. if you're using friction shifters and aren't snagging a new hub to fit more gears, chances are you'll be able to shift fine in friction mode. if you have more/less gears, then your indexing will be off so friction mode will be the default. In any case, I know more about mountain drivetrains than road. the shimano mountain 11 speed fits on normal mountain cassette hubs, whereas sram stuff does not. also, there is different pull ratios on some of sram's stuff and 11 speed shimano road things, so that's worth noting. If you're on the fairdale archer, then you probably don't use friction anyway so most the stuff above is moot.

if you're thinking about switching to a double/triple ring up front, then you miiiiight need to switch out your cranks. also, front derailleurs are super simple so you don't need to bounce on really expensive ones.