My touring rig - post yours

[MTBRuss]

Yep, those are the tyres, but this is the rig:

[hartleymartin]

Old Elan X-Country bicycle. She's no lightweight with over-sized Tange MTB Double Butted CRMO frame and forks, but just about the most dependable frame I have ever owned. She weighs in at 17kg unladen. It's only got one set of bottle mounts - the other two in the frame are held on with hose clamps and there is a special attachment for the one on the handlebars.



And my inner geek (and outer one too) made me put up this gear chart:

[Moocar]

MTBRuss, every time I see pics of those tires eating up the sand my mouth waters!!! Congrats again on your trip.

Here's my setup, it's as tried and tested as it gets, but jeez the combination works. Surly Long Haul Trucker, Tubus racks, Ortlieb panniers, SKS fenders, 1.5L water cages, brooks saddle, 2" Schwalbe Marathon XRs. You can ride this rig anywhere.

[BikingMarco]

Browsing through this thread makes me wanna go touring again! Great pictures of awesome bikes!
Shown below is my good old touring bike brought in from Germany. With steel frame, Tubus racks, DT swiss rims, Brooks saddle Magura hydraulic brakes and (my favourite part) a nice shiny Rohloff hub. Love Touring!

[garyper]

Well our two Thorn Raven Tours finally arrived. I didnt have quite so much luck with customs and was hit with GST but it's no biggie as I had factored that into the cost. Very happy so far and it's fit's me heaps better than the Cannondale T1 did, not that that is any fault of the Cannondale.

Cheers
Gary

[mylesau]

Nice!

[petedigital]

this is mine. a scott sub 20 with a tefal rack and custom panniers, canvas tho

i'm about to ride it from sydney to melbourne. it's been my daily ride for a couple of years now and has served me well. hope it stands up to the road to melbourne.

[longlux]

Hi

This is my old beast

Its a Giant MCM one





Cheers
Joe
http://thelongluxfiles.blogspot.com

[Baldy]

Great bikes and setups everyone, this would be my favorite thread on BNA.

The N+1 bug has bitten again Ive ordered/laybyed a Trek 520, I was going to setup my hardtail as a tourer but its the only mtb I have so I want to keep it setup for the spur of the moment offroad rides.

The more I look into it and think about it , touring seems to be right up my alley Im not interested in racing,road or MTB... but I do like a challenge so I imagine theres a great sense of achievement with touring. I allready have most of the suitable gear,lightweight 4 season tent/bag/mat/trangia ect[totals more than 1/2 the price of the bike itself] So apart from the panniers/racks once I have the bike I'll be ready to roll. Well with the basics at least, im sure the upgraditis increases exponentially for every N+1 addition

The reasons I picked the Trek are pretty strait forward, 1: They have a good rep as a tourer[since 83?] 2: I like the look of the 2009 model, metalic root beer!! 3: my LBS is a trek dealer and my other 2 bikes are treks so I thought why not keep it in the family Nothing to do with Lance Armstrong either, it wasnt untill this years tour de frog that learnt he rode for them. I had heard of him before but never took any notice of the bikes and mainstream media mostly talk about the cancer/doping and the fact he wins alot, the brand of bike he rides is rarely mentioned.

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration, of course I'll add photos once I have it[maybe a couple of months] But the planning/daydreaming is half the fun huh

cheers
Baldy

[il padrone]

I allready have most of the suitable gear,lightweight 4 season tent/bag/mat/trangia ect[totals more than 1/2 the price of the bike itself] So apart from the panniers/racks once I have the bike I'll be ready to roll. Well with the basics at least, im sure the upgraditis increases exponentially for every N+1 addition

You're right about that. Some of my current essentials for a camping tour include:

Seating


Kitchen water source - 20L capacity


And sometimes I take a neat entertainment centre, using the Sansa mP3 player and a small portable speaker set

[Baldy]

Ah nice, yeah I had planned to get one of those small seats but havnt seen those kitchen buckets before, just the small dog water bowl versions. Thats a good tip, thanks.

Not sure about the mp3 player[Ive never owned one] But I do plan to get a compact am/fm radio, just for local weather/warnings for fires ect

cheers
Baldy

[Wingnut]

Maybe we should have a thread on "Best Touring Accessories"...I'd be really interested on some of the items & knick knacks people take for touring?

[Aushiker]

Hi

This is my old beast

Its a Giant MCM one

Hi Joe

Where the photos taken at a Mundi Biddi campsite? Maybe Yarri?

Andrew

[roobs]

Hi all, learned a lot from this thread, a great read.
Have to chime in here with my touring rig that I have finally set up and put to the test. I'm very pleased with the results.

Hillman frame (made here in West Brunswick about 20 odd years ago) with lovely super-fast dura ace hub on the back wheel. SON dynamo hub on the front, laced to Mavic A719 rims with Busch and Mueller front and back dynamo lights (OMGOMG can't believe how bright they are and can't get over the fact that there are no batteries!!!). Tubus cosmo stainless steel rack - looks nice and makes my Osterich panniers a cinch. Brooks handlebar tape (get it, it feels really nice) and since added a Brooks B17 special saddle.

We went for a http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gisborne-Woodend-via-Mnt-Macedon day ride, starting at Macedon station, over Mt Macedon, picnic at Hanging Rock ('Miranda!'), through Woodend, follow old Calder Highway to Gisborne (very few cars, double lanes so they give you plenty of space), met the folks, then train home to Melbourne. Lovely day ride for the not-so-hard-core tourer.

Roobs.

[SteveJ]

My Trek 520, 2009 model. Currently for sale but now after seeing this thread i dont' know







Top of Cunninghams Gap (coming from Brisbane)

[redned]

SteveJ:
Why are you selling the Trek 520? Not happy with it? The saddle doesn't even look like it has been in a decent shower of rain!
I was considering a Trek and would like to know if you are unhappy with it for some reason.

[SteveJ]

Not unhappy at all, my road bikes have taken my interest more and more and i want to upgrade my race bike. I took the brooks off after that trip, just not my thing,i've had a tan suede Rolls on it since, which is much more comfortable.
It's just been used as a commuter and it's a bit too much coin to have tied up in a commuter.

hard decision though to sell it

[matthewm]

I think they are probably the 26 X 3.7 tyres designed to be used on their Pugsley frame with super-wide rims. For snow, ice and sand riding.

LOL!

[heavymetal]

Here is mine in none touring mode. I usually have the aero bars and full headlight rig along with the BOB trailer attached.



It's a 2005 Mongoose Randonneur Pro, which I bought brand new for $695. Why so cheap? The idiot LBS had cut the neck off too short. I fitted a neck extender (not shown in this photo), ripped off the front road chain rings (30 - 42 - 52, Who wants a 52T large chain ring on a heavily loaded touring bike? ), and replaced them with a 22-30-44 MTB set up along with another front derailleur.

It's running a Tubus front rack and a cheap alloy one for the back as it never gets used due to the BOB trailer. The other main change that I made was to disconnect the useless front shifters and fit retro reverse sprung ratcheted friction shifters.

I'm currently running it in this configuration, but will find another photo of it fully set up.

Kev.

[cruvon]

whew, beautiful touring bikes here, loved the tandem touring bikes too, are they legal on roads?

[millynumb68]

My Blank Canvas.....





My (First) new tourer... GT Avalanche 1.0
It's been kicking around my garage for a while, doing the occasional commute. My body isn't up to MTBing much anymore, so I thought I'd press it into service as a tourer... not too sure exactly where to start though. Anyone have any ideas? Maybe a set of panniers and a rack to begin with. What are the good brands to look out for?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[il padrone]

A bit more tricky to set up pannier racks on the GT frames - the triple triangle design on the rear will not take some racks and front suspension is always a challenge.

For the best racks around you should get the Tubus Cargo (which will fit to your bike's rear end)



While for the front suspension fork a Tubus Swing would be your best choice (keeps the unsuspended weight to a minimum)



There are other cheaper alternatives but they cannot compete with the strength, durability and design of the cro-moly steel of the Tubus. Tubus are also every bit as as light in weight as most alloy racks.

[hartleymartin]

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who goes fully-loaded touring with North Road Bars.

[Cranky Jim]

ALLEGRO TOUR



I only do light touring - day trips, weekenders, rail trails etc. I am over sponge baths, baked beans and sleeping on the ground. At the end of day's riding I want a shower, feed and a bed to sleep in. With this very realistic appraisal of my needs I bought an Allegro Tour - a light tourer that replicates the Fuji Touring - same geometry, virtually identical running gear with Tiagra shifters and Deore deraillers. Mine is the budget model. Allegro also make a triple butted fully lugged model with 105 running gear that they export to Germany, but mine is more than adequate for what I use it for.

The panniers are cheap but I haven't been able to fault them, but while they have shower jackets I certainly wouldn't claim they are fully waterproof. Between them sits a no name insulated lunch box on top of the rack. The saddle is a B67 and the handlebar bag is a Millbrook. And while they are hard to see in the photograph, those are Power Grips on the pedals. It's a very cosy, easy ride, perfect for long trips. During the week it is a useful commuter and shopping bike.

[longlux]

Hi

This is my old beast

Its a Giant MCM one

Hi Joe

Where the photos taken at a Mundi Biddi campsite? Maybe Yarri?

Andrew

I did not see this post, it was Nglang Boodja campsite.