Perth to Geelong in Sep/Oct 14

[FXST01]

Howdy all,

I'm planning a tour from Perth to Geelong in about Sep or Oct 14. So many items to research and buy.

[FXST01]

Must be fate, my rear wheel needs replacing. I'm planning a hopefully bulletproof touring set of wheels.

Mavic A119 700c 36H rims front and rear
Shimano DH-3N72A dynamo hub for the front 36H
Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard tyres 700 x 35
Shimano 105 5700 rear hub 36H mated with a CS-HG51-8 speed cassette.
Have to wait until the above arrives before I can figure out the spokes I will need. Plus I'm going to have a go at building a wheel myself.

I have gone away from the spin on type of cassettes after a discussion with the LBS mechanic about my rear axles that are breaking (second one this year). He told me the spin on hubs bearings (drive side) is too far in from the frame to properly support but the free hub hubs have their bearings next to the frame. Sounded good to me.

[Tim]

Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard tyres 700 x 35

These tyres came fitted to my Vivente World Randonneur bike. I found they handled broken glass and resisted punctures well but the tread cut up pretty badly on sharp, 40-60mm blue-metal chip spread over dirt roads in my area. They did not puncture though.
I have just fitted Vittoria Randonneur Cross Pro's, 37mm, which are actually 35mm. For some reason they are marked 622-37 and 700x35c.
Be hard pressed to beat this price;

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYVTRNDCPR/ ... lding_tyre

These tyres have been well reviewed by a few members of this forum. Pick the 37mm option. The price is in US dollars so a little over $20.00 ea.
I haven't toured on them yet but they feel good (not that that means anything) on short rides.
They are foldable tyres so at that price you could readily carry a spare.
One tip is to carry a few cable ties. The Cross Pro's are not easy to fit. They slot easily over the rim but being foldable they keep sliding off the rim when trying to seat the tyre and tube for the first time. Hold them on with a cable tie, then work the rest of the tyre over the rim. It's the sort of job you need three hands for. Pump them up a bit, cut the tie off and all will be well.

[FXST01]

I've always steered away from folding tyres (no pun intended) but after your comment and the Tom's review I may reconsider. By the time I actually leave I may need new tyres again which I can live with.

[Baalzamon]

Which way out of Perth are you headed?
Are you running a double or a triple?
What range is the 8 speed cassette. You may find yourself undergeared for the hills

[Tim]

Plenty of discussion on tyres in this thread and many others;

viewtopic.php?f=77&t=62222&p=936499&hil ... es#p936499

I love foldable tyres, I even carry a spare Conti GP4000s on my road racing bike.
I would give my left nut to be in your position. Planning and executing a long tour.

[il padrone]

One tip is to carry a few cable ties. The Cross Pro's are not easy to fit. They slot easily over the rim but being foldable they keep sliding off the rim when trying to seat the tyre and tube for the first time. Hold them on with a cable tie, then work the rest of the tyre over the rim. It's the sort of job you need three hands for. Pump them up a bit, cut the tie off and all will be well.

I carry an old-style toe-strap. It is my parking brake strap to hold the front wheel on trains and such, but doubled as a strap to hold the Randonneur Cross Pro when I needed to refit it.

[Tim]

I should have thought of that IP.
I too carry a toe-clip strap for much the same reason. It locks the front wheel to the frame and stops loaded forks from spinning when the bike is propped against trees and posts.

[FXST01]

Which way out of Perth are you headed?
Are you running a double or a triple?
What range is the 8 speed cassette. You may find yourself undergeared for the hills

Planning to go from Perth to Geelong. Haven't figure out how I get back yet, maybe cycle back

I have a triple ring next me (only have the other crank next to me) which I plan to fit this weekend as for the cassette 11-13-15-18-21-24-28-32.
EDITED, The triple is actually out in the garage at the moment and it's cold here in Canberra, so I'll add its details later.

[FXST01]

[Tim]

Just my opinion but they are big (high) gears for loaded touring.
My lowest ratio is provided by a 24t small chainring and a 34t largest cassette cog.
I have a 24-36-48 triple chainset and an 11-34 cassette.
This combo covers most countryside but an extra lower gear would be good at times eg. mountain bike chainrings.
I reckon this is what you need. Beautifully made, excellent quality, good value;

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/cranks/11074.html

[FXST01]

I'll see how it goes Tim during my daily commutes next week, I have a few hills to contend with.

[GJ_Coop]

I've never seen that gear calculator previously but does that mean the middle ring is pretty much redundant?

I'd give what Tim says a tick.

The cassette cogs seem perfect to me, can't get smaller than 11t and little real benefit with the 34t over the 32t.

The triple rings look too highly geared, reckon something along the lines of 24t (for the hills), 34t or 36t to be using most of the time and 48t for the rare occasions you have a thumping tailwind or downhill.

[il padrone]

+1 to what has been said.

When I had derailleur gears my BIG ring was a 44. With the Rohloff the top gear is slightly lower but I don't miss it. With a 44-11 your gear is 108" (this used to be the standard top gear way back in the days of 10-speed racers); 50-11 gives you a 122" gear and that's crazy high unless you are a total gear-grinder. Bottom gear of 22-32 gave me an 18" gear, (now 17.8") and it gets used a good bit on hills. Admittedly not too many of them in a Perth-Geelong tour, but they are there. You'll probably plan on doing the Otways and Great Ocean Road for example. Then there is other touring that you do - 23" is OK, but really gets to be very hard on the steep climbs when fully loaded.

[FXST01]

My double ring was 39/53 and during my commutes i rarely went over 17 and 52, although bear in mind I haven't actually bought the cassette yet so that is subject to change, especially thanks to the brains trust on this forum.

I have just finished fitting the triple ring to my bike and had a quick test ride after adjusting the FD, all is good, will take some getting used to.
Using a longer BB than the double one, I will have to purchase a deeper BB tool as my current was a bit shallow for the job.

My current cassette is 13-15-17-19-21-24-26-32, so I have a play with the above calculator and see how i go.

[Aushiker]

Mavic A119 700c 36H rims front and rear
Shimano DH-3N72A dynamo hub for the front 36H

Probably too late but I would strongly recommend the SON dynamo over the Shimano. I have now done 4,000 + kilometres with my SON dynamo and around 1,000 km with my Shimano dynamo and I can tell the difference. I now really appreciate the SON over the Shimano. That said my Shimano is on my mountain bike used for off-road loaded touring and hence the speeds are often much lower so the drag is quite noticeable.

Regards
Andrew

[FXST01]

Thanks for the heads up Andrew, I checked out the SON dynamos but they are priced out of my range. Most of the sites I went to that spoke about dynamos say that Shimanos are getting better although not yet Son quality but they are improving. I have yet to have a serious problem with any Shimano gear so I'll give them ago as I have 12 months of abuse time up my sleeve and if they fail well I'll cross that bridge when I arrive at it.

Thanks for the article on the B&M light too on your website, helped point me in the right direction.