Awesome sauce. More videos and updates from where you camp overnight would be kewl.
Coming to dutchwaregear about two weeks after Dutch’s return, 101 pieces of new gear to improve the biking experience.
I like the idea of gravel or Mtn bike for this loaded trip. Maybe a little slower but more robust.
I have friends that used road/touring bikes and it handled the loads well while going down paved roads, but had to be so careful on actual gravel, and also popped tires laying down and picking up bikes while fully loaded. The side load was too much for skinny tires.
Enjoy
No, a true touring/traveling bike, not a skinny-tire performance road bike! Steel frame, shallow angle headset, nice rake on the forks (for tracking, smoothness and a gentler ride), relaxed rear triangle, low BB, narrow crankset, 700c rims, 36h hubs(maybe 32h in front) with tires in the 34-37 mm range, etc.
The minimal amount of gravel on a coast to coast trip can be handled by a bike like this.
Last edited by TominMN; 09-21-2018 at 09:34.
Touring bikes are specifically engineered, aided by the school of hard knocks, for touring purposes. Usually they have steel frames and a geometry to accommodate the panniers, loads, and more upright riding positions. Most can accommodate a range of tire sizes and you select the tire width for the conditions you anticipate encountering. My vote is for Schwalbe tires as definitely being worth the little extra they cost. The only time a road bike tire would be useful on a touring bike is if you were using it commuting back and forth on pavement.
Bookmarks