Need Some advice
 

I have a specialized 2014 sectuer road bike that I have taken on credit card tours but haven't done any long tours. Next summer, I'd like to travel down highway 101 from Washington to California. Talking to my bike mechanic, he surprised the heck out of me and said the bike that I have would be fine, just get a BOB trailer and I'd be set. I was originally thinking, selling the sectuer and buying a touring bike (or just add to my bike collection), but the mechanic threw for a loop. Any thoughts? I've researched the advantages and disadvantages of a trailer. The trailer idea doesn't appeal to me as much, but it could save a lot of money. Is it worth the money to have a dedicated steel frame touring bike, like the Trek 520? Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

How long of a trip? Days? Miles per day?

I've ridden many miles with a rack on the back of my old Colnago Super road bike, including a few loaded touring rides (few days, usually). It is a little flexy which is a bit disconcerting, but it does ride well.

However, your Specialized Secteur is designed with flex, and I presume no rack mounts. Perhaps a seatpost rack, but I wouldn't load it down with racks.

So.. the trailer. I haven't towed a BOB around much, although I do quite a bit of towing a standard 2-wheel trailer around town. 50 mile or so a day isn't bad, but I dislike towing the trailer 100+ miles a day.

I recently took an 18 year old steel, rigid fork Jamis Hybrid, did some "road upgrades" to it and added drop bars. The conversion wasn't entirely cheap, although could have been down a little cheaper. Nonetheless, it has been a great utility bike for around town, and I no longer have the flex issues I felt with the old Colnago. I've only used rear racks in the past, but I'd like to add a front rack to the Jamis, and think it should work as a great medium duty touring bike.

Anyway, if it was me, I'd very much consider a touring/utility bike, but would consider used bikes, as well as building my own to my own specs.

BTW: Where are you located?

I'm tentatively planning on a trip across Washington on the John Wayne trail. But, at least parts of the trail are supposed to be extremely rough gravel. So, I'm planning a rough road touring bike build, specifically for that trail.

I don't know how much use my rough touring bike will get in the end, but you may consider multiple styles of touring before you dump a lot of dough into a touring bike build. Other trips you'd like to do? Non-paved surfaces?

Thread moved from General Cycling to Touring.

It does have rack mounts, maybe you could do a hybrid bikepacking set up, a set of small rear panniers and a trunk bag, and a frame bag? You'd want to be in weight weenie mode though.... you don't need much of a sleeping bag in July August, a ultralight sleeping pad, superlight tent or tarp with bug screen, jetboil stove etc etc...

What type of tour? If the usual credit card, don't see why you need to change a thing. Just because the trip will be longer doesn't mean you need more stuff.

which model sectuer do you got? if it's the double, you may not have the gear range for pulling a trailer, especially if you plan to ride coastal hills.

the bob itself weighs 13 pounds, plus a few more pounds for whatever drysak you use. fill it up with gear and you may be pushing up too many hills.

Western Washington near Seattle. I've been on parts of the John Wayne. It's a fun trail.

Thanks everybody. The tires are 700's. I won't be carrying more than 30 pounds of gear. I do quite a lot of backpacking and the focus has been on ultralight. I normally carry around 45 pounds, but that's 10 days of food and a days supply of water. Maybe, I can get it all on my sectuer. Even with gear weight, the bike would still have less than 200 pounds. Why then, when I see people traveling, their bikes look loaded?

Before you consider buying a BOB trailer, consider an extrawheel trailer. I don't own one myself, but they're lighter than a BOB and should allow you to carry enough gear. Backpacking gear would work too if you're ok with packing a minimal amount of gear.

US: https://www.bikeshophub.com/product-...wheel-trailers

Some people travel very lightly, some more heavily. If you can put your gear together into one pile so you can figure out weight and volume, that would give you an idea of if you could do it with a couple panniers or not. But make sure you save enough room for a couple days of groceries for when you stock up at a Safeway.

I have never used a trailer. Thus, I can't offer an opinion, but I have seen some people pull trailers on some skinny tire bikes without much difficulty. Pulling a trailer up the hills along Pacific Coast (many are 8 percent grade, some steeper), would mean you need low gearing.

I rode Astoria to San Fransisco in 2014, my observations of that are at this posting: During some of the software changes on this forum, some photos got deleted. Maybe there will be some useful information there, maybe not.
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/9...l#post16933424

Hi Popscube,
Yes you can tour on the Secteur. I have a Specialized Sequoia that I bought in 2009 as a light touring bike. It has essentially the same frame as the Secteur. The bike does have significant limitations for loaded touring, however. The fork is carbon, with no mounts for a rack. With most of your gear on the back and the bike being very light weight, you might have some balance and stability issues with it. The bike has relatively short chainstays, so in order to avoid hitting your panniers with your heels, you'll have to either use very small panniers or mount them towards the back of your rack, further exacerbating the imbalance. You can avoid most of these issues with an ultralight or 'bike packing' setup.

I also own two steel framed touring bikes, including a 520. With a 520 or similar touring bike, you can pack as heavy or as light as you want and be super comfortable in either case. You can also mount fenders over a wide range of tire sizes, which you can't do with the Secteur. Purchasing a steel framed touring bike would be my recommendation. The Sequoia rarely leaves the house at this point.

This. Probably anathema on a cycling forum, but before you buy a new bike for a specific trip, think about what options you may want in the future for other trips.

Great advice! I'd suggest that this is the first thing you should do!

Simple & to the point.

I just tried one of these out over the weekend. My interest was in taking the weight off the front of the bike to allow me more comfort doing some off-road touring. It's a great piece of kit. Not cheap, but a very effective way of getting a taste for touring without changing a bike or getting a new one. You'd be able to carry all your gear on the trailer and have the bike as you normally do. Check your gearing, though, for those hills!

If you want a rack, but don't have mounts ... don't panic. https://www.thule.com/en-us/us/bike-...-rack-_-100090

Can be used on front or back (I have one on the front of my stromer; a topeak on the back).

Done a lot, I'm on the 101 route .. all sorts of people on all sorts of bikes..

BoB trailer , or an Extrawheel trailer, or Burly Nomad, etc. camping load there,
bar bag for snacks & a camera..

Or go minimal bike packing bags are the new thing for Rackless minimalist touring..
expect a lot of the trans america tour route racers... Start, next month will use nothing but that..
on race bikes ..




....

The numbers you shared put you quite far from "focus on ultralight".

I do self-supported tours with no more than 18 lbs luggage, panniers included.
Lots of tourers carry much more than me, I have no clue why, nor do I care, but all of their bikes "look loaded".

If I saw you with your "30 pounds of gear" on the bike, your bike would "look loaded" to me as well.
Suum cuique.

A few thoughts. I do think it depends a bit on how much touring you might otherwise do.

If it is mostly one trip, I would agree with your mechanic that looking at a trailer is a reasonable alternative. If it turns out just to be the start of something more or if you are looking to add to a bike collection, then a dedicated touring bike might also make sense.

Everyone will be a bit different. Some just have more stuff than they really use (e.g. after a tour take an inventory and take a hard look at things not used) or some aren't really trying to really reduce weight.

+1.

I'm one of those with too many bikes and trailers ;). I have a Trek 520 and I also have a Bob trailer and an Extrawheel trailer. All else being equal, here are my preferences for me when I pick my gear for a tour:
- My default for a road tour is to just use my Trek 520 and have front and rear panniers.
- I've used the Bob mostly hauling stuff around town and the Extrawheel to carry more on tours with my mountain bike.
- The reason I prefer my Extrawheel on tour vs Bob is (1) it is lighter (2) it tracks very closely and (3) uses the same panniers I already have.
- The reasons I would use my Bob vs my Extrawheel is (1) it carries more and (2) the dry sack is flexible vs. having to put everything in panniers.
-

This is one of my biggest problems, hauling all the food I keep buying. The more towns you pass through, the more food you "need"? 😉

My touring style morphed greatly over the decades because of some recent experience with ultralight backpacking (on the AT, PCT, CDT and others, including the Wonderland Trail and Pacific Northwest Trail in your area). After hiking the long trails, I went back to bike touring. The first things to go without a second thought were the front panniers and rack, and handlebar bag. My hiking pack "base weight" is in the ten pound range. On the bike, it's closer to fifteen, because the packs are more durable and the bike itself needs more tools and spare parts. With that weight, it's barely noticeable and will go on any bike.

I still use a rear rack and panniers because I have them, and I mostly camp. I like having the ability to carry extra food and water if needed. Total pack weight rarely approaches 30 pounds, which starts becoming noticeable. A friend with a similar style uses either a seatpost rack or a small backpack for mostly credit card touring, and he never carries more than ten pounds.

toI used my 2010 Sectuer on my 8500 mile trip in 2015. It worked fine, brand new at the time, only had it a week or so before I left(paid like $550 for it since it wasn't a current model year, but it still has full warranty since it had never sold out of the store, granted not sure how much that warranty is really worth???). The rack insert, to mount the rack to the frame, didn't hold up the best and current one of them is completely missing altogether. Now just have a seat post clamp/rack mount mounted to the bike. No reason not to use the bike, with panniers. I used kitty liter buckets as my panniers and it helped me reduce my weight from the previous three years by 10 pounds.