Originally Posted by
venturi95
But my real question is, and I understand this might be pointless for many, but it's important to me to understand...
If efficiency and wind are not variables, is there anything wrong with building a custom touring bike with geometry that leads to a more upright position? And I don't mean more upright than a road bike, but more upright than maybe a standard tour bike. I was much slower on my Tadpole Trike (now sold) but it was extremely comfortable for 100km/day for a month straight. Hoping to build a tour bike that comes as close to as comfortable, even at the expense of efficiency and poopoo headwind battling.
"Building a custom touring bike..." I hope you're not refering to a custom frame, that seems toally unnecessary to ride at a slow pace sitting upright, there must be a million frames out there to serve your needs. Nothing at all wrong with doing what makes you comfortable. Bicycle Touring is different things to different people.
You're probably right that it's not necessary, but since I have lots of different components, and desires (Son28 SL with direct fork connection, stainless steel drop-outs) a custom frame makes sense for me. Plus, aesthetics are important to me, and so I'm getting the colour I want with a custom paint job. Not nesessary from a practical standpoint, but something I decided I wanted early on. Also, I've never found a frame that was comfortable for me, and had lots of bikes I suffered with, but never knew about "bike fit" and was likely buying the wrong kind of bike for the wrong application.
I recently rented a Linus and it was awful, too, even though it looks comfy. I thought perhaps it was upright enough to do some testing, but it was bad. I'm short, at just a little over 5'7", and one thing I like about a custom bike (at least the company I am getting my frame from) is they ask lots of questions and want to build the bike to my style of riding and application. They seem to consider a lot of factors which I think will result in a bike that will fit me perfectly. I might be over-compensating, but after my steep geometry mountain bike, and
perineal pain and sitting bone pain, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to avoid this.
I tried a Surly LHT which might have been too big for me, but the bike guy said it would fit, and I hated it. I felt lots of pressure from having a large cockpit. I might go and try the next size down, but the drop handlebars are an immediate turnoff for me. I spoke to them about changing the handlebars, but in the end, there were so many components would want to swap out it didn't make sense to buy a complete bike.