Originally Posted by
cobalt123
1) a bike capable of carrying me and my bulk (I'm currently at a smidgen over 300lb and dropping - but it will be a looong time till I'm under 250). 36 spoke minimum I think.
2) a competent road bike with appropriate touring gearing
3) there are a number of reclaimed rail beds near me that trace central MA and Southern NH. But from what I have gleaned about these trails they can be pretty rough and have some muddy stretches. This is where I feel I'm under biked right now. My current bike will only handle 34mm tire max, and that with no fenders - which I would like to have.
4) Roads near me are ROUGH. Potholes are a thing here. We take pride in our lack of road maintenance...
5) I will not be mountain biking, though may use bike packing gear as I think I'll be more of a credit card tour kind of guy and will limit the gear and weight I'm hauling. I still want to maintain an option for racks front and rear though for the future.
7) I really want to do some winter riding next year. Another reason I'd like some large tire capacity.
1) Good steel bike. Dedicated touring bikes are made tankish on purpose -- LHT, AWOL etc. Gravel bikes are less stiff. Surly bikes in general are overbuilt and more tankish. If you tour with a full load (front/rear panniers) this may be a good thing. You may not need it for credit card touring.
2) Good reason to build it from frame and run a triple
3) Have you ridden them? You may be overestimating the problems. Rail trails are more solid than towpaths like C&O. I am just under 300, and i have done C&O in the pouring rain with load on 42mm tires (Conti SpeedRide).
4) NYC roads can be rough as well. Get some wide supple tires. For me 32mm Paselas work well even with the aluminum hybrid.
Originally Posted by
tarwheel
Take a look at gravel bikes. Almost everyone makes one nowadays. Many are very versatile bikes, suitable for roads, trails, dirt roads, etc. Choose a model that has mounts for fenders and racks if you think you might be touring, riding rain or mud, or just carrying more gear.
+1
Originally Posted by
cobalt123
I understand some folks confusion around road bike vs wide tires. I’d like to be able to switch as needed.
With disc brakes you can do road+: use 650b (27.5") wheels with 47mm wide tires. They can be interchanged with some 700c wheels. You can do this with Double Cross (
https://www.somafab.com/archives/pro...ble-cross-disc -- I have one) or Black Mtn Road Plus (
https://blackmtncycles.com/frames/road-plus/).
These folks make frames using thinner tubing compared to Surly. They also make monstercross frames which can fit up to 50mm tires (Some Wolverine, Black Mtn Monster Cross).
Originally Posted by
kingston
+1