MRT2

Unless you are out touring in a remote area, in the mountains. You might be a day's ride away from a bike shop. And then you might actually need to shift gears. None of this may matter to OP, who is just dipping a toe into the touring bike world.

Jarrett2

Lots of food for thought here. The big question is I don't know how into this I am going to get. Will it just be two credit card trips a year where a Roubaix would be fine? Or will I get a taste for it and want to go deeper and need a "real" touring bike like the AWOL? Hard to know. Thanks for the info so far.

The one thing I'm sure of is I don't want to take my main Roubaix on these trips. I want to keep it safe for my usual rides. For anything where the bike is going to be chained up outside overnight, I want more of a beater bike. Not sure whether a Sora Roubaix or AWOL makes more sense there.

sstorkel

If you're going to spend money on a dedicated touring bike, why would you pick a Roubaix over an actual touring frame? That's sort of like saying "I want a pick-up truck" then buying a Honda Accord! As I said: when I attached luggage to my Cervelo RS frame I hated the way the bike handled.

On the other hand, for credit card tours you likely don't need a rack. Get a Carradice saddlebag. I used the Nelson Longflap when I rode from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Attach it to your seat rails using a Bagman support rack. Peter White carries this stuff in the U.S. In addition to the Nelson Longflap, I also use a Lone Peak H-100 handlebar bag. Between the two, you can carry more gear than you'll want to push uphill with the stock gearing on whatever bike you decide to ride.

FYI, I used a trekking triple crank (26/36/48), an 11-28 cassette, carried about 20lbs of gear, and despite being very fit when I rode from SF to LA I still found some of the climbs challenging. If your tours will involve any sort of climbing, you may find that you need lower gearing than a Roubaix provides. Weight on a touring bike adds up quickly! My bike ended up being around 23lbs, gear was around 20lbs, and 68oz of water spread across 3 bottles is another 4.5lbs. Add in the weight of luggage, bottles, and other knick knacks and the whole package was pretty close to 50lbs; about 3X heavier than my normal carbon fiber road bike.

sstorkel

Right. If you break a derailleur, lock your bike into the 53x11 combo, and aren't willing to change that combo when you get to a hill then you're going to be in trouble.

A more reasonable approach in mountainous terrain would be to lock the bike into gearing that allowed you to climb anything you might need to climb and plan to coast on downhills. This gearing combination would still work on flat sections, though if you knew there were extended flats you might want to stop and switch over to a higher gear. Having put tens of thousands of miles on my uber-light SRAM Red shifters without a single issue, I didn't hesitate to install brifters on my touring bike. Modern brifters are so well made I just don't see the point of suffering with bar-end shifters...

Jarrett2

Yeah, that's my conundrum. The only bike I know I want to do more than 40 miles on is a Roubaix. But I'm not sure how the bike will work for touring, especially loaded down. I'm not sure a steel touring bike would be more comfortable than my aluminum Secteur that I don't like to ride.

I do know a couple of things. I don't want to take my main Roubaix on tours and I don't want to use the Secteur for it either. So now I just need to decide what to replace the Secteur with at this point.

CliffordK

I'm not sure I would call a $2000 bike a beater bike. But, to each his own.

Other options would include hunting down a used Roubaix frame on E-Bay and shifting your Secteur parts over onto it. Or, buying the new Roubaix, and swapping parts between it and the Secteur.

There have been people who bought bikes with cheap groupsets, disassembled, and sold the groupset as a "new-pull" on E-Bay, then rebuilt the bike as they desired.

There are lots of upgrade options.

The one thing, I wouldn't stress about super-light wheels on a touring bike.

Jarrett2

Well, I was initially looking at the $700 Windsor. That seems pretty beater-licious. The AWOL and the Sora Roubaix are in the <$1500 range. Certainly not beaters, but less expensive than what I have into my Roubaix (or Secteur) at this point for sure.

It seems like all of the touring bikes come with Sora or less, so I don't know that it would make a lot of diff to swap parts. I need to see what kind of money that would run me to figure if it is worth it or not.

I know, I've seen that now. Kind of kicking myself for not getting a Sora Roubiax and putting Ultegra (from PBK) on it. I think I could have saved some money possibly...

I'm definitely mindful of that at this point.

indyfabz

If you are credit card touring, why would your bike be chained up outside over night? I have gotten occasional motel rooms while on self-contained camping tours. I have never not been allowed to bring the bike in the room.

Jarrett2

I'm thinking worse case scenario. Mainly something I wouldn't be too upset if it got damaged or stolen during a tour.

pdlamb

I think way too much effort goes into "what-if" drills in general. Let me suggest another approach:

You've got a bike you like to ride. Go ride it. If you need lights, get some lights. If you need to carry a change of clothes, get a big saddle bag and ride it to a motel or B&B for a weekend. Extend your range, and have fun. If you ever get to a situation where you say to yourself, "This bike is keeping me from doing what I want to do," that's the time to get a new bike.

Unless you just want a new bike. If that's the case, go buy one.

raceboy

Another vote for the Novara Safari. I was lucky enough to find one used already decked out for touring with lights, rear pannier bags, etc. I rode it around town for a few weeks to check everything out and then took it on a week-long 400 mile trek down PCH in CA. The thing rode like a champ the whole way through--Big Sur, wine country, SoCal bike paths, occasional short gravel paths, and more. All with 0 issues. I had a great time. It's a funky bike but it sure is fun!

CliffordK

Absolutely.

People put a lot of thought into worrying about a $5000 bicycle.

If you had a $5000 car, would you avoid driving it to the mall... just in case someone might open their car door and ding the side?

Years ago I had my Colnago Super... which then was in pretty nice shape, and a "beater". I don't remember the brand of the beater, but it was equipped with the typical wheel powered generator lights, fat 27" tires, steel rims, etc.

About one day of commuting on the beater, and I decided that I could either leave the Colnago parked 99% of the time so I could ride a bike I hated, or I could ride the bike I just loved riding. I decided that I'd just ride my Colnago and park the beater.

Now, over the last 30+ years, the Colnago has taken quite a beating. I don't do a lot of group rides, but I have in the past.

I suppose I wish the bike was "cherry", but I don't regret my decision to ride it everywhere and enjoy it for all the time I've owned it.

Most of my riding is errands (usually 20 to 40 miles RT), and I still cringe at the thought of riding a city clunker.

It all depends on the person, and it is an interesting idea to buy two very similar bikes, one for beater use, and the other for group rides. The other thing to keep in mind is that bikes depreciate over time, and the next best thing is always around the corner. You could always ride your current bike hard for the next 5 to 10 years, then plan on buying the greatest new thing for your group rides when it comes out in the future. Again, thinking about my Colnago, had I left it hanging in the garage for the last 30 years, it would still be obsolete today.

Jarrett2

So I went and rode the AWOL Elite today. It's a nice bike, but the bike I have is a better one.

I looked at the Roubaix and just feel like it would be silly to buy a second Roubaix just for touring.

So, I went a different route. I bought the Specialized CG-R seatpost, some Specialized Armadillo Elite 28s, a Bontrager rear rack, a Blackburn rack bag and a pair of Blackburn pannier bags. I going to get all of that setup, check tire pressures, redo the fit of the bike and try to use the Secteur as my touring bike. Total spend was about $450, considerably cheaper than buying a new bike.

Thanks for all of the input.

bassjones

For touring the AWOL is a much better choice
than the Roubaix Sora. The Salsa Vaya 2 will be at the same price
point.

jsigone

have you tested diff brands other than spesh?

Jarrett2

I loaded up the bags and did 30 miles on it today to see how it worked and it seemed like it would be perfect for light touring. I think the CG-R seatpost made the difference:

Jarrett2

Me? I've ridden various models of Trek, Giant and Felt in addition to the Specialized stuff.

FarHorizon

For "touring," my pick would be the Surly Disc Trucker - but that's just me...

Null66

One of the reasons I chose to build up my DT. Wheels and gearing were the remaining.


If it is a shifter issue, then you have the ratios provided by the other shifter.
So if right shifter you'd still have 2 or 3 ratios by shifting the left...

MRT2

Problem solved

Jarrett2

Did another 22 miles on it last night with 728' of climb at 14.4 mph average. Definitely not a speedster, but it is comfortable and functional.

I think I need another saddle though. The one on it just isn't as comfortable as the same model on my road bike.

Is there a specific saddle to look at for slow touring? Brooks?

MRT2

As you know, saddles are personal. (so personal that in some cases, the same saddle might work on one bike but not another, apparently) I have been riding a Brooks B17 for over two years and really like it. That said, they do take some time, at least a few hundred and as many as 500 miles to fully break in, and it isn't advisable to rush the break in process trying to soften the leather, as you might shorten the life of the saddle significantly.

Brooks makes a synthetic saddle that needs not break in. I bought one last year, the C17 Cambium. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well for me as my broken in B17. After about 90 minutes in the saddle, it started to get uncomfortable, while the B17 was comfortable even after 4 or 5 hours of riding.

winston63 

Only you can answer that for yourself. However, I tour on an AWOL Comp and I was very uncomfortable until I put a B17 on it. And I tried several different saddles prior to trying the Brooks but none of them worked for me on that bike. A Specialized Romin works nicely on my Kona (cross bike), but that same saddle was very uncomfortable on the AWOL.

I put it down to riding position: I'm much more upright on the AWOL and I've got more weight on the saddle than when I'm riding the Kona.

c_m_shooter

Have you thought about a rackless bikepacking type of setup? just a roll bag on the handlebars, large saddle bag and maybe a frame bag. Then you won't be stuck with just one bike, ride whichever you want.

vesteroid

My take is your looking for a solution when no problem exist. Credit card touring can be done with a light pack. I Mean for one overnight how much do you need to take. A pair of shorts, underwear, and tshirt and shoes. Wash your bike clothes out in the sink and go the next day. I wouldn't go fitting up a new bike until I knew I was going to go for a week and do it over and over.