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Conflict (tire choice): Weekend touring with knobby tires

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Conflict (tire choice): Weekend touring with knobby tires

Old 01-25-20, 07:39 PM
  #51  
DropBarFan
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
I think I have bought three different sets of clip on fenders to try with that bike, for one reason or another all did not work out. Around home I use some Bontrager fenders that are 65mm wide, bought them almost a decade ago, but I do not want to do any surgery on them. I considered buying some SKS P65 fenders and doing some surgery on them like you suggest for travel, but it already takes so much time to pack up the bike, remove all three bottle cages, remove both crank arms, remove both racks, remove stem, loosen the interrupter brake levers on the bars so I can twist them, pull fork out of the frame, etc., that I really do not want anything that takes too much time to attach or remove. On my last tour, I decided to not even attach a dyno powered headlamp to the bike, instead just carried a USB powered one in the handlebar bag in case I encountered any tunnels or wanted to go to a pub at night. Used a pair of battery powered taillights, the brackets for those lights stay on the rack when the rack gets removed from the bike. The dynohub was only used for charging batteries, not lighting.

I bought some cheap small fenders on Ebay, shipped from Asia (shipping is a month) and I made my own brackets from some aluminum bar, used that on my last tour, they worked pretty well so I think I will be expanding on that concept. You can see in the photo a small shorty fender on the front wheel, have a slightly larger one also on the back wheel that is hidden in the photo. I bought a second pair, I plan to put a small shorty on the front wheel in front of the fork to keep the spray down lower, also put one between the seatstay and chainstay to reduce the spray off the back wheel onto my legs and feet.

I am usually pretty quick to put rain pants and shoe covers on when it is cold. Yes, that is a patch of snow in the photo. And sometimes when it is pretty cold and dry, I might put on the rain pants just to cut the wind.

It is a ***** to get everything all packed away in the case. It is a heavy bike, with the case it is over 50 pounds so the pedals, saddle and a few other things go in my other luggage. Rear rack also goes in the other luggage as it will not fit in the S&S case with the bike.

But it can be worth it to get the bike and other stuff down to manageable size for lugging through airports, etc. My non-coupled bikes have never seen an airport, I do not want the hassle of a full size bike box when I fly.
Yeah it's a tight fit with those S&S cases, even chopped fenders might be tough to fit in. Using rain pants & shoe covers is not so bad I suppose. Would be really helpful if the 'legal' weight & dimensions were just a bit higher--would allow a heavier bike & hard case plus maybe fenders & racks.

Last year I was surprised to learn that when flying with skis, not only are skis OK as 1 checked luggage piece, they let one take boots also w/o counting it as extra luggage.

Last edited by DropBarFan; 01-25-20 at 07:52 PM.
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Old 01-25-20, 09:27 PM
  #52  
Tourist in MSN
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Originally Posted by DropBarFan
Yeah it's a tight fit with those S&S cases, even chopped fenders might be tough to fit in. Using rain pants & shoe covers is not so bad I suppose. Would be really helpful if the 'legal' weight & dimensions were just a bit higher--would allow a heavier bike & hard case plus maybe fenders & racks.

Last year I was surprised to learn that when flying with skis, not only are skis OK as 1 checked luggage piece, they let one take boots also w/o counting it as extra luggage.
Luggage scale is a travelers best friend.
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Old 01-26-20, 06:44 PM
  #53  
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Originally Posted by Miele Man
I just re-read your original post and it sounds as if you are touring on a MTB whilst your buddies are touring on road bikes with you. Is that correct? In that case I'd go with the narrowest slick MTB rim compatible tire I could get = 1.25" on one of my MTB bikes with drop handlebar and bar-end shifters.

Cheers
Yes, that is the case. Road/touring bikes mostly or Bike Fridays or similar. We do sometimes ride on gravel trails and day trips out of town and back in the winter.
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Old 01-27-20, 11:34 PM
  #54  
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Reply on S&S, fenders etc.

Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
On a different bike I made some fender flaps out of the black plastic from Folgers coffee can lids. Quiet flexible, but stiff enough so the wind does not deform it.

I think I have bought three different sets of clip on fenders to try with that bike, for one reason or another all did not work out. Around home I use some Bontrager fenders that are 65mm wide, bought them almost a decade ago, but I do not want to do any surgery on them. I considered buying some SKS P65 fenders and doing some surgery on them like you suggest for travel, but it already takes so much time to pack up the bike, remove all three bottle cages, remove both crank arms, remove both racks, remove stem, loosen the interrupter brake levers on the bars so I can twist them, pull fork out of the frame, etc., that I really do not want anything that takes too much time to attach or remove. On my last tour, I decided to not even attach a dyno powered headlamp to the bike, instead just carried a USB powered one in the handlebar bag in case I encountered any tunnels or wanted to go to a pub at night. Used a pair of battery powered taillights, the brackets for those lights stay on the rack when the rack gets removed from the bike. The dynohub was only used for charging batteries, not lighting.

I bought some cheap small fenders on Ebay, shipped from Asia (shipping is a month) and I made my own brackets from some aluminum bar, used that on my last tour, they worked pretty well so I think I will be expanding on that concept. You can see in the photo a small shorty fender on the front wheel, have a slightly larger one also on the back wheel that is hidden in the photo. I bought a second pair, I plan to put a small shorty on the front wheel in front of the fork to keep the spray down lower, also put one between the seatstay and chainstay to reduce the spray off the back wheel onto my legs and feet.



I am usually pretty quick to put rain pants and shoe covers on when it is cold. Yes, that is a patch of snow in the photo. And sometimes when it is pretty cold and dry, I might put on the rain pants just to cut the wind.

It is a ***** to get everything all packed away in the case. It is a heavy bike, with the case it is over 50 pounds so the pedals, saddle and a few other things go in my other luggage. Rear rack also goes in the other luggage as it will not fit in the S&S case with the bike.



But it can be worth it to get the bike and other stuff down to manageable size for lugging through airports, etc. My non-coupled bikes have never seen an airport, I do not want the hassle of a full size bike box when I fly.

MSN, thanks for linking me on that. My wife and I rode the Natchez Trace in the Fall of '18 and we both rode with full fenders. Because of a deal we had with Alaska Air, it was easiest to go with bike boxes. We put the SKS P65 on my wifes Ti Cycles; the shiny black looks great with that bike. I have not tried to squeeze them into the case yet. It rained at least half the time we cycled through Tennessee and Mississippi. I used the hammered Velo Orange fenders on my Kona with 37mm tires they worked well but shot a rooster tail at who ever was behind me. I will try the plastic lid trick next time. I am thinking of trying to cram a pair into the case with the Fargo, but like you said, it is difficult to get that case down to 50 pounds and I will have to take more in the carry on/personal item which as you know gets no easier with the airlines. We live surrounded by gravel roads, so I have tried several of the mountain bike type fenders but keep breaking off the front one at the bracket. I am now trying the Planet Bike Big Buck which looks beefy, but it is a monster. I think it is made to accommodate plus size tires. Fine for mud, but not for riding all day in the rain.
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Old 01-30-20, 06:44 PM
  #55  
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I see there are some custom-made fenders available: MKfenders.com in Iowa, Odin fenders from Belgium, Woody's might do custom fit. Maybe they might even do a fender that splits into 2 or 3 sections for packing. $300 or so might not be so bad a price to ride mud-free.
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