Squeezebox

I'm looking for a light and fast credit card style touring bicycle. I will use 25-30 L rear panniers. I hope to keep my pack, rack gear wt. as close to 30 lbs as possible.
Any suggestions?

chasm54

Salsa casserole? Raleigh Clubman? Pretty much any CX bike with the braze-ons for a rack? Lots of randonneur-type bikes would fit your spec. No shortage of choice.

Trakhak

Light and fast credit-card-style touring? Perfect timing. Cannondale has reintroduced three aluminum-frame sport touring models for 2016. I'ts been almost 10 years since they last had touring bikes in their lineup.

FYI, there are a number of owners of Cannondale's older touring bikes who believe (justifiably) that they're the best touring bikes ever made, although the majority of touring riders are more traditionalist.

Salamandrine 

Interesting. I might have considered one if they had come out a couple months earlier. Amazing that they chose not to put obnoxious 3" tall lettering on the downtube.

RE the OP: For credit card touring, you can use whatever you like, though relatively relaxed angles (72 or 73) and a longish wheelbase will be more comfortable.

Cyclebum

Seems to me like any quality road bike that fits you well would take care of the light, fast demand. Modify the gearing to suit the terrain. Gear for a CC tour should fit in a handle bar and seat post bag. Maybe with a frame pack.

valygrl

30 pounds isn't very light.

yooperbiker

That's what I was going to say. If all your camping, food, and cooking gear is left at home, I would think you would be at much less than 30 pounds of gear.

robow

Could you pass along the names of the models you were referring to, I only found two touring models and unfortunately both come with a compact crank 50/34 that would make it tough for the less fit when it comes to climbing hills with even a smaller load.

staehpj1

Yeah, it is in the normal range for camping and cooking. It is very heavy for credit card touring. That is OK if it is what you want, but calling it "light and fast credit card style" is a misnomer.

For that weight maybe something like the AWOL, but folks might use anything from a race bike to a heavy tourer like an LHT. I think it would be more fun to cut that load by at least half and get by with a seat bag and a bar roll or handlebar bag on a sporty road bike. Given that I was pretty comfortable on a coast to coast camping and cooking trip with half your proposed weight, going much lighter should be pretty easy for credit card touring, if you want to.

10 Wheels

Put a Topeak rack on the back and enjoy the tour.

Squeezebox

I'm brand new to this forum. I should have said light touring, As light as possible. The tent and sleeping stuff comes along, maybe not the stove.

Appreciate your opinions !!

timdow

Those Cannondale tourers are spendy, too. Knowing what I know now, Here's what I would buy if I didn't have a bike already: Fuji Bikes | LIFESTYLE | CROSS TERRAIN | TOURING

Buffalo Buff

I'd look at road bikes or CX bikes, not touring specific bikes. Touring bikes are not designed well for lightweight touring IMO, because they have gearing you don't need, are too overbuilt for lighter loads, the geometry is less aggressive etc.

Why do you want to use panniers if you're CC touring? You could get by with less and be much faster that way.

check this out:





Ridley Fenix road bike. This is a fully loaded touring setup, intended for camping not CC touring. This is just to give you an idea of how minimal you can go.

In the first image I have a tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag liner, clothes, electronics and a few odds and ends in the saddlebag. Phone/keys/wallet/snacks in that front bag. It was about 10lbs of gear + 20lbs of bike there.

Second picture I have a hammock, sleeping bag, pocket blanket and a bunch of cold weather clothing in the saddlebag. Frame bag held snacks, my 20000mah battery I use to charge electronics, clothing accessories I needed while riding like headband & cold weather gloves, etc. Water bottle pod held a repair kit and my dinner for the evening. Top tube bag held phone/wallet/vaporizer. I think this setup was about 11lbs.

I'm running 25mm tires with 24 spoke rims, and up until my last trip they had worked great for me. I did 3 tours on the front tire but broke one spoke on it last trip. Still managed to do the last 3/4 of the tour on 23 spokes with no issue though. Personally I don't plan to ever tour on anything wider than 28's, because I like the sped and cornering of skinny tires. I don't find the ride uncomfortable on them like others, but that's obviously subjective. FYI I do weigh more than most riders so that contributed to the spoke failure.

There's no reason to bring cooking equipment if fast and light is your goal. Buy prepackaged food or get something to go at a restaurant. You're covering distance not going on a camping trip. You should do the vast majority of your eating while you ride. You should camp only when you have to, and only as long as you're sleeping, no longer.

https://mylifeonmybike.tumblr.com/pos...start-in-a-few - You might find that interesting. That's what I carried on my [two week long 1,400 mile trip](https://i.imgur.com/BdEWaRd.jpg) last September.

Rowan

Fit, fit, fit. The answer always starts and finished with fit.

If you have the lightest and "fastest" road bike in the world, it's of no use to you on tours if you can't sit on it comfortably after 20 miles. And that means you might have to make compromises in weight when selecting the bike that will suit you.

Then work out where you want to tour. The gung-ho lightweight advocates are all very good at suggesting road bikes with doubles (compact or not) and road cassettes, but think carefully about whether you are flat-land touring (which obviously is fastest) or whether there will be a significant component of climbing in mountains, in which case you will at least have to consider adding in on a road set-up an MTB rear derailleur and a cassette with a 32T big cog, or maybe even a 34T.

Then you have to take into account handling. Do you ride currently a bike that is sharp as a tack and needs concentration to keep it on the straight and narrow. Or do you want a bike that almost points itself so you can relax, can look up and about at the scenery.

Which leads me to motivation. Do you want to get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible and no be bothered about what is in between? Or do you think that riding fast will give you more opportunity to stop along the way during a day's ride to "experience" additional things.

Then, your comfort level. We've just had a poster brag about what many would consider privations in how he goes about UL touring (a great advertisement for UL bike touring -- NOT). Are you prepared for doing something similar? What previous touring have you done, whether bike, car, hiking, kayaking or other so that you can draw on those experiences? What gear do you currently have? In fact, what sort of distance cycling have you done?

While the last couple of paragraphs aren't specifically about the bike, they do relate to how you intend to go about lightweight touring, and the impact that might have on your selection.

For me, frame material is irrelevant. Whatever bikes you test, though, ensure the frame design is such that road vibration is minimised. And that they are capable to taking the maximum tyre width you may want into the future.

But we come back to fit as overarching. And a tip to the wise... whoever supplies your bike, ensure they leave enough length on the steerer tube so you can change stem height.

rex615

Were you in Gastonia, NC passing through on tour or are you local?

Buffalo Buff

100% agreed about fit and comfort, very good advice.

I did mountain passes through NC, VA and WV using a heavier setup with this same bike. I've gone up pretty steep grades with it, but when you're packing under 20lbs of gear that second chain ring gets you surprisingly far! I've done the same route on a Trek 4300 with a triple, and the Ridley was so much faster and easier on those hills.


I live in the state, I ride out to Crowders once a month or so.

alathIN

I've got a Volagi Viaje that I really like for this kind of use
Volagi Cycles | Endurance Bicycles and Components

Buffalo Buff

That's a nice looking bike! Got any pictures of yours loaded up? Would love to see.

alathIN

I've basically got two configurations - 1) rack bag only, for general use; 2) rack bag + ortlieb panniers for max cargo.




FWIW, I got the 105 hydraulic 11 speed group set and love it. I've had really good customer service from the company too.

Buffalo Buff

Classy looking setup!