BPL19

Need advice on a light-ish road bike that would be hardy to be used for touring once or twice a year.

Miele Man

No where near enough information for a helpful reply.

How far do intend to ride?
Where do you intend to stay = camp or hotels/motels or bed & breakfast?
What do you intend to carry with you?
What area are you going to ride in?
What will the roads be like?
What are you going to use the bike for the rest of the time?

Cheers

Tacoenthusiast

Are you going to use it in between the 2 trips a year? If not maybe just rent a bike for the trips

BPL19

Touring would be about 2 weeks at a stretch
Stay in B and Bs mostly
Carry just a couple of clothes etc. want to be able to fix a rack and panniers when I need them
Europe-looking at Moselle
Cycle route. not sure if its paved equally everywhere
Cycle every day to work/class.6 to 10 km a day

bikemig 

Heck just use the bags you strap onto the bike like the bikepackers do. You can convert any bike into a "touring" bike with those bags. The limiting factors become (a) gearing (potentially) and (b) tire size. Personally I'd want a road bike that can at least take a 28c for long days in the saddle touring.

Alternatively go old school and get a honking big Carradice saddle bag.

BPL19

I did the last time when I toured Holland.
But now I cycle daily to work,have an aged Giant road bike
Want to get a new one I could also occasionally tour with

BPL19

2 questions bikemig
what tire size should I be looking out for
whats 28c (presuming that's not the temperature)

BPL19

on tours maybe 40 to 50 km a day

Metieval

I'd look at gravel bikes, ride a 28-32c road race tire size all year then change it out for a beefier tire for 2 weeks of touring.

Giant Revolt Advanced,
Niner RLT 9 Aluminum carbon or steel versions,
Kona Libre,

well any of the bikes found on this link

https://www.cyclingabout.com/carbon-touring-bikes/

bikemig 

700 x 28c is a tire size. But a road bike that can take a 32c tire used to be the norm back in the day when racers rode on crummy roads (look at the racing bikes from the 70s). I'd opt for a road bike that can take at least a 32c tire for touring.

Miele Man

I have an older 1980s Miele Uno LS that originally had 27" wheels and tires. I converted it to 700C and found that I could run 30mm Schwalbe CX pro tires (with knobs) as well as fenders. This made it quite nice for riding on dirt roads and the ride on pavement wasn't too bad either.

I liked the ride so much that I had a custom frame builder add eyelets on the seat stay for a rack mount, a pair of cantilever brake bosses, a cantilever brake cable stop bridge and a third pair of bottle mounts under the downtube. this is now my light or medium touring bike. For really loaded touring or for touring on logging/mining roads I use a mountain bike converted to a dropbar handlebar with base-end shifters that can be used in either friction or index mode. The mountain bike can use tires from 2.25 inches with knobs down to 1 inch smooth tread or slick treadless tires for fast riding on pavement.

Here's an image of the Miele LS as it looked with the first 700C x 25mm (1 inch) tires. This is the original colour of the frame.




A couple of images of the Miele Uno LS after the braze-on parts were added to it and it was repainted.


Edit. Here's an image that shows the tread and knobs on the tires better. Not this was taken back when I was using a 34 - 50 teeth compact double.






Since then I've changed the barend shifters and the brake levers and the rear derailleur to Campagnolo 9-speed Ergo levers (combination shift/brake levers) and a 9-speed Campagnolo Mirage rear derailleur. I don't have images of that setup yet.

Cheers

BPL19

Thank you so much for the info. You have done quite a bit of work on your bike.Its beautiful

BPL19

Thanks! Checked it out.A little out of my budget.was looking at a Kona sutra SE AL which was on sale

Doug64

Looking at the Kona's specs it seems like it would meet your needs. I ride a Bianchi Volpe, which is an excellent do-it-all bike. The Supra is similar, but it has disc brakes. Fit is important. The Sutra might be on sale, but does it fit you?

Bianch Volpe-- long tours, including ride across the U.S. It handled over 400 miles of sett and cobble stone roads and 500 miles of unsurfaced roads and trails during a ride (32 mm tires) in Europe. It also handles recreational and club rides well.

BPL19

BIANCHI VOLPE TIAGRA 10 SP COMPACT DISC STEEL ROAD BIKE

SPECIFICATION:

• Frame - Bianchi Cr-Mo, Sizes 46-49-51-53-55
• Fork - Bianchi Cr-Mo 1 1/8"
• Headset - 1 1/8" threadless
• Shifters - Shimano Tiagra 10sp
• Front Derailleur - Shimano Tiagra 10sp
• Rear Derailleur - Shimano Tiagra 10sp
• Crankset - Shimano FC-4650 compact 50x34T
• Chain - Shimano Tiagra 10sp
• Sprocket - Sram PG-1030 10sp 11-32T
• Brakes - Hayes CX Expert
• Wheels - Reparto Corse Alex ATD490
• Tyre - Kwick Tendrill 700x35c
• Stem - Spectra JD-ST58A, alloy
• Handlebar - Reparto Corse JD-RA35A.2 Compact, alloy 6061
• Seatpost - Tec Sport Edition
• Saddle - VL-3099

What do you think about this?

Miele Man

If you are going to ride any steep or long hills you might want a lower gear than that 34 chainring and 2 rear cog.

Learn how to work on your disc brakes before touring. Carry extra pads and know how to change and adjust them.

Cheers

BPL19

Thanks!

fietsbob

People show up riding, or ship their bikes ahead to tour on the Pacific coast , and some are road bikes..
Steel Aluminum and even carbon.
get one with normal not low spoke wheels and go somewhere on it// have fun ..

Doug64

I agree-- you might be able to find an older model with a triple crank and 11-34 cassette.

cyclist2000

Kona Sutra is one of the touring bikes on my list of bikes to buy.

BPL19

Quite a newbie on bicycles. Riding them for ages but don't know the technicalities much. On that note, if I bought this,t he Bianchi Volpe, are gears something I could change later on if I needed?

bwilli88 

Check out this thread in C&V
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ing-bikes.html

Pop N Wood

That Bianchi looks like a very nice bike, something you can grow with.

For credit card touring a simple hybrid bike with a rear rack would have sufficed. Just something comfortable. Most bikes have eyelets for a rear rack. Gear will be minimal, it's when you start packing camping gear and 2 days of food and cooking gear that you need a lot of panniers.

I have a Rayleigh Tamland I use for touring. It initially had gearing similar to your Volpe, except the front chain rings were 46-34 instead of the 50-34 you have. I use the Tamland on unpaved rail trails so really want lower gearing when fully loaded. I replaced the big chain ring with a 44 tooth unit and the rear cassette with an 11-34. Really want a smaller front chain ring but unfortunately 34 tooth is as small as you can go with the 110 mm bolt circle like on your Volpe's crank.

The gearing on the Volpe is fine for what you want to do, but think you will find that 50 tooth front ring is super high gearing. You might not spend much time riding in the biggest gear. Good thing is chainrings are cheap for that Tiagra crankset

fietsbob

Volpe is going for the gravel commuter 'cross' category .. yes you can get a triple crank fitted,
a Bike shop like the dealer you buy from can do that to it before you take it home, you pay a bit extra,
they can resell what is a New Take Off crank and the rest needed to do the conversion..

they can still change all the needed parts for you..
the slight amount of use may not reduce the credit applied to your new parts installation .
Or you can post them on Ebay, etc..





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