Jarrett2

I have setup my Specialized Secteur to do touring on, but after doing several longer rides on it, I'm still just not digging it. Can't put my finger on exactly what the issue is.

So I started doing a little research on touring bikes again. I just didn't want drop a bunch of money into a Surly or something similar so I was looking at the REI, Performance Bike and Bikes Direct stuff. I really wanted to get away from disc brakes for this bike and I did not want to get bar end shifters either. So I ran across the Nashbar Touring bike and its setup like I want and happened to be on sale today with free shipping and lifetime return policy for $690 to my door. So I pulled the trigger.

Not sure when it will be here, but it should be interesting to see how it goes. The tech said they are only 24 lbs with the rack installed. Seemed fairly light for a touring setup. I think my Secteur weighs more than that right now with everything on it.

Here's the bike:

Nashbar TR1 Touring Bike

Jarrett2

Nashbar TR1 Touring Bike
FRAME CrMo 4130 T/T & D/T D.B. (AHJ1280A) Weld No Lug ST29.8mm FOR POST 27.2mm
FORK Hi Tensile Steel 1" Steerer
HEADSET NECO H-807W 1" CROWN RACE 27 BK W/O LOGO
CRANKSET FSA CK-4001SST Omega Triple Casted / MegaExo / N-10 / 50-39-30
BOTTOM BRACKET FSA
SHIFTERS Shimano Tiagra 3 x 10
LEVERS Shimano Tiagra
HANDLEBAR Kalloy Uno
STEM Kalloy Uno Alloy Quill
FRONT DERAILLEUR Shimano Tiagra
REAR DERAILLEUR Shimano Deore
CASSETTE SRAM CS PG-1050 11-32
BRAKES Tektro Alloy
WHEELSET ALEX DC-19 Alloy 700c
TIRES KENDA K-197 700x32C

Sullalto

How do you like it?

MikeRides

Just a heads up don't expect a response right away he said he hasn't received it yet;

InTheRain

24 lbs? Seems a little bit light based on the specs. That seems like an excellent buy for that kind of money. My touring bike had similar specs (maybe a little higher quality frame) but I spent nearly $1300 on it several years ago.

JerrySTL

It's basically the same bike as the Windsor Tourist and Fuji Touring. I have a 2012 Windsor that's 9-speed and doesn't have the extra brake levers. It's a very good bike for the money. Mine weighs more like 28 lbs with the rack installed, but may have some different components such as the wheels.

Jarrett2

I thought 24 sounded a little light, but my scale will let me know. Either way, I didn't buy it to be light. Hopefully it will be a nice, comfortable touring bike.

indyfabz

You planning on taking it into steep territory fully loaded with a 30x32 low gear?

Jarrett2

Not sure, why do you ask?

indyfabz

Because that's not that low of a granny gear for mountainous/steep terrain when fully loaded with what I will call an average load. To give you a frame of reference, the stock gearing on an LHT has a low gear of 26x34. When I was in my mid-30s I crossed the country and then some with a lot of weight. Had MTB gearing on my Cannondale. Think my granny was a 22x34. I am glad I had it. If you go ultra light it might work. Depends on you and where you go.

Jarrett2

I just pulled this from the LHT site:

Crankset

Andel RSC6, 26/36/48t. Square taper interface. Silver

[HR][/HR]Cog or Cassette
Shimano HG-50-10, 11–32t

I guess if I plan to hit the mountains I can look at another crank.

Right now, just Texas and Oklahoma on the radar.

dr_lha

It's a nice bike for the price for sure (especially with today's 17% off), but it does show some compromises, which is typical for these Nashbar bikes. The main thing is for touring you'd usually want a sealed cartridge/square taper bottom bracket (mainly because they're bullet proof against wet conditions), this appears to come with an outboard bearing BB, and an FSA one at that which is notoriously poor quality.

Seems like an obvious "upgrade" would be to get a Sugino square taper crank more aimed at touring, with a new bottom bracket to support it. There's your 17% off spent right there.

Jarrett2

I've got 3 mini tours coming up in the next 5 weeks, hoping this works well for it.

Jarrett2

How did you determine it was an outboard bearing BB?

bikemig 

It will be fine. The gearing may not be ideal for heavily loaded touring with a lot of climbing but that depends on your conditioning as well. I did a cross country with roughly the same gearing and it was not an issue. That was in '97; I sure as heck plan on having mellower gearing for my next cross country. If swapping out the cranks, I'd take a long hard look at the shimano trekking triple. It's not a no brainer by the way to get the brifters working with a non-shimano road triple crankset. I got Shimano brifters to work on my ritchey mtb triple crankset but it took some fiddling.

dr_lha

In the photo there's no crank bolt hole on the crank.

indyfabz

Then they have respected it since I got my LHT in '11. Or the specs are incorrect as a search shows the HG50-10 as being a 11-36.

curlyque

raise you're hand if you have had bottom bracket failure

just wondering

I think you made a good buy......have fun

dr_lha

Is this supposed to be rhetorical? If not:

*raises hand*

What's your point?

cale

I'm glad you bought one. I've had my eye on that bike for about a week. I think that the TR1 at that price is an exceptional value. Looking forward to a followup post.

Jarrett2

I've been doing a few searches and not finding anything about this type of bottom bracket being anymore of an issue than anything else.

Cale, I'll definitely post some info on it This will be my first steel bike since my Schwinn Varsity in the 80's I'm not getting my hopes up too much, just hoping it will be a functional touring rig.

dr_lha

Ride it until it breaks is my philosophy, and it may never break. Bottom brackets are cheap to replace anyway, Shimano's Ultegra level BB is what, $30?

That said, there's a reason why touring bikes usually go for the old fashioned style bottom brackets, and that's because the outboard bottom brackets are more likely to fail due to water and dirt incursion, which is much more likely to happen if you're touring, as you ride through the bad weather, rather than staying home. For that reason, cranksets that are designed for touring, like Sugino's, are almost always square taper. Which is really why I mentioned changing the BB type, as to get a more touring orientated crank you'll likely need to get some with square taper.

Jarrett2

I found this interesting. It's the same crank/bb combo they use on Specialized's $1550 AWOL Elite Touring bike:

Specialized Bicycle Components

dr_lha

You're getting a whole lot more bike per dollar by buying the Nashbar over the Spesh, that's for sure!

JerrySTL

Speaking of steel bikes, consider getting something like J.P. Weigles Bicycle Frame Saver Rust Inhibitor or even using linseed oil to coat the insides of the frame. That's what I did with my steel bikes over the years.