gmacmt

yeah, that dude seems a bit off.

So it looks like those carradice bags are super heavy.

My plan at this point is going to be running a 20ish liter dry compression bag in the rear of the bike, have all my camp gear in there, and have my thermarest sitting in a water bottle cage. Then run a front handlebar bag for everything that I need to access mid ride, and finally a small pack that is waterproof for my camera that I will protect with some layers of clothing.

I am not sure which backpack yet, but I am almost thinking a small roll top dry bag. I will of course make sure that setup is comfortable before going any really long distance, but a small lightweight backpack shouldnt be bad.

nun

I like your thinking! For a big Carradice saddlebag you're looking at 2lbs....which I admit is heavy mainly because of the Cotton Duck material they use. I suppose the Carradice Nelson Longflap I use is my SLR....just can't part with it.

The dry bag is a good way to you if you have no emotional attachment to old style British saddlebags. I've posted this a few time, but now seems like a good time to share it once again.

https://wheelsofchance.org/2010/02/02/ultralight-setup/

gmacmt

That article is what basically decided it for me. Plus my bike wouldn't really benefit from the vintage aesthetic. That would be neat if they made the carradice in a more techy material though!

Just need to find a proper pack and handlebar bag. I think I am going to go with a sea to summit. I will post photos of the build as it comes along.

Enthusiast

gmacmt, will you write any sort of journal? What are your plans for the images you will take? As you are selling bikes that most would consider more "appropriate" for touring, I'm interested in your reasons for the Cinelli? Just a beautiful bike you've always wanted to ride? Hoping to win a few alleycats in cities along the way?

As someone who set off an a tour riding a mid-eighties criterium racer, pulling a 90lb trailer, only to have the bike frame snap 1500 miles in, I fully support your unusual tour. Even failure can be a wonderful experience, and that chance shouldn't stop you from going for it!

gmacmt

Hahaha, thats awesome! Exactly the mentality I am looking for. Normally a trip to europe would be totally tame on a bicycle, so you have to keep it interesting.

I will be keeping a journal, and I will have photos up there. I will not be updating the journal during the ride though, as that has never worked out in previous experience. I will post up details about where that journal will be in this thread if you are interested. More than likely it will be posted on crazyguyonabike.

Regarding the frame, I bought that crosscheck last year as a commuter tourer from a strictly utilitarian standpoint. As I was building it (fixed gear with a front hydraulic disc brake), I fell out of love with the idea. I called up the cinelli rep and he hooked me up with a great deal on this frame I currently have because it was a minor minor blem. Plus I would much rather ride this bike around town when I get home, so whats a few thousand miles?

I explained it to my dad as, when you were twenty one, would you rather drive cross country in a lincoln towncar or a BMW M3? Obviously, one makes sense, and the other has sex appeal. I hope I dont have the same taste in women as I do bicycles.

If I happen across an alleycat I will be sure to participate... fully loaded of course. Maybe this whole trip is my own personal alleycat? But I am the only one participating.

And I think I am modifying my route a bit based on trip reports I have read. It looks like I want to spend a bit less time in Scandinavia and likely spend more time in the alps. But it will all be touch and go. I will likely have no plans other than my return and arrival airports. No planned routes, no GPS, no cycling computers.

LeeG

It appears you "fall in love with" the idea of challenges but going into the Alps with a single speed will simply enable you to walk up mountains. You could also do it with leather cleated cycling shoes and steel toe clips. Walking up inclines on the balls of your feet could be another challenge.
Riding a track bike around town isn't the same as touring. A track bike isn't an M3.
Sorry but there's something about your rationalization that is out of whack and I wonder if a similar rationalization is what caused your exercise related injury. The repair for your knees isn't the same as swapping out cameras or bicycle frames. I did a big tour(for me) from Utah to Colorado when I was 24 six months after a skiing accident that severely bruised my patellar tendon and underlying bursa. I just made sure to warm up and take it easy and when I came back I got into bicycle racing. That knee would always cause problems but if I took care of it it took care of me. I'm 55 and that left knee is still a weak link for any strenuous riding.
Although my gears were not low for todays standards I was fit, packed light and took it easy going over the big passes. Walking a track bike up passes will be a challenge but so are eating contests.
I don't get the rational that a bike tour is totally tame unless one choses a challenge that involves torquing ones knees and walking for miles.

gmacmt

Mine was actually a skiing related injury as well, caused by taking large impacts, and the under rotation of a front flip off jumps of similar magnitude... Was it a dumb idea? Yeah. Would I not have done it if I had thought of the consequences? Absolutely not.




Said injury is now virtually non-existant now and in no way affected by cycling, regardless of whether or not I am riding with gears. I am sorry that your knee hurts, my past injury is not related to my knees. And riding a fixed gear, for me, is no more painful or strenuous than spinning on a regular bike. You dont have to be pulling 80 gear inches to ride fixed. I can ride a low gear and spin for the entire trip. Not only can I do that, it is the plan.

It sounds like your past experiences differ from mine, and that has no reflection on what myself, or anyone else here is capable of accomplishing. People have done longer rides on unicycles and penny farthings. Just because you might not be up to it, doesnt mean they are not. I dont mean to be completely tactless in my response to you, but you are asking for it based on the tone of your post.

Here is another example of something you would probably not approve of...

www.longtreksonskatedecks.com

nun

A challenge is good. Th OP is young and he'll either be successful or learn a good lesson. He's not attempting this in the 3rd world so take a cell phone and go for it.

Singlespeed touring with a light load is a lot of fun. I did a 400mile 5 day tour in England on a Rivendell Quickbeam a couple of years ago and had a blast. Admittedly I wasn't doing it fixed and had a low emergency gear to go to, but I see what the OP is getting at. Now the Alps fixed is a "little ambitious" (read completely dumb). Singlespeed with a 60 to 70inch gear is the way to go. That way you can grind up most stuff and freewheel on the way down.

LeeG

gmacmt, I didn't mean for this to come across as raining on your parade but you're soliciting opinions about outfitting your trip and there's some parts of how you present it don't quite make sense. This feedback isn't meant to be an attack.

All I'm saying is think of the consequences of touring for 1000's of miles and into the Alps with a single speed. Choosing a single gear bike for touring in mountains forces you to ride in too large of a gear until you decide to walk, every day you're on steep climb. So yes, it's a challenge but it carries the risk of knee injury if you chose to force your knees to continuous high torquing efforts for extended periods. Otherwise you're on a hiking trip in the mountains while pushing your bike and not "riding 3,000-4000miles".

How you do the trip defines the excitement, not the gear, but putting on gear that limits your trip can have consequences that limit your excitement.

electrik

Please, he can't understand why people are saying don't - his post is simple begging of the question(look at me "weee") - so just let him go, what is it to you?

Enthusiast

gmacmt, as a further counterpoint to the naysayers, I must insist that your choice of bicycle is TOO conventional and you are obviously taking the easy way out. Where is your sense of adventure?

Let me know when you bomb down into Death Valley on a pennyfarthing. Then you'll be a REAL tourer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUbrh0Ac29M

djb

that made me laugh Nun (I read your 5 day trip journal, was a fun read)

gmac, you are entertaining us thats for sure. The ski jumping photo proves it though, you are a wackjob! ;-)
(Im a lifelong skier too, but as with biking, motorcycling, I get my jollies with speed, up in the air stuff has always given my insides the wibblyjibblies)

cool Pennyfarthing vid, scary though!

positron

eek! what happened to Cinelli!?
That thing is horrendous!? Ovalized Oversized aluminum, cluncky gooey welds! Gah!

How the mighty have fallen:
https://www.coopertechnica.com/_image...le-default.jpg

(PS, its still a bad idea to go 4k on a silly tarckbike, and your new bike frame is Fugly, but Im still supporting it all.
Just shocked, SHOCKED i tell you, at how ugly cinellis are these days... )

LeeG

remember the Cinelli with pinched star shaped tubes?

djb

I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! (followed by handoff--one of my favorite lines in the film, among many)

positron

Wasn't that colnago? or did they both use that tubeset?

LeeG

oh right Colnago

nun

I saw one of those with the star shape tubing in a shop recently.....not a fan. Now this, I go for

https://wheelsofchance.org/2010/02/21...-the-new-ride/