lightspree

What would be your first choices among bikes and tires for months of touring on hardpack dirt roads? (Typically roads with some gravel, both embedded and on the surface.)

(Comfort and minimal jolting are important. And all-day longterm sustainability.)

pdlamb

Just MHO, I'd take a standard-ish MTB. Going for months on end, I'd be looking for fairly firm roads to make some miles, so I wouldn't need much, if any, suspension.


I'd have to live near something like the Arizona trail to justify any wider tires (3-4"?), or perhaps live near some groomed ski trails that allowed wide-tired bikes. To be honest, that would either be something I'd write off as a one-time trip expense or I'd call it a backyard play bike.

engineerbob

Last month, I rode roughly 200 miles on the KATY Trail, using a Salsa Mukluk. The Mukluk still wears its original "Nate" tires. The KATY is mostly hard-packed gravel, but with a few sections that were rutted. In terms of comfort, that bike could not have been better. However, even with elevated tire pressure to compensate for two loaded panniers, rolling resistance was significant. At the end of the day, I was tired.

YMMV

Bob

alan s 

Fat bikes are best left for singletrack, snow and sand. Fatter tires on a standard rim/frame would work fine for what you are considering.

shelbyfv

Yes, Fatbikes are kind of special purpose. Where specifically are you planning to tour? Someone here may have experience with those roads. Also, you might want to say whether you will have baggage support or be self contained.

lightspree

Self-supported, mainly in high-desert and mountain Southwest, on Forest Service and other unpaved backroads.

shelbyfv

Since it will be mostly dry, maybe you don't feel the need for discs. In that case, you might look at the Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross Monster Cross Frames - Black Mountain Cycles It is steel, has rack mounts and takes up to 50mm tire. For a complete bike with discs, our very own Squeezebox seems happy with his Trek 920. Ooops, looks like Monstercross is sold out, more coming the first of the year?

mstateglfr 

Still available, though not all sizes. Based on time frame from previous versions, itll probably be february/march or so before the next version will be in stock as they were ordered at the start of september. New frames will be unchanged in design, but will come in gloss black and red.
The links show what sizes are available in various colors and versions.
Monster Cross V5 - Black Mountain Cycles
Monster Cross V3, V4 Frames - Black Mountain Cycles

Ill take this chance to post up mine which i flippin love! Its a v4, so no 3rd water bottle spot and no sweet pacenti crown like the newest version.

shelbyfv

Cool! One of the nicer colors.

Squeezebox

The Trek 920 with 35mm tires was a good choice for the Katy. Also I used a 15-25 cassette with 28-42 chainrings. Where you are going, would the stock low gear of 28-36 work for you? Stock tires are 2". On the Katy I saw all kinds of stuff that worked for the individual rider. Except I don't think I saw any tubulars.

wahoonc

This is what I use for everything from paved roads to fire trails. It is currently outfitted with "city" tires. If I plan a trip that is going to be mostly off pavement, I might swap them out for something a bit more aggressive.

Aaron

Aushiker

My preferred touring is "chasing the dirt", i.e., dirt roads and beyond over bitumen roads. I have completed a 3,000 km tour of such an ilk on my Surly Long Haul Trucker and for the main it did the job well, however it was never fun on the corrugations and on some days that could be a day's riding.

My other "touring" bike is my Salsa Mukluk fatbike which I use in a bikepacking setup. My first outing on this bike was in September when I completed the Holland Track which is a four-wheel drive only track. However I had some dirt road sections either side of the Holland Track itself.


Holland Track Day 1: Lake Carmody Road by Andrew Priest, on Flickr

Personally I would probably be more inclined now to take the Salsa Mukluk over the Surly Long Haul Trucker as I could still do an easy 100 km day, I can pump up the tyres for the long days on hard-pack and I could average around 20 km/h plus it just gave me the option to lower the tyre pressure to take on the corrugations (and I coped them a lot on the Holland Track) and of course opens up other options on the ride.

It was also simply more fun to ride.

Abu Mahendra

Surly Ogre
Surly Straggler
Soma Wolverine
VO Piolet

dannwilliams

And maybe the Surly Krampus?

rjl33

I believe that a fat bike can be an excellent touring choice for gravel/dirt. I have done a couple of short tours and some long day rides on my Mukluk with much success. I think one of the keys is to use lighter tires than the Nates, unless you are going to be riding very difficult terrain. I have about 2500 miles on a pair of Panaracer Fat b' Nimbles and have really liked them. I put the Nates on for the Winter. Another idea is the Salsa Fargo. I have been riding mine with an Ardent 2.4" in back and a 3" tire in front and it works very well. Have not had a chance to tour with this setup. Joe Cruz at Pedaling in Place has some great thoughts on touring with a fat bike.

jefnvk

I do most of my riding on hardpack dirt rail trails, and don't use anything special. 32-ish wide tires. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on a long trip on well maintained dirt roads.

If you get in to rutted roads or soft sand, not so much.

KC8QVO

I am surprised no one here has mentioned the Surly ECR yet. I am pretty well set on building up one of these myself when I can make it happen. The best part for my purposes is I can run a 3" or so tire if I want, or swap out for anything else down to a road-duty 700C wheel set. Though, I anticipate my Disk Trucker will still do the main work of pavement and hard packed trail. I need more flotation than I can possibly get on a 700C rim and clear the Disk Trucker frame, but I don't want to sacrifice the touring capability any.

The Surly Troll would be another decent option, though it won't clear as wide of tires as an ECR.

I don't like Surly's trekking bars. A lot of people really like them. My preference is still a drop bar like the DT I have, even for a wider tire bike - more hand positions for me. I see some here have those on bikes they tour with off-pavement also so I am not the only one.

Abu Mahendra

Not in my book, for the Krampus lacks rack braze-ons and eyelets.

Abu Mahendra

The ECR is too much for the intended terrain. An Ogre with 2.5" meat would be more than enough. Heck, even an Ogre may be overkill, and a Straggler with 41mm Ķnards could be more than enough.

Rob_E

Never cared for gravel or dirt with my LHT. It could handle it, but even with 700 x 40 tires, I felt I was bouncing around too much. That's one reason I switched to a Troll. Currently commuting on 2.15 tires, and I'm building up a wheelset that will be closer to 3". I feel like this bike will easily handle just about any road or trail I'm likely to try to follow. I rode a fat bike for the first time the other day, and I was loving how it rolled over everything, including curbs, and hardly noticed it. But it was more work to push it along. If I were to spend an extended time off-road, I could see really enjoying the fat bike, but I don't think I'd be tempted to take it places where I'd primarily be on roads, no matter what their condition. I agree with some of the other suggestions of a mountain bike or a plus bike, and I'll add that the Troll is a very capable touring machine.

Leebo

For me, something in the 2.5 to 3" works well. Currently running 2.3 slicks with 35 mm rims on the Karate Monkey. There will be a tradeoff between speed, comfort and sustainability. Suspension fork is one answer. Surly and Maxxis both make sort of smooth 29x2.5 tires. For me, that would be the sweet spot.

mdilthey

3" was perfect in Iceland. Like, really perfect. My girlfriend's 2.4" were too narrow- she now rides 3" as well.

alan s 

Fatbike or Troll for touring? I'm taking the Troll.

fietsbob

my Trekking bike and my Bike Friday have 1.75" wide tires, either would do ..

IK_biker

My current tourer I built a few years ago.
It runs 42 mm wide 650b tires.