MarcusT

I would build from frame if this is going to be a long distance tourer.
For the fact that knowing every component on your bike, how to mount, unmount will help immensely if you have a break down on the road.
But you're right. With all the different drive trains and braking systems, if you don't buy a group set, matching can take a while including component colour (black or silver)
I bought a LHT frame and built it up.Because I used flat bars, the frame size had to be bigger, but in hind site, I would have gotten the smaller frame and put on a longer stem
I got a Hollowtech Deore crankset, but I should have gotten something with a square taper, also should have gotten hubs with simple access bearings instead of the XT fully sealed. Not that I've had any problems, but again, if something happens on the road, easy repairs can save a trip.
Let us know how you do

djb

Marcus. When did xt hubs stop using cup and cone ball bearings? I wasn't aware they changed. What series xt hubs do you have?
I'm certainly not up on the latest XT stuff.

cliffbatson

I bought a Surly LHT frame and worked with a local bike shop to build it up the way I wanted. STI shifting is better than bar-end to me. I put a smaller small chainring up front for easier hill-climbing.

This will likely be a bike you will never sell so it may make sense to go all-in and make yourself happy with the build.

just my two cents,
Cliff

Tourist in MSN

I bought my first steel axle XT M756 hub in 2004, have had to repack the bearings and readjust them a couple times in that wheel since then, I used to tour on that wheel, that wheel is on my rando bike now, has seen a lot of use in the past decade and a half. I have built up two more wheels with steel axle XT hubs since then. (I avoid the newer design Shimano hubs that use an Aluminum axle with smaller bearings.) I was surprised three years ago when I built up the rear wheel for my Backroad that Shimano was still making that hub (M756A) after over a decade. I think you can't beat those steel axle cup and cone hubs that take 1/4 inch ball bearings for touring. That said, I do not know if you can still find them for rim brakes, but it does not hurt to buy a hub for disc even if you use rim brakes on the bike.

MarcusT

My mistake. I was confusing the hubs on my Fat bike which have cartridge bearings.

UKFan4Sure

I believe I am leaning to your line of thinking, Cliff.

GamblerGORD53

Pffft to deFaileurs. I had a hybrid that I got a new Deore crank and rear derailleur for. JUNK. The shop couldn't even adjust it properly. YMMV ... Go IGH Rohloff or go home. LOL Mine has 16,500 miles so far. My SA XL-FDD dyno drum has 25,000 miles, NO adjustments needed.

There is a shorter 50s guy's blog on CGOAB, who toured a bunch 2011 to 2019. His last bike was bought in Denmark, spring 2019. He bought a ?$600 girl's CITY bike and put on a basket and bought a tent etc. Alu frame, dyno hub front with canti rim brake. For the rear it had a coaster 7 spd Nexus. He rode it to Istanbul, then all the way to the Baku on the Caspian sea. He then flew to Toronto, stayed a few days, got a tune up and a bigger front rack and rode to Vancouver in 49 days. Both trips avg 61 miles a day. Longest day was 134 miles to Dryden. Then he flew to Sydney Australia, where he rode 5,300 miles up north thru middle Queensland, then thru Alice Springs to the south coast. The gears 2/ 4/ 6 were then starting to sputter. Still was doing 100 mile days in the hot Outback, come Christmas. His GIs were likely 31 to 75. He didn't mind some pushing. 12,330 solo miles in 10 months, unbelievable...
A million other stories out there of course....

3speed

In my experience, if you know what you’re doing and can put good components on the frame, and if you’re willing to shop for deals, you’ll always get a better bike for the money when you do it yourself. To me, $1,200+ for a bike with lower end components is ridiculous. My last build had hand built wheels with nice Stan’s rims, XT hubs, XT cranks, Ultegra derailers, etc, and cost me probably $1,000. It also took me six months gathering components at good prices. Do you value the ease of buying new or find joy in building?

UKFan4Sure

Web site says they aren't available and they will put you on the wait list to be notified.

UKFan4Sure

The joy is in building along with the pride of knowing it has things the way I want them. I must admit, I've never come out ahead doing it that way, though as far as money is concerned. I am thinking LHT frame at this point and buying bits until I have it spec'ed out the way I want it. It might take me a year of saving and doing, but I"m OK with that.

hartmame

I was more concerned with running a whole road group set when I was looking for a Touring bike. I had a decent Man bike that I wasn't using so I purchased a LHT frame and moved my Man bike drive train over to it. I did need to buy a few things for the swap but much cheaper than spec'ing a whole new drive train.


You'll always want to make Changes and upgrades for comfort as you tour. I'm still riding the same bike and drive train but several new chains, tires and brake pads later. I've also gone through a couple saddles looking for 8 hour comfort. There are plenty of saddles that I can ride for 2-4 hours but for 8 or more you need to find the one.

3speed

I'm not saying I'd come out cheaper overall compared to buying off the shelf. I spent a while slowly obtaining parts from online close-outs and very good condition used from craigslist and the local annual bike swap. I think I probably spent about $1,200 on my last touring build, so it cost me the same as a stock Trucker or something. But, I had a Much better bike in the end. ...Especially since I didn't start with a dull riding boat anchor of a Trucker frame

Truly, I kid. We all have our preferences and as long as we love our own bikes, that's the important part. I'm 100% sure my bike isn't right for plenty of people. Though if you haven't ridden a Trucker, I'd suggest you do before committing to the frame. People tend to really like them, or not like the "long haul trucker" semi-truck feel of them. The top tubes tend to be a bit long for a decent number of people too.

pdlamb

Off the shelf bikes are pretty good these days, with the possible exception of some "touring" bikes being overgeared for hills. I remember Kentucky has some of those...

So my response is similar when asked "custom or stock?" or "build or buy?" If there's some reason you want something different from a stock bike, go custom or build it yourself. Otherwise, check out what's available on a stock bike, buy it, and ride it until you want something different. (It may take a long time.)

Don't limit yourself one model. Look around, even go for a weekend trip or three to find and ride stock bikes, if that's your decision. Look at least for the following in your size:
- Surly LHT
- Trek 520 (or 720/920, depending on what you want)
- REI Coop 1.1 (or one of the gravel models, if you like)
- Fuji Touring
Test ride each one, and buy the one you want to ride most.

mstateglfr 

Oh, hey its Gord and he is pushing IGH- it must be a day that ends in Y.

Tourist in MSN

Yup, he is on my ignore list.

gauvins

Did this a few years ago (XT touring group). Very very happy with the result.

You write brifters. You may want to look at rapidFire shifters mounted on MTB/touring handlebars. Beats brifters as far as I am concerned.

You may also want to look at various drivetrain configurations. 1x has become very popular. I much prefer 3x with a cassette that ends in corn cob, giving you finer ajustements.

Frame + your picks sure beats stock as far as satisfaction is concerned. Wrt price, might be more expensive at first, but as you'll almost certainly switch saddle, brakes, maybe pedals, rims and tires, it is easy to justify frame +. (XT, back then, was said to provide the best quality/price point. XTR gives a few grams but takes the bank; entry level isn't as durable)

HobbesOnTour

There are two significant advantages to building your own bike, IMO.

The first, if you know what you are doing is that you can get exactly what you want.
The second, if you know less about what you are doing is that you learn so much about your bike! On a tour, especially, that is a fantastic asset!

As regards your original question about component levels everyone is different. I think it's more of a psychological issue than an engineering/mechanical one.
From an engineering/mechanical viewpoint I'd think that the availability of spares and the cost of those spares would be the most important, followed by their efficiency/effectiveness.
Having said that, there's no point in choosing an economical groupset only to discover that you can't get up that hill!

For what it's worth I have Acera on my bike. I believe that's the lowest level MTB groupset? I'm perfectly happy with it. It's brought me to lots of places in Europe and I've just done a roundabout coast to coast from Virginia to Mexico.
But that's not much use to you!

Best of luck!

CliffordK

The "300 miles" becomes important when considering the bike overall.

Is that 300 miles in a few days, and a lifetime sitting in the garage?

Or are we talking of a bike that will get continuous use. Perhaps 3000 to 5000 miles a year... every year?

Yes, having a critical failure 300 miles from home is a hassle.



The Claris/Sora/Tiagra should survive 300+ miles assuming they left the house in good condition. Be prepared to fix certain faults that could leave you walking. Chain tool, spoke wrench, couple of basic bike maintenance tools.

What you will find in things like a high use bike is that the lower you go, the lower the quality of bearings and bushings and etc. Precision of adjustment of dérailleurs (which can be a critical issue)?

So, do you need ceramic derailleur bushings in the Ultegra/Dura Ace/XTR lines? Or are steel bushings adequate?

Keep in mind, go down the line, and Shimano will use plastic bushings (no bushings) on the low end bikes. Not necessarily causing a critical failure on the road, but not good enough to hold up as a commuter.

Where else have the companies cut corners? Spokes? Weight? Racks? etc.

GamblerGORD53

LOL hahahaha
Why don't you also croak about oldsters like djb who come moaning about my pooor knees Owwwwwwwwww.
You NEED 22-42 to get up a MOLEHILL. LOL hahahahaha

djb

correction:
I need a 22-34 to get up molehills, and proud of it.
but I'll bet you a Sudbury nickel that I can get down a twisty downhill molehill faster than you.

djb

no problem, I have never had or worked on cartridge bearing hubs, so have rather limited knowledge of them.

cyccommute 

If you stick with Shimano 9 speed and 9 speed STI shifters, you can build with XT and make it work. Any later XT is Dynasys and won’t work with STI. It’s no longer cross compatible. I keep a stock of 9 speed stuff for both road and mountain bike so that I can make it all work. You might get SRAM road and mountain to work together but finding triple shifters for SRAM is difficult.

And, by the way, use that Sora and Tiagra shifter for the front I’d you are using road shifters. They work better as do the Deore (not XT or XTR) shifters. The more expensive ones are too clever by half.

MarcusT

Hub for rim brakes are still available from Deore to XT. Rose bikes out of Germany has reasonable prices for their pre-built wheels and I chose the XT's (36 h) because they were the only ones that came with Mavic 719 rims, otherwise I would have gone Deore or LX

KFC

I did a very comprehensive comparison of traditional touring bikes about 6 months ago - feature by feature and component by component. I looked at Surly, Trek, Kona, MASI and several others - all of which were higher than $1,500. In the end I settled on the Co-Op Adv1.1 sold by REI. It is great traditional tourer, with excellent brakes (TRP Hy/Rd), very good components (Deore LX), Schwalbe Marathon tires, an excellent rear AND front rack. Put on a set of pedals ant it ready to tour. It cost $1399 and you will get a 10% store credit that will easily cover the cost of the pedals plus other goodies. Yow won't get the store credit until March. Its the best value for the best mass produced touring bike I could find. Good Luck.

Tourist in MSN

And if you use the REI branded credit card issued by US Bank, you get an extra 5 percent added to your dividend.