Originally Posted by
Doug64
My wife and I have done quite a bit of touring on our road bikes. I made custom tapered panniers to prevent heal strike. We did not do any epic rides, but the bike equipped with 28 mm tires, did a good job hauling us and our camping gear on 2- week rides. I think they would have handled longer trips, but we were working at the time and our tours were relatively short. Both of our bikes had aluminum frames, and my wife's bike had a carbon fork. Depending on the route, I believe that the Raleigh would do fine. We both used our stock 9 speed chainrings, but replaced the rear cassette with an 11-34. We also replaced the rear derailleur with Shimano LX mountain bike derailleurs. We thought we died and went to heaven when we got 9 speed triples with a "small" 30 tooth chainring.
A better look at my wife's bike. It is the same model of bike as the one in the picture above. It is just a new frame.
Touring on a stock Peugeot PX10--1100+ miles in 11 days. The tubular wheels were traded for a set of clinchers that I used for training. The panniers are the first pair I made in the early 70s. I did a lot of tours on this setup, 14-28 5 cog freewheel and 45/53 chainrings.
That is a great reply!
There's a lot of great equipment out there to try!
We have gotten into bike packing on dirt trails and while we use panniers usually, we are aware and use some of the latest bike packing gear especially on road tours as well.
Heel strike is something you're going to have to take into account fitting a rack and panniers. It is possible to find racks that are longer or locate further back. In my experience, moving a heavy load further past the rear hub makes the bike handle worse. Anyway it is a concern.
Without much more than a couple of straps (the silicone straps by Voile are excellent) a roll of gear can be fastened to the handlebar.
Stem bags are great for small things and are cheap. These are like little watterbotte sized (and can hold a water bottle) bags which attach behind the bars and next to the stem. They do restrict the turning handlebar, but for most riding they aren't in the way..
Finally I am one of those who recommends putting weight on the forks using something like the Salsa Anything cage or Topeak. We ause these on technical trails and they are great. It is possible to balance the load fore and aft.
Frame bags a great too, but finding one that fits right can be a challenge, depending.