Are there any touring frames that will allow you to use MTB tires ...

Ricitius

Cool, thank you for your feed back. I've never used drop bars. I figured they would be more helpful than regular flat bars for long distances. I can't believe that I completely overlooked aero bars. They even have good clip on ones. I might just run a flat bar with a clip on aero bar.
Has anyone had this set up before?

bikerlee

How about the REI Safari? http://www.rei.com/online/store/Pro...gory_rn=4500921

Regards,
Lee

captn willard

When you get this bike built, please post a photo. It's gonna be hilarious! I can just imagine the aerobars paired with front suspension.

danielhaden

The Surly Long Haul trucker suffers from a long top tube, extremely short head tube, and a very short cut off on the fork tube. This is painful unless one has arms like an ape.

Of course, by replacing the forks, you could then choose to put several stack rings--several sets of stack rings to get the handlebars in reach.

Since we used Surly's short, cut off forks, we had to make a slightly homely adaptation. Using a long, black, Delta Stem Riser in addition to the set of stack rings, plus a black 90mm stem, we were able to fix the ergonomics to a normal (racing), but by no means relaxed position.

Upon trying a frame of a larger size in the attempt for handlebars to be above knee level, we found that the top tube was even longer and not usable for our application.

It is a nice, light frame with racing areo, but it is not a long distance machine without some serious attention to the handlebars. Perhaps trekking bars or North Road with their back swept grips in addition to the stem riser and short extension stem, could possibly make this frame go the distance.

At this point, it becomes nearly ridiculous in comparison to other options.

There are plentiful, sturdy, and inexpensive "flat bar" road bikes with touring attachment (compare Schwinn, complete at $350), and there are plentiful 29'er mountain bikes with touring attachment, ready to go through the rough country. These are instantly usable for touring after you mount racks and touring tires.

One often-overlooked accessory is a front disc or drum brake. Drum brakes can be fitted on anything with metal forks. They can also come with a generator light built into that same front hub. The Nexus "Sport" version does not increase drag while the light is off, and it can mount a drum brake. Popping one of these onto one of the above bikes can give durable brakes that don't melt tires in the mountains like rims brakes can.
You also don't have to carry batteries if you go with the generator (dynohub) model, and the "brushless" or "Sport" models do not interfere with speed.

__________________
Bar end shifters, new internal gear hubs, and "new" performance tires with tread--proof that at least 3 sane people exist.

rkokish

I've been riding a 56cm Long Haul Trucker for about 9 months and have been on many gravel, dirt and terribly damaged pavement roads with 700 x 28c tires on wheels with 36 spokes and mountain bike gearing. It does just fine. I've got almost 3000 miles on it and haven't even had to true the wheels. Use 35c tires and you should have no problems whatsoever with bad pavement, gravel and hard packed dirt; definitely no need for front shocks with this bike but be aware that the frame is long and low and does not handle fast, tight rurns well. If you get a 54cc Trucker frame it will come with 26" wheels, so you'll be more easily able to find off-road tires for it if you want them. My wife has one of those and likes at as much as I like mine.

felbur

Well, just for those interested, here's how this combination looks: (see attachements).

p.s. Anyone out there cycled/plans to cycle the Taklamakan desert? I would highly appreciate any feedback and/or enagage in an exchange of information.

Attached Thumbnails

     

felbur

Back to the main issue, though. I understand your problem, since I had it myslef. I was looking for a frame that would fit 28" wheels of at least 1.75" width, preferably cro-mo for durability. I searched for ages and the only stand-alone frame I could buy was a 10 year old Trek, quite similar to the 1994 SCOTT FunXC (pictured above), with a roadlike narrow back fork. Finally I came across a decent frame of a European make called AUTHOR (model "Airline" - don't ask me). Although not cro-mo, but alloy, this 22" frame is made of tough Columbus ZONAL tubes (see Columbus web site), has all the fittings for water bottles and racks and what-nots, a removable derailleaur hook, etc, and comes at a reasonable 1800 grams. Cost me an equivalent of 170 bucks. Most importantly, the back fork has a clearance between the tubes of about 80 mm, plenty of room to fit even a 1.90" tyre. I'm currently building my wheels on Mavic 719 rims and DT Champion 2mm spokes, should do well in the future.
By the way, if I'm right in assuming you are from the US, do you have AUTHOR dealerships there?

Regards,
Rafal Felbur (Poland)

artemidorus

If you want to make a "trekking" bike, such as is needed for decent touring in this country at least, you need 26" wheels with frame space for wide tyres, ie up to 2.5". Most frames sold as touring frames are not up to this, including the Surly LHT (especially the larger 700c models).
I agree with all the posters suggesting that suspension is undesirable.
Your best bet is to get a robust MTB frame with rigid forks. Check that both ends have rack eyelets +/- mudguard eyelets +/- disc braze-ons. Drop bars are preferable (but, of course, optional) - so the bike could turn into quite a project. Next - problems with combining effective brakes and road levers, road shifters and MTB front derailleurs. All solvable with various bits and/or compromises, but a pain in the neck.

felbur

Pls explain why you believe front suspension is bad on a tourer.

Is it due to its (relatively) high complexity and thus a possibility of breakdown? Or due to its weight? Or due to the fact that it tampers down the dynamics by damping down your pedaling force?

I am aware of all these drawbacks, but still have FS on my tourer. And the reasons are as follows: 1) minimize shock to the wrists (useful if you get to cycle 4000 km. on dirt/gravel); 2) minimize shock to the headset and wheelset (better to have a malfunctioning FS fork than a cracked rim or busted bearings).

Just for sake of clarity, my "suspension" is a humble 50mm, set pretty tightly, so the fork does not really go nuts all the time like a disneyland funride.

Just my thoughts. What are yours?