Touring
Having an adventure on a bike is awesome. It it THE BEST way to see places. Have a look down the bottom of this page for some inspiration, and get planning! You can go touring on any bike really, but proper touring bikes and equipment make things easier, more comfortable, safer, and more enjoyable.
Bikes
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| Surly Long Haul Trucker | Fuji Touring 2010 |
Dedicated touring bikes are designed to handle better loaded up and be more comfortable for normal riders to ride for long periods than racing, hybrid or mountain bikes. They can also make great commuting bikes!
To get an idea, take a good look at our 2 favourites the Surly Long Haul Trucker ( expedition style, designed for fully loaded long trips), or a Fuji Touring (a great light tourer, for weekend trips and credit card touring) .
Taller head tubes git your handlebars higher and make you more comfortable. Relaxed frame angles create a long wheel base that keeps your bike stable when it’s loaded up and frames are designed with fat tyres, mud-guards and racks in mind.
Gearing is nice and easy with either mountain bike or hybrid ratios, which can make a big difference on the last long climb of the day. Modern 9 speed components offer the best mix of quality, durability, ‘mix and match’-ness and value.
Touring bikes are equipped with bars that offer a wide variety of comfy hand positions – to allow you to pedal more efficiently, tuck down out of a punishing headwind or sit up, rest and look around. Touring drop bars are wider and shallower than racing drops. We’re also big fans of ‘Euro’ or ‘Trekking’ bars – the butterfly / figure-8 shape offers a wide variety of hand positions, but with mountain bike style brake and gear levers.
Bits
Quality touring bits mean less dramas on the road. Waterproof panniers, leather saddles that conform to your individual shape, full length mudguards to keep your stuff dry, Rohloff internal gear hubs are some of the things that have been tested for years around the world.
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| Ortlieb bags have the deserved reputation of being the best cycle touring panniers available. | Brooks leather saddles are a popular choice on a lot of the touring bikes we sell. |
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| Dynamo lights are great for touring bikes. We stock Schmidt and Shimano hubs and Busch and Muller lights | Rohloff hubs are the long distance cyclotourist’s dream gear system |
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| Lonely Planet Cycling guide books for Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France and Italy | Mudguards to keep you, your bike and your gear clean and dry |
Links, Info and Inspiration
Us, Our Customers and Friends
- Jacqui and Aaron Across Canada Aaron is the owner of Bobo Bikes frame #3, and we recently built Jacqui a lovely LHT. They rode across Canada in 2007.
- Meg and Tarn Across Shikoku Meg from Candy Cranks and Tarn from Primate Frames tour of Shikoku Island.
- John’s Trucker in South Australia We built a custom Trucker for John, who’s recently took it out to outback SA
- Cheeky Touring Weekend #1 – April 2009 A weekend trip from Campbelltown to Kiama
Inspiration, Ideas and Advice
- Car Free Camping with Kids – Family touring with trailers and Xtracycles, from BikePortland
- Bike Camping Vs. Bike Touring – Good advice from Rivendell Bicycle Works
- A Kit For One Night Out – (More) Good advice from Rivendell Bicycle Works
- CrazyGuyOnABike.com – Ginormous cycle-touring web resource. Trip journals from riders all over the world, advice on every facet of bike touring.
- Touring Western Australia – Compilation of trips and journals for rides in WA
