Road Touring - (relatively fast and light)

[Richpips]

A conversation with my Son yesterday made me all misty eyed for a lightish road bike again to take to Europe this summer.

Whilst I could put some skinny tyres on my ALICE, it is quite a lump.

I'm on a budget.

Will going back to 28mm tyres maim me?

Rim brakes?

Other thoughts?

[Lazarus]

I did a lejog on 28 mm tyres[fully loaded] and it had offroad sections - canals mainly with the worst being three lochs [ I would not have taken a gravel bike round that personally had I seen it never mind loaded road bike]

They were surprisingly ok and no one punctured [ I was the only one tubeless] so I would say its fine if not always massively comfortable

I dont think i could go back to rim brakes but i guess it depends how retro you want to go.

[riderdown]

Other thoughts?

Just stick decent road tyres on the Alice. Add some short tribars to get more aero if you are worried about speed

Anything else half decent will be reasonable £££££

[jameso]

I've found that road bikes that feel great for a short fast ride or an audax just don't feels so good with 5-6kgs of kit on. The handling/steering isn't great for it, rim brakes struggle if it's wet or steep and a nice bit of frame flex can becomes shimmy with a load on.
My lugged steel audax bike on 30mm tyres is ok with a really minimal load on IE warm summer overnighter with no brew kit, with a week's tour worth of kit it was manageable but my disc brake 650B bike handles the same roads and loads much better.
Sorry : )
Edit to add, I suppose a lot of transcontinental riders can't be wrong.. I think they are :) but I'm not riding aerobars on my tours so what do I know. Maybe the aero gains of skinny tyres and deep rims are worth it there. If I was going to be on aerobars for a week I'd want the wheels to match too.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Singular Gryphon FTW.

Totally bollox suggestion, sorry

[Richpips]

I've found that road bikes that feel great for a short fast ride or an audax just don't feels so good with 5-6kgs of kit on. The handling/steering isn't great for it, rim brakes struggle if it's wet or steep and a nice bit of frame flex can becomes shimmy with a load on.
My lugged steel audax bike on 30mm tyres is ok with a really minimal load on IE warm summer overnighter with no brew kit, with a week's tour worth of kit it was manageable but my disc brake 650B bike handles the same roads and loads much better.
Sorry : )
Edit to add, I suppose a lot of transcontinental riders can't be wrong.. I think they are :) but I'm not riding aerobars on my tours so what do I know. Maybe the aero gains of skinny tyres and deep rims are worth it there. If I was going to be on aerobars for a week I'd want the wheels to match too.

Yep, I had a look at this last year's TCR bikes. They might be fast, but not my idea of comfortable bikes.

[whitestone]

Rich, what did Jenny Graham use for her Round The World ride? Pretty sure it was a road bike of some sort as I remember asking her about the deep rims on her wheels.

Unless you are after aesthetics then personally I'd go for disk brakes, they may not be significantly better than rim brakes but they are consistent across weather conditions.

[Richpips]

Rich, what did Jenny Graham use for her Round The World ride?

A Shand Stooshie, a nice bike, but way out of my budget.

[ton]

i think my future cycling is looking more road based slow touring.
seem to have lost all my love for riding offroad. i buggers me too quickly, whereas riding steady on the road i am ok for a few more hours.

[whitestone]

I just searched and found it and was about to post the link https://www.apidura.com/journal/jenny-g ... aking-kit/ Check on the geometry https://geometrygeeks.bike/bike/shand-stooshie-2016/ and find something similar?

[due]

I just searched and found it and was about to post the link https://www.apidura.com/journal/jenny-g ... aking-kit/ Check on the geometry https://geometrygeeks.bike/bike/shand-stooshie-2016/ and find something similar?

Geo looks fairly 'endurance' road to me, a.k.a. the bike that most road riders would be far better off on. All the big names do something similar e.g. Trek Domane, Specialized Diverge - might be some bargains out there 2nd hand or on sale.

As an aside Jameso, shame the Pinnacle Pyrolite is no more :(

[JoseMcTavish]

How about just getting a really light wheelset with 28m slicks on the Pipedream - should make it feel a lot more nippy? 28mm set up tubeless should give plenty of comfort on the road too.

[jameso]

I've found that road bikes that feel great for a short fast ride or an audax just don't feels so good with 5-6kgs of kit on. The handling/steering isn't great for it, rim brakes struggle if it's wet or steep and a nice bit of frame flex can becomes shimmy with a load on.
My lugged steel audax bike on 30mm tyres is ok with a really minimal load on IE warm summer overnighter with no brew kit, with a week's tour worth of kit it was manageable but my disc brake 650B bike handles the same roads and loads much better.
Sorry : )
Edit to add, I suppose a lot of transcontinental riders can't be wrong.. I think they are :) but I'm not riding aerobars on my tours so what do I know. Maybe the aero gains of skinny tyres and deep rims are worth it there. If I was going to be on aerobars for a week I'd want the wheels to match too.

Yep, I had a look at this last year's TCR bikes. They might be fast, but not my idea of comfortable bikes.

TCR related, I always wondered if the minor aero gain of 28mm tyres on carbon deep section wheels actually makes up for the time lost on a gravel sections like the Strada Assietta. Or whether a good 650B wheelset does roll more efficiently on bad roads when loaded (I believe it does) and also opened up a few short cut sections. For the TransAm though, sure, go aero.

[jameso]

As an aside Jameso, shame the Pinnacle Pyrolite is no more :(

Yeah, though it was always going to struggle when there was the Arkose that could take 650B. As much as I think bikes can benefit from one generasl wheel/tyre spec that's built into the design, there's not really enough real difference to justify the Pyrolite to most riders esp under a brand like Pinnacle.