I’m considering a proper Touring Bike. I’ve seen loads of Thorns and Dawes Galaxy types. New I can get them for about £1200 but s/h old ones (which I kinda fancy) come in at £450 odd.
No experience whatsoever with these, are the old ones just heavy or are they good, should I just look at new ones with discs or older NOS with rim brakes?
Use? I’ll use it for cruising around Town and overnight pootles p2p stuff all on road and at leisurely pace.

Anyone recommend something else? Clearly open to suggestions here..

Ta

Years ago toured on Claud Butler Majestic,thought it was great then .

But now would be tempted by good hybrid,discs would offer better braking with load on,you have narrow wheels n decent rubber.

Worth a look.

Iv’e got a Hewitt cheviot se tourer with canti brakes. They cope when fully loaded with 4 panniers and camping kit but discs would be a lot better.

Disc brakes are worth it IMO, as are sti for drops (I wouldn’t fancy flat bars), but otherwise the oldies are actually pretty good – stouter tubing on newer bikes might make them stiffer for 4 pannier riding.

2nd sti and discs if had the choice. Also STIs with bar routed gear cables rather than older shimano externally routed as its a faff with a bar bag if you choose to get one (they are quite useful). As Al said above re stiffness – can be an issue esp. If you are a bigger unit. A fine line between a stiff harsh ride for hours and hours in the saddle and a flexy thing that feels horrible on the rare occasions you get out of the saddle fully loaded.

Mines got campag veloce 9 speed shifters connected up to xt drive train.

I went for discs and barend shifters connected to a mtb drivetrain on my Genesis Tour de Fer. Haven’t toured on it yet but did a 180km ride a couple of Sundays ago and it was lovely to ride. Not sure I’d want cantis on a touring bike, mainly because I’ve used discs for so many years and they’re so much better.

are the old ones just heavy

I think all touring bikes are heavy 🙂

My new one has rohloff,dynamo and discs heavy but lovely 🙂

Discs are definitely worth it as is a low bottom gear. Personally i prefer drop bars but some dont

Yes, a tourer can’t have too low a gear!

I’ve owned a Dawes Galaxy before, it was a great bike and very comfy. The miles went by no problem.
I couldn’t see much difference between the one I had and the much older models you see around, so I don’t think you’ll be missing out on anything if you buy second hand.
However I would also agree with the above comments about disc brakes, especially in wet weather. If I did another tour now I would use my commuter, which is a Surly Troll- essentially a rigid mountain bike with Continental GatorSkin tyres.

How tall are you? I have a Kona Sutra for sale. 3×9 mainly XT, BB7 disc brakes, bar-end shifters. It’s an excellent tourer, designed for the job.

A bit like this:
Sutra

Have a look at the Spesh AWOL. Was looking at the 2016 range in the LBS yesterday. Great racks on them, too.

(Hur, hur….racks etc. )

2nd the AWOL – it’s designed to be front loaded which means it doesn’t have a stiff, overbuilt rear end like a lot of touring bikes. It has a nice springy feel so good for comfort and is great when ridden unloaded.

Bikes like the Surly LHT are good for really heavy touring, but can feel like a tank.

Moses, 5.10″ and a bit 😆
Panniers, probably use 2 rear and 2 front max but I do have some Apidura kit bags now so I could use those..

PM me if you think it’ll fit, with a price too.

As for all the other advice, I’ll take a good look around, the AWOL looks good. Strange don’t you think that you can get these bikes cheaper than 200 pints of beer..

😀

You can get a Raleigh Royal (new) for about £500. I’ve got one, its fine. It is rather heavy, and some cheap components, but you can replace those when they where out.
I’ve done a few wee tours on it, with a couple of panniers on the back, or a trailer. I’ve just fitted a front rack, I’m going to try out front panniers as well.

It has cantilever brakes, which can be a bit fiddly to set up. And certainly not as good as discs in wet weather. But its OK, so long as you don’t need to stop a heavily laden bike in a hurry…

I would go for discs if buying a new one. The Edinburgh Bikes Revolution Country Explorer looks good, with disc brakes, for £600.

I’ll use it for cruising around Town and overnight pootles p2p stuff all on road and at leisurely pace.

Hmm. Sounds like you don’t really need a full blown tourer TBH. Why not a decent steel framed MTB with rigid forks? That’s what I use…
[url=https://flic.kr/p/nUd88q]IMG_3845[/url] by Peter Atkin, on Flickr
It had rack mounts on it, I created a couple of mudguard mounts. Rigid fork was £20 off a mate. Tyres are 1.5in Schwalbe City Jets. Luggage was expensive….
Gears are full 22/32/44 with 11-34 MTB tsp, so cheap as chips. Wheels my old XC ones in the pic, but the rear rim gave up on it’s 4th 300+ mile tour so now its 321s on XT rather than 717s on Hope as pictured!
Only two niggles are the lack of a 2nd bottle cage mount (So I zip tied another cage to the top of the rack) and I do get a bit of brake fade on REALLY STEEP hills, but that’s one heavy outfit there!

I’ve done three multi-month tours on my 700c V brake Long haul Trucker. Built from a frame with Deore/XT/LX bits. Spa Cycles handbuilt wheels. 22/32/43 and 11-34 cassette. Wouldn’t change a thing. great handling loaded or unloaded. Can coast hands free from 35mph to walking speed with a touring load.

I’m 15-17 stone (start or end of tour) and carry 25-30 pounds of gear before food. V brakes are fine for touring in hilly areas as long as your brake pads are good. Shimano OEM are too hard. Bell V pads at £1.75 from Asda work well and are a softer compound for less rim damage.

But if you are buying second hand I wouldn’t rule any decent tourer. Some nice tourers come up on the for sale at CTC forums.

http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewforum.php?f=40

£1200!

Bargainous.

Bikebuoy, sorry, my Sutra is a 50cm, probably a little too small for you. But I really need to get rid of it, it’s a standing reproach for not using it.

CaptainFlashheart – Member

£1200!

S’got a double, s’not a tourer.
It’s the bicycle equivalent of a Range Rover Sport. 🙂

Mind you, should appeal to the kind of bloke who kisses his signed photo of Ewan before hopping on his BMW GS to commute five miles across town.
😀

For me, the Long Haul Trucker, 2016 Sutra or a 2015 Tour De Fer are the only drop bar disc tourers that come fully equipped:
Inboard rear disc.
Separate bosses for guard and rack mounts.
Triple.

Now I’m used to discs, the thought of trying to stop a fully laden tourer with a set of cantis scares the gravy out of me.

I do love traditional tourers, but don’t go bike camping* as much these days so I don’t really need one.

*It’s like bikepacking, but without the marketing opportunities.

I love touring bikes.

My first one (an adapted Trek 520) took me round Britain and ended up with 65,000 miles under its wheels.

My current tourer is a Surly Disc Trucker from Spa Cycles. Superb bike, coming in at around £1000. I would never buy a touring bike without discs again.

I’m not a fan of Dawes Galaxys – I think the top-tubes are too long and they’re overpriced. Be aware of cyclocross bikes – they’re not tourers and the geometry is too racey.

My Surly at Balquhidder on a recent weekend away to Loch Voil hostel.

Is that the awol ? Looks got but I am looking for a triple..

The longer top tube on the Galaxy might fit me, I am a bit old school stretched out when riding..

I do want to be able to fit some 35+mm tyres, not much bigger but want to be able to fit some at acme point.

The pootle comment in Town is just that, I’m sick of riding the foldie around, quite the most uncomfortable thing these days and I think for just popping in once or twice a month I’ll lock the tourer up. But the main reason is touring. I’ve done a lot of two day off road stuff on the CXer and I like that, but this will be used for longer NCN routes, 3-4 days on roads/rough roads and then be able to lock it up at B&Bs and stuff without too much worry. The CXer attracts a lot of attention see. But also I want to take my time this time, I’m a bit of a flat chat hacker and that brings with it a lot of missed views, I’m trying to slow down and take my time and go longer.
There is a touring bike shop in Harrogate and I’ll pop in there next time I’m up.

Do keep the ideas coming lads, cheers

I had a Thorne sherpa great bike felt like a steel bike and would could go any where…I also had a Surly LHT but it felt like a lump of dead pig iron and I sold it it just did not inspire me..My other tourer was a cannondale ultra with 80 mm fatty fork my bigest regret selling that bike,it was a tru swiss army knife and sub 30lbs which is fine for such a capable machine Tourer’s are the most capable of bikes if you get the right one it will become a good friend.

If i can only have one bike it would be a tourer.

I have an almost unused revolution country traveler going cheap as its to long for me they run very long top tubes so if you go that route be careful.

The base model AWOL comes with a triple, I think the one shown is the “Elite” version. Bear in mind that having STI’s will normally limit you to a road triple which won’t have a granny ring smaller than about 36t. I’ve got the AWOL Comp which comes with SRAM shifters – as their stuff is Road/MTB compatible, I switched out the crankset for a 28/44 MTB double which gives me a bit more low end. I find I run out of gears on steep downhills but that’s fine.

The other option is to have bar end shifters like on the Sutra, but I had them on my last bike and hated them.

Bear in mind that having STI’s will normally limit you to a road triple which won’t have a granny ring smaller than about 36t.

I have a bike with STIs (10spd 105s) and an XT trekking chainset (48/36/26). It’s a popular combination.

Spa cycles can sort the gearing for a triple give em a ring they like to talk but are not so chatty on email

I have a Thorn Raven with a Rohloff and it coped with the West coast of America pulling a BOB no problem, heavy not fast but stone axe reliable. I truly love that bike.

I wouldn’t go discs, this may sound a bit lame but if you are say on the Washington peninsula and you run out of pads what are you going to do? At least with V or cantis you can bodge something up. Yes you can carry spares and they weigh next to nothing but it is something else to go wrong.

I’m not a fan of Dawes Galaxys – I think the top-tubes are too long

They may have been at one time. Not now. Dawes Galaxy top tube lengths from 530-583mm.

Long Haul Trucker top tube lengths from 564-615

http://dawescycles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Touring-Geometries.pdf

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/long_haul_trucker/geometry

For what it’s worth I had a 1990s 531ST Galaxy before my Long haul Trucker. Smoother ride unloaded but too flexy with a touring load. Persistent shimmy around 18mph on a gentle downhill.

There is a touring bike shop in Harrogate and I’ll pop in there next time I’m up.

I’ve got a Spa Steel Tourer. Nice bike. A touch less heavy duty than the Long Haul Trucker (thinner top tube)and slightly quicker handling. Nice bike. One review rated it as the best tourer under a grand.

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/info/SteelTourerCycle.pdf

Ohh thanks for the info. Spa Cycles, them the fellas down on the small industrial estate near the railway crossing on the way to Knaresborough (SP)

Looks nice that, I like it.

😀

I have a bike with STIs (10spd 105s) and an XT trekking chainset (48/36/26). It’s a popular combination.

Convert – what front mech is that working with?

I run the same on a Fargo, 105 triple STIs (5703?), XT triple trekking chainset and a 105 triple front mech (5703). Out back is a XT shadow 9 speed mech and 10 speed 11-36 cassette.

i have spent the last 10 years touring on various surly lht and disc truckers.
perfect bike when carrying a load, or if you are a big rider. they are very hefty, very comfy and very steady riding.
i like to go offroad when touring, so will be using a hardtail 29er for the foreseeable future, or until the new salsa fargo is available.

I inherited a Koga Miyata Globe Traveller from my father. Great bike, same as the one used by Mark Beaumont in his round the World ride. Ali frame, v brakes and vey comfy.

Convert – what front mech is that working with?

Similar to midlifecrashes, although I’m posh and have an ultegra triple front mech. Paired with a 9spd XT rear mech (though if buying again I’d probably go for a 10spd road mech as there is one capable of handling the chain growth now). The front mech is officially out of range and needed careful setup but works perfectly.

I’m with PeterP- I use an On-one 29er with bags and then tow a trailer when I need camping gear or am touring with the Mrs. This keeps both bikes riding light and it can be parked for day rides.

Sounds like you’re there but you *must* go as low gearing as you can, preferably with a triple for range, sensible steps and to try and minimise duplication. I usually run 24/36/46 and 11/32 but can go as low as 20 on the front and 34 on the back (9 speed so none of these new fangled wide range cassettes fit). Yes you can gurn up stuff or walk but on multi day/week/month tours, you don’t want to abuse your already fatigued legs or lose dossing time to walking 🙂

I use bar ends and old XT rears and very, very old Suntour somethings front (one’s a Cyclone and still going strong). People use STI’s and Shimergo but it’s overcomplicated for me (especially Shimergo). If it all goes tits up out in the sticks, you’re snookered. Simple is best for me. Though it doesn’t sound like a positive, I’ve had bar ends fail twice now (in about 100k miles…) and both times I’ve been able to continue to the end of the trip in friction mode. Try that with STI’s…

Braking wise, I’m still using old long reach calipers on the dedicated tourer or vee’s. Either brake fine, are light and easily fettleable with spares ubiquitous. I would not tour on hydro discs but cables should be OK if you really must and take spare pads.

Eh? Standard inner ring on a road triple is 30. However like others I’ve pushed that – the tandem has an even wider range than others are using with 52-39-26 (could be done by swapping the little ring on a road triple, but that was put together almost 20 years ago, before such things were readily available). That’s posh with a DA 9-speed triple front mech – at the time I put that on it was the only group with a 52-39 as standard for the larger rings and it does shift better than the Ultegra mech I had on before which was designed to work with 52-42. 52-26 is beyond the quoted range of the mech and the chain would drag on it if using the 26 and the smallest few cogs, but I simply don’t use those cogs with the 26.

Have never had an STI fail when touring (no reason they should fail any more than when using them for anything else, and I’ve not heard of many STIs failing) and far prefer the convenience – once broke a rear mech and simply bodged to get to the nearest bike shop because most of us don’t tour in the middle of nowhere. Though if you’re feeling paranoid you could always carry a spare bar end to set up in case of emergency (you’ll probably never use it).

Re discs; if I was getting new I’d get discs, but don’t get too hung up on them – the tandem has cantis and has done lots of loaded touring through various hilly places without any problems.

Don’t get me started on stiffness vs comfort, but I’d recommend nice and stiff frame so that it doesn’t flex horribly when loaded, but with long wheelbase and fattish tyres run at lower pressure for comfort. Sus seatposts are also an option – we had one on the back of the tandem before it got the kiddyback conversion.

When I built up my touring bike in , err, 1980-something, I fitted a “half step plus granny” setup. Nobody seems to do that any more. With 30-46-50 rings you get a set of quite closely spaced ratios by moving between the two big rings (the “half step”) plus bail out gears on the thirty (the “granny”).

And that ran with downtube shifters & cantis. Both of which worked fine.