Tag: touring bikes
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No Stupid Questions: Can Cycle Touring Be Bad For Your Back?
A reader writes: My stupid question (asked with the understanding that you are not a medical professional but a great resource and researcher): Can biking on a touring bike be bad for your back? Can biking on inflated tires on bumpy roads – because you’re too lazy to reduce pressure or anxious about reinflating them – be bad for your back? How can you mitigate potential back problems from biking on a touring bike? Are recumbent bikes less safe on busy roads – they look that way to me, even with the flag on back? Thanks for the question! As you… Continue reading →
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Are Decathlon Touring Bikes Actually Any Good? Verdict After 10,000km (Video)
Shortly after I published this post, Decathlon made the decision to retire most of the Riverside Touring range, seemingly in pursuit of the ultralight/gravel bikepacking bandwagon. This article is preserved as part of the historic record of this legendary line of classic touring bikes. Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a French couple on a mission to cycle round the world – preferably without flying – who had spent eight months riding across Europe, Turkey and Georgia, and had recently arrived in Armenia after almost 10,000km of pedalling. Their company evoked feelings of nostalgia for the time when,… Continue reading →
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No Stupid Questions: Is E‑bike Touring Possible? (If So, How?)
Several readers have written in with some version of the following question: I want to go cycle touring on an e‑bike, but there are obstacles. Firstly, nobody makes electric touring bikes. Secondly, other types of e‑bikes are too heavy to fly with, and airlines won’t carry e‑bike batteries. And finally, how can I possibly keep an e‑bike charged on a cycle tour? Help! Thanks for all the questions! Straight up: I have never toured on an e‑bike, and I don’t own an e‑bike, so the following advice is theoretical. That said, I’ve received enough similar-sounding questions to make it worth looking… Continue reading →
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No Stupid Questions: Brake Lever & Shifter Options For Drop Bar Touring Bikes
A reader writes: I can understand ‘brifters’ (brake/shifter) for racers (or audax), but not for tourers. The only time I ‘drop down’ is to adopt a streamlined tuck position for >50kph descents. I do not need to change gear in this position, but I definitely need my brakes available. At all other times, I am on the top of my handlebars (enjoying the scenery), where I need secondary brakes, and gear shifters for optimising cadence on flattish parts, and moving to lower gears upon ascents. It seems this tourer usage of drop handlebars has been forgotten about. It is increasingly… Continue reading →
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How To Fly With A Touring Bike Without It Getting Trashed (Video)
In this video I demonstrate how – after repeatedly trying all the different methods of flying with a bike – I currently pack and prepare my touring bikes for air travel. Then I actually put it on a plane to prove it works. Otherwise, it’s just theory. I’m here to actually do stuff, not just talk about it on YouTube. Continue reading →
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A Full List Of Heavy Duty Touring Bikes For Round-The-World Rides
Following a ludicrous amount of research (by humans, not robots), I present to you a detailed spreadsheet of ultra-heavy-duty touring bikes being built and sold around the world, featuring bicycles from 44 builders in 9 countries on 3 continents, and links to each bike’s official webpage. The bikes in this list are not designed for short cycling holidays, nor for casual local bike tours (though they’d be fine for these kinds of cycle tour too). No: they’ve been designed specifically for extremely long, fully-loaded, self-sufficient bicycle journeys through remote parts of the world on challenging terrain over periods of time measured in years.… Continue reading →
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Touring Bike FAQ #6: What’s The Best Way To Avoid Buying The Wrong Bike?
This is #6 in an ever-growing series of answers to frequently-asked questions about touring bikes. If you’re new here, why not start with #1: What Exactly Defines A Touring Bike? When it comes to actually buying the touring bike you’ve spent months researching, it can be tempting to start researching online retailers. After all, that’s how we buy everything else these days. Online-only bike retailers can often undercut high street bike shops by a large amount, for various reasons: Continue reading →
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Using The Kona Explosif As An Expedition Touring Bike
UPDATE: The Kona Explosif is no more. Pre-2011 frames, if you can find them, will continue to deal well with off-road adventures, as the article below relates. Whilst the steel Explosif frame is aimed at the cross-country mountain-biking market, it is not uncommon to see long-distance cycle tourers taking advantage of the increased strength and durability of mountain-bike components, which are naturally more heavy-duty than their road-bike equivalents. We chose the Explosif frame (2007 model) for a number of reasons, not least because we planned to travel in remote corners of the world where tarmac had not yet reached. So… Continue reading →