292: Touring Bike Essentials

I ride three different bikes for touring, and each one has plusses and minuses depending on what kind of ride I'm looking for. But if you're new to bike touring or looking for another bike, what should you be thinking about? On this episode, the things I look for in a touring bike! Housekeeping Haven't been on the bike because I'm playing caregiver at home, but a fun tour on the horizon Will announce that tour in a few weeks on the next Pedalshift LIVE Sunday Sept 11 at 8pm ET Celebrating 1 million downloads of the show - what has the show meant to you? AMA Summer to Fall tour preview pedalshift.net/live Touring Bike Essentials Prime directive There is no such thing as a touring bike (in a way). Sure there are things that make some bikes better at it, but you do not need all or even some of these things. This is less true for bikepacking where you do need to have some things to be able to handle non-pavement riding.   Longer wheel base The longer the distance between the hubs of your two tires, the better your bike will be at handling loads. More important for "fully loaded" touring Less important for bikepacking   Frame I'm a steel is real kind of guy. It's strong It has some flex to handle road vibration and the occasional jarring bumps Does that mean aluminum and carbon are out? Not necessarily, but most of the time we roll with steel.   Wheels The more spokes, the better particularly in the back I have had unusually great luck with stock tires Most don't If you have a great wheel builder at your LBS, it might be worth the bucks to get a 36 spoke wheel set if you ride heavy 32 spokes is often enough   Wheel Size I'm agnostic on this. I have 700c, 26" and Brompton clown bike sized tires Some say 26" is better for global expedition touring because the tires are easier to find There are more exotic sizes particularly for gravel bikes... check out Path Less Pedaled for more on those   Tires I'm all in on Schwalbe Marathon Plus guy for puncture resistance Be sure to examine said tires before every tour, because when they wear they are not bulletproof anymore! I'm a tube guy, but I'm not opposed to tubeless... study up on those if you're interested.   Gearing Check out episodes 015 and 049 gear inch calculators are your friend More climby, less speed... truuuust me. I like: 44/32/22 crank set 11-34 cassette BUT tech changes all the time and I would probably not get a triple next time   Brakes Agnostic... most bikes do disc over rims. I've never had issues with rims but likely will get discs on the next bike   Pedals I'm a flats guy but clip-ins and strap folks, you do you   Handlebars I strongly prefer multiple hand positions or very ergonomic grips Upright vs. drops   Saddle I'm a stock saddle guy, but many people need something special Talk to your LBS and if they are enlightened like Gladys Bikes in PDX, check out the saddle library! Fittings here are a decent idea   Accoutrements Lots of brazons to attach things Fenders I think are really really helpful if not musts Racks or bags? If I were starting now I might be doing a bikepacking setup... but don't dismiss traditional pannier and rack touring.   Pedalshift Society As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer's upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there's one-shot and annual options if you're not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society. Kimberly Wilson Caleb Jenkinson Cameron Lien Andrew MacGregor Michael Hart Keith Nagel Brock Dittus Thomas Skadow Marco Lo Terrance Manson Harry Telgadas Chris Barron Mark Van Raam Brad Hipwell Mr. T Nathan Poulton Stephen Dickerson Vince LoGreco Cody Floerchinger Tom Benenati Greg Braithwaite Sandy Pizzio Jeff Muster Seth Pollack Joseph Quinn Drue Porter Byron Paterson Joachim Raber Ray Jackson Jeff Frey Kenny Mikey Lisa Hart John Denkler Steve Hankel Miguel Quinones Alejandro Avilés-Reyes Keith Spangler Greg Towner Dan Gebhart, RIP Jody Dzuranin Lucas Barwick Michael Baker Brian Bechtol Reinhart Bigl Greg Middlemis Connie Moore William Gothmann Brian Benton Joan Churchill Mike Bender Rick Weinberg Billy Crafton Gary Matushak Greg L’Etoile-Lopes James Sloan Jonathan Dillard John Funk Tom Bilcze Ronald Piroli Dave Roll Brian Hafner Misha LeBlanc Ari Messinger David Gratke Todd Groesbeck Wally Estrella Sue Reinert John Leko Stephen Granata Phillip Mueller Robert Lackey Dominic Carol Jacqi McCulloch John Hickman Carl Presseault David Neves Patty Louise Terry Fitzgerald Peter Steinmetz Timothy Fitzpatrick Michael Liszewski Hank O’Donnell David Zanoni David Weil Matthew Sponseller Chad Reno Spartan Dale Carolyn Ferguson Peggy Littlefield Lauren Allansmith Eric Burns Thomas Pearl Darrin McKibben Richard Stewart Dave Fletcher Jack Smith Luke Parkinson Ryan Patterson Cyrus Farivar Music You've been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album available NOW AND Jason's first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen!