The Pedalshift Project 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!

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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
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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.

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.

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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 dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen!