Touring on a fixed

RE: Bilbao to Santander above, the coastal road that follows the motor way has some mighty fine views, rolling grades, quiet enough, etc, if you want to avoid hefting up that hill. Difficult enough last year on gears, but I guess i could htfu after 850 miles... :)

Fixed Wheel Touring From SA to LA.

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interesting setup, i might go saddlebag + light front rack next time

I thought the same, only difference is that I'd replace the fork with more rake/less trail to keep it from handling like shit with a low-rider.

e.g. Surly 26" Disc Trucker fork with similar a-t-c as an audax fork.

I thought the same, only difference is that I'd replace the fork with more rake/less trail to keep it from handling like shit with a low-rider.

Does that mean front wheel forwards or back?

I'm sorry, what?

the front wheel axle, following your suggestion would it move away from the bottom bracket or towards it? What's your definition of rake/trail?

Okay, have a look at this diagram;

See the fork rake, and the trail.

more trail = slower steering.
less trail = faster steering.

Now, if you increase the fork rake, you'll get less trail.

Track bicycle have less rake/more trail, which mean it'll be idea for high speed (especially in the velodrome where cornering isn't really important), but when ridden slowly, it'll feel sluggish.

Second example should make it easier to understand the relationship between rake and trail;

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Fixed Wheel Touring From SA to LA.

^ When I saw the title of the link I thought he had travelled from South Africa to LA.

:-)

No Fixed Destination

Does someone knows a good 1 1/8'' fork for my Mielec to fit lowriders to?

Surly or Thorn (recommend the latter as it got more rake = better with front load).

Anyone know a good provider of P clips and/or QR mounted eyelets? I want to put a rack on for a bit of light touring but I have no eyelets or bosses.

I tried using the search but didn't come up with anything particularly enlightening.

I used the bagman support with this seatpost collar: http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/carradice-bagman-2-seat-post-collar-prod29836/

It's big enough to get round the seat tube proper, and the eyelets are the standard size for racks. good solid piece of equipment.

To Riga next year - tubular to Warsaw this year was a good experience, versatility on sand/mud was stunning (dropping the pressure to 5 bar on 23 rally, 7 when on tarmac).

So after riding 30 miles sat and then joining my pals on London to Southend yesterday 52 miles.

I have concluded that 42/16 ratio is not ideal for me to tour on. Edscoble I will be taking your advise and dropping down Gi's to about 65ish for comforts sake over speed.

hi guys,

So after doing a relatively short tour last year, Dublin to London-600km, I'm on the fixed touring buzz this summer as well!
Last summer included no racks or panniers just me, my bike and a bag on my back and worked out pretty well, minus getting lost a lot(no thanks to google maps) and some lovely knock burn(forgot sun cream).

This June I'm hoping to fly to barcelona and join the EuroVelo 8 to venice and then hopefully make it up to berlin or close enough that i can hop on a train(but i don't really want to do that).

This time ill be a bit poorer so camping is on the cards which means a rear rack/pannier.
problem is its a track bike with no mounts for a rack.
anyone have a good solution for this?

last summer i ran 700x23 tires which resulted in a few punctures and also me shredding through 2 rear tires, so i think this summer may use 28 on the rear as the pannier will be on the back and 25 on the front, anyone think i should go bigger or smaller?
ill be running 49x18 with a brake this time also.

has anyone done the EuroVelo8??
any tips would be much appreciated??
also tips about camping in europe, i haven't done it before and Im probably just going to wing it but advice would be much appreciated!

thanks
sam

I used a saddle bag with this:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/carradice-bagman-2-expedition-support-bag-mount/
and:
http://www.carradice.co.uk/index.php?page_id=product&under=range&product_id=121

Tent can be strapped under top tube and kept of the way.
Not ideal, but fun in a minimalist kind of way.

I toured on 32mm and was grateful for the comfort and ability to "off road". Probably could get away with 28mm if staying on road.

Fit the largest tyres you can (and remember the bigger tyres will up your gearing). It makes pumping your tyres up easier ;-)

For a rack you can bodge something with p-clips (which is best to test well with the weight before you travel) or use one of the seatpost mounted beam-racks.

I totally recomend a bar bag (and maybe a frame bag for tent poles).

I've done a similar tour with the largest Carradice saddle bag and whilst it kinda did the job (not really enough room for a tent + everything) it's fairly horrific to ride with out of the saddle.

Looks good, while I havent done velo8 it's worth mentioning that campsites are quite expensive along the coasts in italy and spain, so plan ahead or wildcamp if you're doing it on a small budget.

I'd get one of these http://bikepack.pl/en/seatbags/8-repack-x2-large.html and a cheap handlebar or frame bag (check out decathlon), should be enough room if you have a small solo tent.

The plan is to stay on road as much as possible maybe 28s would be ok (have a pair at home = saving cash)

also forgot to put in the there will be 3 of us so we can split the tent up into bits maybe?
also the seat post mounted racks are terrible, friend of mine went from amsterdam to berlin last year with one and it snapped half way!!! don't want that to happen to me.

also there is because its europe! and hopefully warm there is talk of maybe just bringing a big tarp and sleeping bags, has anyone done this? i think this may be fun!

Im thinking maybe some sort of homemade/modified rack then as i have the facilities here in college to do a bit of welding.

@TM used a tarp and sleeping bags for a summer tour a few years ago, i don't think he would do it again..

I took a super lightweight jungle bag and no sleeping mat ... I think with a heavier duty bag and a mat of some sort it would be fine.

No bivi?

Mosquitos love a bit of me so I'd go netted-bivi or tent.

also the seat post mounted racks are terrible, friend of mine went from amsterdam to berlin last year with one and it snapped half way!!!

Overloaded? They have a max weight obvs. By their nature they're either heavy or weak.

A bodge with p-clips can be not-heavy (and weak) :)