Touring Equipment

I never knew long distance walking was a thing until I met one of their number on an audax. He said he was getting too old for audax so he started LDW. Until then I just assumed walking was walking.

I met one on my first ever bike tour. He was walking from London to Rome. He said he guessed it would take him about 6 months.

My neighbour did about 500 kms of the Camino in June - wrecked his heels doing 25 a day and there were others who did much more (and suffered worse).

But god was like "nice 1 m8, thx" so it's all good.

A friend has just bought a bike for a touring adventure. It's well spec'd generally but has avid hydro discs. Due to the nature of the trip I suggested cable discs might be more reliable/easier to maintain.

Is this good advise?

And which cable discs do we reckon?

My mountain-cum-touring bike has Avid Elixirs and I've been riding around the wild places in NZ for years (which are genuinely remote - sometimes days from the nearest road).

I've literally never done anything to them apart from change the pads a few times, and flushed the fluid once in four years (which took maybe half an hour). They're still perfect.

But if your friend is really set on cable brakes, BB7s are pretty good (have them on my commuter), but much more tiring on the hands. I guess you can carry a spare cable more easily than you can carry a bleed kit, but neither reliability nor maintenance has ever been a problem for me.

If this is for off-roady adventures I'd recommend fitting the biggest rotors the bike can take, overheating was a real concern when loaded up on steep descents with 160mm rotors, then I changed to 180mm Shimano Icetech and never had a problem.

Hmm, I had been told avid hydro was meant to be unreliable.

Interesting.

Thanks for the info.

Decent advice in my opinion.

Avid BB5 and BB7 are pretty bomb proof I think - although the disk rub did my head in on an old bike.

I've just put a set of TRP Spyre through a salty winter, thus far have been fine (they replaced a Hope VTWIN - far happier with the TRP, and more powerful too...)

I have Avid Elixirs on my polo bike, had them for a year or so with no problems, just changed the pads a few times. they've seen a fair amount of abuse too.

This talk of discs has reminded my to upgrade my "do everything" bike. Muddy fields this winter combined with mudguards and V brakes has caused a lot of frustration with everything clogging up, and then freezing up when I don't clean the bike and leave it overnight. Disks would allow more mudguard clearance and work better in the mud (and when I have ice on the rims, which you only tend to notice when it's too late).

My frame/forks (Surly Troll) will take disks but I need a new front hub... so now seems like a good opportunity to get a dynamo hub, disk brake, and light that will take power from the hub. Ideally I'd also include a way to charge other devices when the light is off too but this can come later.

Rear hub is already disk ready so I'll keep that (the dream would be a Rohloff of course but let's not get carried away). Which brands should I be looking at for dynamo hubs and disk brakes? Thanks Forum!

Which brands should I be looking at for dynamo hubs and disk brakes?>

I've gone for a Shutter Precision bolt through hub on my tandem combined with a Cinq Plug III fir charging on the go duties.

I fucking hated bb7.
Always needed adjusting and pads always rubbed. Bad memories of them.
Cables disks are useless in my ignorant n=1 opinion.

Anything can go wrong, good maintenance and a little luck and you're fine.

Something like this

http://www.cnc-bike.de/product_info.php?products_id=12089

and

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/busch-mueller-lumotec-iq2-luxos-u-led-headlight-63073

As the light is the price of any good charger.

I have come to the point where I can purchase a brand new bicycle for the first time in my life. I have two options which I am considering and I think at this point it comes down to which is the most suitable for light weight, short touring once or twice a year. The bicycle will also be for a few sportives and commuting.

I can go for an aluminium frame with higher spec of components or a carbon frame with slightly lower spec components. Will a carbon frame ala Cannondale Synapes HiMod dislike the weight of extra kit? Through bike-packing dry-bags from Alpkit I would have a front 13L roll up and something similar around the saddle.

Any comments to help me vere my decision either way are welcomed.

Carbon frame with 105 will be fine. Don't go lower than 105.
And a frame won't mind about bikepacking bags.
The wheels might mind, but only if they're super race wheels and you weigh a lot already.

Thanks Skinny, thats exactly what I wanted to know. mucho gracias.