Generic Touring Thread

Put electrical tape underneath, it'll peel off with little to no residue.

Electrical tape much better, cheaper and lighter option!

Excellent. I have a decent-sized roll and will take it with me. Cheers.

Yeah, I still have electrical tape on the Mason from years ago but that's only because I've been too lazy to replace it with helicopter tape. For a hire bike, electrical tape for sure, it's much easier to apply and remove than Gorilla or helicopter tape.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a 10-14 day tour in Europe in June? Will be with my partner on her hybrid so will need to be mostly roads/paths with a bit of light off-road if possible. Thinking about either flying out somewhere to return back to the UK via NL on the ferry, or through France on the Eurostar, or alternatively a linear trip between two airports if that's not possible. Quite overwhelmed by the choice of going ~anywhere~ though...

We quite like lakes, rivers, mountains, vegetarian/vegan food, and my partner would say she'd like to avoid very hot weather (but she'd also like to avoid mountains but this is more a result of her lack of confidence than anything else!)

Have considered a Stockholm to Gothenburg/Oslo route, or Verona/Venice to Munich via Innsbruck, or just a rambling trip through the Netherlands and Belgium as we have friends scattered across there and it would be flat and easy (and not involve flying), or also a flight in and out of Ljubljana that takes in a big loop of the country out to the west and back around (something like this adjusted to avoid some of the more technical/off-road bits: https://bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-slovenia/)

Anything else that anyone would suggest or can you point me in the direction of resources to browse? She's getting excited looking at routes on bikepacking.com routes but limited by choice of bike which rules out so many of them.

Thanks in advance

How about the Danube? Not done it myself, but it's pretty long so can pick a nice stretch?

https://www.danube-cycle-path.com/

I did this last year with a 1st-time tourer, lovely mix of stuff. Took the ferry from Harwich and dispersed some trains so the strain wasn't too much.

https://ridewithgps.com/collections/2073872?privacy_code=JZEVdKN7KmFlvPQywnZ9T5zjWj5NQANI

Via Claudia Augusta

Rode some of it in 2017, nice views and well signposted indeed

Thanks for your suggestions. Staying in BENELUX was vetoed due to flatness so now we are flying to Innsbruck and making our way to Rotterdam to get the ferry home. I've done this already on my way back from Athens a few years ago but reckon there is enough diversity in planning a route for it to still be new and exciting. An torn between going back to see a number of the wonderful warm showers hosts I met on my travels last time though...

Staying in BENELUX was vetoed due to flatness

I'd avoid the Danube then.

Black Forest, North Vosges, Luxemburg and Ardennes are nice, as hilly as you want to make them and quite varied. Even a bit of offroad gravel path here and there might be nice.

I've got a Tortec Ultralite rear rack and the panniers have started to wear the metal in the struts. I've added some wraps of inner tube to stop it getting worse. But how much wear is acceptable - does it risk cracking - anyone got any insights or experience? I'm heading off at the end of May for a month so it would be nice to know it was reliable, and plenty of time to replace it before then.

Any suggestions for places/cols/roads to include in a ride from Bilbao to near Saint Girons in the Ariege, Pyrenees?

My friend and I will be getting the Portsmouth ferry to Bilbao in late August then we have 7 full days to ride two thirds of the way across the Pyrenees to meet up with family near Saint Girons. Looking at doing aroud 100km a day, plenty of climbing would be good and off road sections too. We'll be on rigid mtbs and carrying bivvy gear, a set up that's worked well for us on a Torino-Nice and a week down the Croatian coast a few years ago.

Current thinking is a couple of days across the north coast of Spain (perhaps on the Camino del Norte?) towards Hendaye, then inland across the French side of the Pyrenees to Saint Girons. Currently got the Peyresourde, Aubisque and Tourmalet (plus going up to Pic du Midi) on the list of big cols to include.

Any other must dos? I'm not familiar with high mountain gravel roads in the French Pyrenees, are there many? The stradas in the Italian/French Alps on the Torino-Nice were a real highlight, so if there are any similar it would be good to find them too. Thanks

Photo?

I'd guess they're quote think tubes and any wear is bad.

Wear plus off road plus heavy bags sounds like a recipe for disaster. I'd be replacing it I think, when you consider the 'cost' of it failing on your trip, it doesn't seem worth not doing so.

Picos de Europa?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mhRmA45n627Uyor38

Specifically (because it was a CP during Transiberica) Caín de Valdeón

https://maps.app.goo.gl/JPdJRLf55BzstL1E6

Why is it wearing? Are the bags moving too much while riding? What can you do to stop said movement?

As lovely as that looks unfortunately it's in the wrong direction, we'll be heading east from Bilbao.

That's exactly the kind of thing I am looking for though!

I'd probably just ride all the Pyrenean climbs then, like Superbagnères. It's all gorgeous and I'm terrible with place name and stuff so I can't really pick out specifics.

I did really enjoy finish Transpyrenees in San Sebastian so I'd think about going through there and smashing beers and pinxos.

Also thinking of a trans Pyrenees route this year. Our plan is Girona to Biarritz. Also a similar on/off road route, but i'm struggling to find a pre-made route to hack, there's quite a few road only routes but i've no idea where the high mountain gravel roads are either. It's probably going to need some heatmap stalking to figure out the rideable stuff.

Have you already figured out your evening stops? or will you just ride as far as you can and see where you drop?

Any advice on not over packing for a multi day bike trip?

It's Scotland in May so anything can and will happen weather wise.

Do you just wear the same thing every day? Leaving the blazer and deck shoes at home? :)

I like to have a change to sleep in, clean and dry lightweight smelly Hansen but otherwise do you just grind it out in the minimum of kit?

What do you pack for a 3-4 day trip?

Check weather to make decision. You can take minimum kit but for touring we will generally take a full cycling kit and an "off the bike" kit which caters for sleeping and touristing.

The cycling kit will have two pairs of knicks but only one top and whatever is needed to keep warm and dry (in Scotland that'll be waterproof and normal socks, maybe rain pants, maybe leg warmers or tights, arm warmers or LS top(s), deffo good jacket and some head gear like cap or merino cap and buff).

Off the bike we try and keep minimal so puffy jacket (which might also be slept in) and merino top and bottom or a pair of undies and a pair of MTB trousers (either waterproof ones in Scotland or the lighter ones elsewhere).

You can see some of what we took for An Turas Mor in early Oct
https://thehippy.net/blog/an-turas-mor-glasgow-to-cape-wrath-day-7/

Here's a couple of the worst abrasion. While I was there I measured it - the OD is 10.6mm but 10.1mm at the worn point. I can't get at the ID to work out the wall thickness. But half a mil going missing must be quite a lot of it.

Thanks for thoughts, I will replace it. Do you think steel is worth it? otherwise I'd get the same one, but just work on stopping it happening again (more next).

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Yes, I think exactly this - I've been clipping the panniers on to the rail with nothing else bar the hook, which fits quite loosely. The abrasion lines up with the plastic back (Vaude aqualite panniers). I've tried some wraps of inner tube on one side on the wear spots and this turned out to brace the plastic back and pads the hook so the bag seems more stable, but I've not tested this over longre distance yet apart from commuting. I found a tip on the web to get some PVC pipe with an ID of 10mm, which sounds a bit easier to fit than a wrap of tube. On my last tour (before adding the inner tube) I tried a bungee pulling the hook down to the dropout, which helped. Any other tips for stopping panniers bouncing?

I use old tubes to make a belt wrapped horizontally around the middle of the bag to stop them wriggling

Any other tips for stopping panniers bouncing?

Funny you should mention this coz the Ortlieb panniers on the Ogre I've got don't have their bottom mounts so I'm going to have the same issue if I leave them be for any length of time.

So, hijacking question: can I get replacement Ortlieb pannier mounts that will stop the bottom of the pannier from flapping?

To answer your question, I'd probably tape the rack and use something like a reusable zip tie on the bottom to hold them down. Mostly when touring with panniers in the past, I left them on the bike because I had everything in bags in them anyway so I could just lift out the bag and leave the panniers in place (this was also because they were cheap panniers and not quick/easy to clip on and off).

Any other tips for stopping panniers bouncing?

Fill them with bricks?

I've put bungees all the way round panniers in the past, but I think if you hit a big enough bump any pannier will move ever so slightly. I suspect that even a small movement will create wear if it's frequent enough so protecting the rack is probably the way to go.