Inbred/Kaffenback for touring?

So I have been given the go ahead to go for a mini tour next year (max 1 week!!!!, we have a young family!), and now I have starting thinking about which bike to use.

I have already done a few one nighters close to home with the pompino; great but the pompino has obvious limitations. I have a 1st generation sliding dropout Inbred which I think would be ideal with the steel rigid fork and discs, but the problem is is that there are no rack eyelets at the bottom where the chain stays and seat stays meet!!

The other idea is to get a new Kaffenback frame - I have most components at home - bars, wheels etc!!!

I have a fair idea what I would like to do (the more expensive option of getting a new frame!!!!) But I would like to hear if anyone else has toured with the inbred with discs and what racks etc did they use.

Many thanks

A

it's all about bike-paking it seems. Inbred would be fine if you don't mind 26" wheels

there's plenty of rack designed for bicycle that doesn't have mount.

On-one inbred is actually popular as a heavy duty touring bike on a budget, so you already got a good start.

Could you drill the dropouts for a rack?

There still might be a problem of the struts clearing the disc.

And that why we have Old Man Mountain.

I'd say Inbred too - not sure about which racks would fit. Comfy long distance frame though

Cheers for the replies - I have found a rack from Tubus which appears to connect via the skewer, although I think there is a weight limit of 25 kg, which I figure is enough anyway.

Just seen the new Kaffenback frames and I have to say I prefer the old version; any suggestions for a steel frame for touring?

Why not save a bit more and go for a Surly Crosscheck?

Hewitt's own 725 steel frame. Or the Ti frame from Spa Cycles maybe.

Surly Crosscheck looks very nice indeed. Any other suggestions - need to be able to get it here in Italy as well

I've toured on an Inbred, using Old Man Mountain racks. Worked well and I carried tons of stuff. They're not cheap though - new frame might be more economic. 2nd hand old rigid steel mtb frame would be even cheaper way of doing it. Depends where you're touring though, if it's on decent roads 700c probably better.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adownie/3406836068/in/set-72157615576077388
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adownie/3364830663/in/set-72157615576077388

Sorry for my ignorance but what are Old MAn Mountain Racks?

[ame="http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Old+MAn+Mountain+Racks&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=TONzTvb_HonN0QX56d2XCA"]Google >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>[/ame]

I'm currently out touring on my Inbred, with the afore mentioned OMM racks, all have been absolutely awesome so far! The racks and frame are strong as anything and look pretty damn good too (biased maybe!) Surly Crosscheck was another choice that I'd looked into too though.. but if you've already got the Inbred and rigid forks??? Plus with the sliding dropout you can later on updrade to the hub geared rear wheel, perfect for touring...

@ad441 Hey Adrian good to see you on here, I read your blog before I left and was inspired to go with the Inbred too! cheers!

Aopolgies - wrote the last post without thinking about google - Miro_o, many thanks for the link.

Only thing I am thinking, is that the next tour will be all based on roads; 700c better than 26" or does it not really matter?

Plus hydro discs or v brakes?

Only thing I am thinking, is that the next tour will be all based on roads; 700c better than 26" or does it not really matter?

Plus hydro discs or v brakes?

700c definitely better for roads. Main reason for going 26" is if you're going somewhere further from Europe/America where there is limited availability of 700c. That's simplifying it a lot... I think it doesn't matter that much. You can find pages of people debating this kind of thing online if you really want (but I'd avoid it).
Really it depends how long you're going for - if it's shorter than a month or two I'd just go with whatever you can get together easily - I spent a lot of time stressing about what equipment to take and in the end it wasn't what really mattered when I was actually touring. As long as you're comfortable riding it and it's reasonably solid mechanically then just go - maybe you'll be a bit slower than if you'd built up the perfect touring bike, but I feel speed isn't really what touring's about.

As for brakes - again whichever you've got already/can get easily. Though personally I'd say best choice for an expedition type bike would be good mechanical disc brakes (e.g. Avid BB7s).

But don't worry too much - it's easy to get sidetracked by reading long debates on the web about the best choice of equipment and I worry that these put more people off than they encourage. We're probably all guilty of spending too much time thinking about bikes & components, but those aren't likely to be what you remember about a tour afterwards.

S1mon - that's great, really pleased it helped, where did you go?

There is some very good discussion going on in the Touring Equipment topic, worth checking that out.

Adrian, I'm out at the moment, almost finishing a round europe expedition (shameless self plug! www.exploringforever.wordpress.com !)
What you just said about going with what you've got and not worrying overly about building up the perfect touring bike is spot on. Like always with bikes, theres always something new or someone else doing it differently but if you've got a good start with the bike, racks and bags and the essentials,then get out on the road and figure the rest out as you go! I met a couple of swedish guys in the alps who were riding old racers they'd picked up cheap, weren't even wearing shoes (not sure why tbh!) and had old fishermen's jackets as waterproofs.
They were a bit crazy mind you!

Adrian, I'm out at the moment, almost finishing a round europe expedition (shameless self plug! www.exploringforever.wordpress.com !)

Excellent - just been enjoying reading that instead of working.
(enjoyment mixed with extreme jealousy). Good to see plenty of focus on one of the main joys of touring - the opportunity to eat lots of nice food...

As far as the OP goes - really, don't worry too much, if you've got the bits to put an Inbred together to tour on then it's well worth doing. Though it might be worth considering that Old Man Mountain racks are pretty expensive, so for a road tour you might want to weigh up the cost of one of those (which seem to be about £100 now) against just buying a frame you can attach a standard rear rack to.
Or you could use a normal rack on your Inbred with one of these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/tubus-adapter-set-for-qr-axle-mounting/ and p-clips at the top - for a week's tour that'd be more than enough.
(though might have disc brake clearance issues?)