Reliable Touring Bike Parts

Coldset the frame to 135 and put something better than a sa hub in. The 8 speed shimano is far better and there's loads about. Check the Pompino on eBay at the mo! :)

For the frame I have inmind changing the drop out spacing isn't an option. I know I can get better hubs than SA but is there something about SA that makes it unsuitable for touring ?

Those Suntour derailleur are decent as well as the Simplex retrofriction levers - quite possibly the best friction levers out there.

sound like a winning combo.

I have both a suntour VX rear mech and simplex shifter if anyone wants to buy.

The sa hub has a range of 256%. With 5 gears that's big jumps. Shifting isn't as smooth as the Shimano so you loose lots of momentum each time you shift. The SRAM s7 has a range of 300% and is 130oln about the same price as the sa! If the frame is steel then spreading it to 135 isn't an issue. My experience of igh's is if you need gears you need the best or you'll be disapointed. From 130 to 135 is only 5mm a couple do washers on each side of your fixed will fill the gap and shouldn't affect your chain line too much. I cold set my frame from 120 to 135 about a year ago and ride on some quite rough surfaces with no issues. Don't be afraid of changing the spacing. A frame builde charged me £30 to do mine and braze a mount for a coaster brake to the chainstay.

Dtrool interesting to hear your thoughts.

The frame is not steel and 99% of the time I will be riding fixed so it is really not worth changing the OLD spacing. ( I did this before on my old de rosa)

I don't like gears but then I don't like hills much either, but fancy giving touring a go, so in everylikelyhood I will need to pedal up hill. I was thinking of an internal hub as the quickest way to convert to riding up hills as I only have to change the wheel, ring and chain. Thread a cable (through a housing left in place) and bob's your uncle. That wont take me half an hour to do. I like that I can run a 1/8 chain with internal gears. The internal hub is heavier, but then I have no derailler, front mech of front shifter, so there ain't much in it.

I don't shift much or I won't untill I hit a hill in which case I kinda expect to lose momentum. I was going to run these ratios 30.1/ 36.1/ 48.1/64.2/77.0 where 77 is my normal street ratio. So will 30.1 be low enough to get up most hills ?

I will have a look at the SRAM but I can't see a bar end shifter for it and I ride drops.

No bar end shifter for the SRAM. Jtek do some gadgets that could possibly sort the cable pull issue to use a different shifter than the stock twist shift. I used a piece of 22mm copper tube and the strap an gubbings off an old drop brake lever to mount the stock shifter to the bars. Ugly but did the trick. Refer to Sheldon brown for the info on jtek. Problem solvers travel agent might give the right cable pull to use a bar end shifter but jtek have more choice.

Is the Jamis Aurora Elite really worth the extra £400 if you're light load touring?
How much of the difference is the stronger steel?

if you're doing light touring, a normal road bike with rack mount and clearance for bigger tyres does the job.

i.e. jamis satellite, specialized secteur come to mind.

it came to me last night that it makes sense to buy the gear before the bike

£450 get you an 8 speeds 4130 double-butted bicycle;

8 speeds is the most reliable and cheapest for touring, and the chain are peanuts compared to the more expensive offering.

Only problem is the crap shifter but they work, the wheels are decent for touring with double wall and stainless spokes.

You can easily get an 8 speed bar end shifter and singlespeed brake levers to complete the package.

Does anyone have any experience or opinion on using an old steel framed mountain bike of a suitable and comfortable size adding the capability to take panniers and touring on it?

Does anyone have any experience or opinion on using an old steel framed mountain bike of a suitable and comfortable size adding the capability to take panniers and touring on it?

lots of people do it, here's a good one:

http://kidderminstertothecaspianbybike.blogspot.co.uk/

Does anyone have any experience or opinion on using an old steel framed mountain bike of a suitable and comfortable size adding the capability to take panniers and touring on it?

Yeah, this is exactly what I'm doing to build my super-budget New Zealand expedition bike. I'm gonna start a thread soon in Current Projects.

RD - XT long cage 2nd hand
105 cog new
FD - XT 2h
Down tube shifters dura ace 2h
Sugino XD500 crank set new
Wheels Velocity aero heat 26" new
Hubs white industry mtb new
Tyres marathon plus
Rack tubus front and rear
Brakes Paul V brakes (better than cantu for touring IMHO)
Post Thomson
Stem Thomson
Bars noodle
Brake levers tetko
Headset crane creek century

Took me ages to build. Parts faultless so far. Oh LHT frame n fork.

Old MTB are perfect, the only exception is the higher BB and slightly more flexy, but far from unsuitable.

My companion's MTB is a newer one, which isn't as suitable as the old rigid one, but despite a worn drivetrain, a threaded rear hubs (very limited choice of wheel when the original broke), a broken suspension fork, it managed the entire way from London to Africa;

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I'd go for flat bar if you're going full laden, it's much easier to accelerate and keep the steering straight when the road get worse, drop handlebar are perfectly fine for light to moderated touring, but unless it's a dedicated tourer, its a little harder to get out of the saddle to sprint.

I think an old mtb is going to be the way for me to go after getting distracted and buying a non touring bike!

Thanks for the input.

A mate of mine has an old Specialized Rockhopper with the Ritchey tubeset. Rack and mudguard mounts on the back; swapped the fork for a Salsa one with mounts; perfect heavy duty tourer.

Yup. My late 80s Muddy Fox Explorer (back in the days when Muddy Fox made good bikes) had Tange chromo frame and forks, rack and mudguard mounts on the back, and low-rider and mudguard mounts on the front. It was only £75 for the whole bike in good condition; you could probably find one at a car boot sale for thirty quid.

BB's a bit high, so not-so-good for on-road, but better off-road.

Excellent choices too.

BB can be fixed with skinnier tyres (like 32c instead of 50c).

My little nugget of wisdom having done a bit of touring on a few different bikes is: disc brakes are the way forward, especially loaded front and back in the rain. Also drop bars for the positioning options.

I agree disc brakes are fantastic, especially for out of true wheels

Bar is more of a personal preference rather than superior.

Mudguards. Anyone got any good ideas for nice looking mudguards that don't have the little top rubber parts, that once they are removed/fall off, reveal a razor sharp pointed bit of metal. A la offending sks blumells:

Best solution I find is to use a dremel and trim off and smooth out the edge (once you got the fit perfectly) and put Sugru on it instead of the black rubber.

That an old version, the current version is locked in place with the mudguard;

If you've already got the SKS then the GB stays kit makes them look a lot neater:

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gilles-berthoud-gilles-berthoud-mudguard-stays-kit-prod22594/