My first bicycle tour

So, I've never been touring and I've never been to the states, so I figured I will kill two birds with one stone and cycle from the east coast of the US to the west.

Will be going in the new year, probably leaving around the end of January for about two months. Because of the time of year and my dislike of cycling through snow storms I plan to cycle through the southern states, starting probably in Florida and ending up in San Francisco.

I'm hoping to do a combination of couch surfing/ staying with extended family/ friends of friends and the odd hotel, so going to try and travel light. This means I can hopefully get away without taking a tent, sleeping stuff or cooking equipment. Ideally I'd like to take a bike that will be fun to ride, something between my road bike and a traditional tourer.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a a relatively modern steel frame with rack mounts and a carbon fork, maybe 853?. A modern groupset like shimano 105, as preferably I would have brifters rather than bar end shifters. But my main priority is also something that will be reliable and hardwearing over about 3000 miles.

In order to get this off the ground I need to sort a bike, kit and a vague itinerary and as I've never toured of a built a tourer before I thought I would do a CP. Any advice or offers of kit people want to sell would be much appreciated.

Sorry made a mistake.
Jacksonville looks like a good place to start.

Could always pick up the bike there?

Sounds like an excellent plan.
Good luck

Wow. Ambitious. Long journey! Sounds great though. Yeah 105 sounds good. Dirt cheap and hella reliable... The new Genesis Equilibrium 853 frame and forks sound right up your street for this.

I'm on a bit of a budget so ideally would get bits together here over the next couple of months as and when I can get them cheap. Been looking at the croix de fer and the boardman cx aswell, anyone have any experience?

What's your budget and size looking for? I got a buddy looking to shift his Dawes sportif elite - http://www.bikesoup.co.uk/bike/dawes-sportif-elite-dawes-sportif-elite-audax-road-touring-bike

That dawes does look good, however I'm 6'1 so need some quite a bit bigger. Also looking to spend quite a bit less than that

so first small bit of kit sorted - pair of ortlieb front roller paniers plus, bargain at £38

Holy shit... quite a mouthful for someone with no touring experience whatsoever. Have you not considered doing at least some touring and/or long-distance riding beforehand to build up form and test equipment and kit and so on? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for doing crazy stuff, and I probably wouldn't hesitate to jump in at the deep end myself. That said, it does seem a little ambitious when you're not even certain what bike you want :)

I think I'm fairly fit, and have done a few long day rides without too much trouble. I'm going to make sure that before I go away I do a couple of overnight trips with the kit to make sure everything's working/ I can cope with lugging stuff around. But I also figure with the tourist visa I've got more than enough time - my mental maths guess is it will take roughly 60 days. So if I'm feeling tired or struggling I can just take it easy for a few days. I certainly don't plan to be rushing.

It's a big YES from here...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Dawes-Audax-55cm-631-/271301628363?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3f2ad651cbhttp://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=2&pub=5574889051&toolid=10001&campid=5336525415&item=271301628363&mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]

If its your size, its not a bad shout.

Unfortunately looking for something more like 58cm, otherwise that's a great deal.

Take a friend

Sounds ambitious love to hear what advice people have to offer too.

Has anyone got any experience touring on something alu like a cannondale cadx
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cannondale-CAADX-105-Cyclocross-Bike-58cm-/181242829275?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item2a32ea19db

Has anyone got any experience touring on something alu like a cannondale cadx
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cannondale-CAADX-105-Cyclocross-Bike-58cm-/181242829275?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item2a32ea19db

I did an 18 day 1100 mile tour this summer on my ribble audax. It was fine. Ran 25c Durano Plus tyres on it and didn't find it particularly uncomfortable. Saddle was a Planet X superlight.. Would maybe double wrap bar tape next time, but that's about it... Any specific questions about touring on alu?

My concern with alu/ carbon fork, perhaps unfounded, was that if the frame got damaged it would be more suceptible to sudden failure/ harder to repair?

Well yeah, there's a chance they could break and both carbon and alu would be harder to repair than steel. I think it depends on where you plan to go touring and how far from civilisation you imagine you'll be at any time. Our tour took us through or near a lot of european cities and towns, so it'd be a ball ache and probably spoil our day if something did break, but it wouldn't be the end of the world or indeed the tour (except in rural France, where we only spotted two bike shops in about a week and both were shut, seemingly permanently). It'd likely be a case of replacing whatever broke as well, rather than repairing.

I think I'd be much more likely to insist on riding steel if I were touring in Mongolia or something.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Hewitt-Cheviot-Touring-Bike-55cm-L-XL-/00/s/MTU5OFgxNjAw/z/874AAOxy1RZSZRwT/$T2eC16J,!)wFIZVe-CR-BSZRwSppIw~~60_1.JPG

That Hewitt looks great.

I'm kinda caught between something alu like the caadx

http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/images/cann-caadx105-12-1200.jpg

or something steel like the croix de fer

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5030/5776852098_397d79b105_z.jpg

http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc/images/cc098-1Cross%20check.jpg

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4053/4626779347_ecdb8e3d8d_z.jpg

So I'm pretty keen on the Cannondale caadx, found one at a pretty good price.
http://www.evanscycles.com/product_image/image/1f0/2b7/3b8/89379/large/cannondale-caadx-5-105-compact-2012-cyclocross-bike-56cm-soiled-.jpg

Does anyone have an experience of what the sizing is like/ what they are like loaded up.

Just picked this up this evening, pretty much brand new

Going to make a few changes:

Thomson inline post - sorted
Arione - sorted
Thomson stem - sorted
Swap the sammy slicks for something abit slicker
probably get some mini v brakes
black mudguards - chromoplastics?
and a lightweight rack - would quite like a tubus logo

If anyone has any of these bits they want rid of let me know

Nice choice. I have an earlier version of that, an '05 Cannondale T800 and it's built like a tank - the thing just goes and goes. Not the lightest or fastest bike in the world, but utterly reliable. Very jealous of your trip.

I'm hoping to do a combination of couch surfing/ staying with extended family/ friends of friends and the odd hotel, so going to try and travel light. This means I can hopefully get away without taking a tent, sleeping stuff or cooking equipment.

Don't know if you're familiar with it but I would recommend Warm Showers over Couchsurfing. It's a similar deal (you search for people and message them to see if they're up for putting you up) but it's for cycling tourists only. The main difference in my experience was couchsurfing hosts tend to be young/students who wanna party with you and hear your crazy stories, warm showers hosts tended to be ageing women/couples who's (usually cycling-mad) children have flown the coop and just want to mother you for a day....I know what I preferred after a long day on the road.

Also Southern US ain't like England, there will be great swathes of land with literally nothing there, I would want the safety net of cooking provisions and some form of sleeping set-up to see me from one town to the next. That said, doesn't mean you can't pack light: a lightweight sleeping bag, roll mat, a mess tin and a lighter should be enough and will be worth it's weight in gold when the time comes (and it will) that you really need it.