Generic Touring Thread

(Obviously that is in Germany not Austria, as any fool would know)
(ahem)

But yeah I would imagine the infrastructure would be much the same. All the trains are!

Germany, Austria, same thing innit. #anschluss.

Has anyone ridden the Ciclovia Alpe Adria Radweg? (cycle route through Austria into Italy) Or any other cycling in Austria?

Last year we went through Austria. Roughly this route
Good hills, occasionally good Radwegs (the Innental way was ace, and the climb up to the Arlbergpass was excellently fun), pretty cunty drivers.

Has anyone ridden the Ciclovia Alpe Adria Radweg? (cycle route through Austria into Italy) Or any other cycling in Austria?

Think i'm gonna steal your idea. kthanx

^^ This looks good! Are austrian drivers generally dicks then? I drove through Austria once and found it was alright (we were probably the biggest menace...).

^ Come! End of june, Munich - Salzburg - radweg to the south of Austria. Lots of swimming in lakes and stuff.

They were a bit aggro. The Czechs were similar to the French in that they drive too fast but are quite respectful around bikes. The Austrians are more British: must pass as soon as possible even if they have to squeeze around when there's not really space. Although that kinda stopped after Innsbruck.

Have recently handed in my notice period at work and managed to blag 5 weeks off before starting my next job so thought I'd go away for a bit.

Doing a quick whipround of Thailand and Laos ideally in hostels but will be taking a tent for those times you need one.

In hindsight it is a bit silly judging by the weather (35 highs) but am looking forward to crossing some pretty rural parts of Laos.

Am in the middle of setting up the touring bike and am a little torn over tyre choice. Want to be able to cover a fair distance each day but also want to be prepared for the worst. After driving a moped around Vietnam you realise that main roads are not always that well maintained!

Below is my route, with red for trains and airplanes, and green for the cycling.

And my steed.

Raleigh frame (Slightly unsure of exact model, but resembles a randonneur.)

Sputnik/deore rear
A719 front
Stronglight triple
Supercorsa saddle
Avenir (Raleigh) rear pannier - Because it was cheap.

Haven't quite finalised the other parts and am deliberating over modern (Shallow) drops and bar end shifters (I've heard you catch your knees when climbing) or classic bars with deore MTB trigger shifters.

Sounds great, trigger shifters on 'porteur' bars?

Triggers on GB randonneurs, kindly provided by Sorethroat.

Really want to get it finished and ride but my rear wheel arrived and is out of true so am having another built. Not inspiring too much confidence.

Not to sure if this is the right place, but I'm currently on the hunt for a front rack, something that i can actually put things on opposed to low riders!

Any ideas? I can't find anything, because it needs to be shipped to NZ.

Blackburn MTF-1 fits on 700c (Mine is in the post.)

Tweeks do a blackburn outpost front rack which is awesome!

Surley nice rack is awesome but £££

Also there's a weird named one which I will try my best to recall.

Or were you after more of a porteur rack?

http://freshtripe.co.uk/Freshtripe/Mudguards%20&%20Racks_files/Porteur%20Rack-1.jpg

Hi George, your route around there looks good. I am also planning on a tour soon around South of France and will have to convert my road bike for this.I wonder how hilly your route will be? Hows your build coming along?

Or were you after more of a porteur rack?

http://freshtripe.co.uk/Freshtripe/Mudguards%20&%20Racks_files/Porteur%20Rack-1.jpg

This is what am after, the name eluded me!
Thanks, I'll have a ganders and see what i can find.

Anyone know of some good ones? Velo Orange is a little out my price range and i want a black one..

Jason. How about this

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/31992/Basil_Memories_Front_Carrier_Rack_BAS50097?gclid=CP7C55DG-LwCFQXlwgodPZsABg

Modan, I don't think my route is too hilly once I get out of the north.

Have toured the south of France before... La Rochelle - Bordeaux - Sete - Nice - Monaco - Pisa - Rome and the south east of France is really hilly!! Whereabouts are you heading? There's a lovely canal route from Toulouse to sete which is beautiful and dead flat.

Saying that, the south east coast and into Italy are some of the most beautiful roads I've cycled.

I did it on a converted old Carlton with p-clip rack and was fine. Would probably suggest a triple although without one you'll be forced to HTFU.

generic touring bike question (might not be the right thread for it?), just wondering about bike fit sizing for touring bikes vs road or track bikes, should they be longer (more stable) or shorter (more upright position) than what I would normally ride?

I normally ride around 54/55cm so assume similar top tube is what I would be aiming for?

sorry for newbie touring question!

Go for similar reach, some bicycle shop stock some touring bike for you to try out like Brixton Cycles.

I tend to have similar reach on my touring and road bike, the biggest difference is bar height.

Having problems uploading images on my phone/photobucket.
All built, packed and waiting to fly.
Am on Instagram as bencost if you want to check the trip updates as it doesn't look as though I'll be able to do it here!!

You probably already know this, but most travel insurance excludes bikes, so be wary of that.