Generic Touring Thread

I was thinking/dreaming about an all offroad route to and from southern spain that relies on signage and maps rather than gps. I was thinking le harve-paris, paris -santiago on the Camino frances, santiago - seville on the ruta de la plata, seville - the portugal camino route- santiago, santiago - donostia via the coastal camino (backwards), then pick up the Eurovelo1 all the way up to st malo

Just ride as is then. Sounds a great setup for riding. Sod rigid.

Do you know the A2C? Suspect it's probably too short unfortunately, I need 500mm

Seido components do carbon and steel 500mm forks both.

That steel fork weighs almost as much as a Yari, lol

Haven't found anything on this yet, but realise it may have been covered so excuse me if I'm going over well-trodden ground. What do people use for navigation round here? Dedicated GPS unit? Or some kind of app/smartphone combo? If the former, which one? Garmin Edge 530? Something else? If the latter, which app do you use? Looking to get something for the forthcoming N.France tour and wondering whether I really need to shell out or whether I can get by with Google maps or similar. Cheers.

I don't have an answer but I would be interested in options as well - last ride I did in a new area I was pulling my map out of my pocket at every junction and it got very old very quickly

Etrex GPS unit (uses rechargeable AA batteries and get a couple of days from it) + phone. On phone: the website cycle.travel, downloaded Google map, or Google Earth.

For a longer trip: I add physical map and small powerbank for phone/etrex.

as T said, I've toured thousands of miles on my squishy 120mm forks, and the odd bit of non-singletrack never bothered me.
Vittoria Mezcal 29x2.6 on the front rolls so well you can ride just about anything

exactly what @Squaredisk said.
secondhand eTrex 20 biggest bargain in the world.
but on phone apps like Gaia, BikeGPX, and RadMaps I find better.
I only need to pull my phone out if there's an issue or I need to find a specific place.

Garmin 1000 with openfietsmap.nl maps on which have cycle paths marked, OsmAnd on the phone for when I want a bigger overview (get it off fdroid for the full version without in-app purchases, download all the relevant maps before you go, https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.osmand.plus/ ), plus a vague idea of the direction I'm going in so I can use the local street signs. French cycle route signs are green and white like this: https://en.francevelotourisme.com/tips-and-advices/signposting-and-marking-of-cycle-routes-in-france

Oh, that OsmAnd app looks great. Cheers for the link. I'll install and give it a whirl this weekend. Thanks.

470mm I'm afraid

Wahoo Elemnt Bolt is doing me well. Easy to use with most of the apps. I've been using Strava on my phone for the heat maps to create a route and uploading to the Bolt. (Strava phone route building is quite frustrating)

Garmin extrex squad checking in. I have the talkytoaster maps on mine. I'm planning to get some USB chargeable AA batteries for if I ever go on a long trip. Otherwise for stuff under 5 days you can just pack spare batteries.

The apps platypus listed, or osamand. Or if you want to pay Rwgps is great. I'm biased as they pay me but I used it before that. But it's super slick and navigation on mobile is great.

Unless you're doing huge days or a massive ride. Using a phone works great. My old man now never uses his Garmin, just a phone and Rwgps, so its clearly idiot proof.

This is exactly what I needed to hear, i.e. works for fairly short days and idiot proof. Do you use some kind of bar mount for the phone or just have it in your pocket in case you need it? If the former, how do you get around the issue of screen glare?

I gritted my teeth and bought a quadlock. Giving money to such a company pained me, but the product works. You could also get a cheap stem bag thing from decathlon.
I don't get screen glare on my pixel so don't know.

Osmand is free and you can put GPX into it and navigate you. If you want to do it free.

I did think about the quadlock, but they don't do a dedicated case for my phone, so I'd have to get one of those adhesive things and stick it to the back of my own phone case. Which I'm sure is fine, but it does seem rather a lot of money and faff for something that might not be as secure/useful as I'd want it to be for that price.

Guess if I'm doing it on the cheap, a stem bag would be the way to go. Or some other generic phone mount thing.

Getting my routing on the bars, not in pocket was a big improvement for me.

could try something like this
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/500-cycling-smartphone-holder/_/R-p-168764?mc=8385553&c=BLACK

That actually looks fine. It's just a question of whether the angle of the stem is too flat, but if I can see the screen OK, it's a bargain.

Why are Quadlock naughty?

Also, what's the benefit of the Etrex? Better battery life/uses AAs for touring? Assume it can still be bar-mounted? Thanks GPS experts.

The interface is clunky as hell, like they haven't updated it since 1995, but they're waterproof and AAs are brilliant as you can just buy them in a petrol station or wherever and never get lost. There is a bar mount, which is like a few quid on eBay.