Generic Touring Thread

Went with cyclosure. It wasn't cheap but seemed pretty comprehensive.

Is there a reason for bar end shifters over integrated ones?
Ease of maintainence/ repairs?

I'm eyeing up an OTP tourer, mainly for long days/ weekends, rather than trans Europe tours, and I've seen both specced up the price range.

^ good question..

Following on instagram, very jealous, looks like an awesome trip.

So this is the priliminary route for a weeks spin in Poland in July, starting in Krakow following the Vestula River up through to Gdansk.

Part A

Part B

My companion is Polish and assures me the roads are half decent and drivers not too bad, but I've hear otherwise on here. Any further experiences and suggestions are welcome.

I've been emailed this euro route list.

http://eurovelo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Schematic-Diagram-Test.jpg

Looks like a great challenge....one route a year gets you a 15 year european grand tour. Does anyone know about this scheme?

Is there a reason for bar end shifters over integrated ones?
Ease of maintainence/ repairs?

I'm eyeing up an OTP tourer, mainly for long days/ weekends, rather than trans Europe tours, and I've seen both specced up the price range.

Bar ends are more reliable. Also, if the indexing fails you can switch them to friction mode. Google it. It'll be explained better then I can.

Also, I think there are some potential problems with compatability of stis with some cantilever brakes.

So this is the priliminary route for a weeks spin in Poland in July, starting in Krakow following the Vestula River up through to Gdansk.

Part A

Part B

My companion is Polish and assures me the roads are half decent and drivers not too bad, but I've hear otherwise on here. Any further experiences and suggestions are welcome.

Will be awesome! Are you camping or hotelling? How much stuff you planning on taking? I'm actually travelling quite light (bar the 7 books.) but it gets easier when there's more than one of you because you only need 1 set of tools, cooking equipment...

I came to this thread to read about touring and have left jealous of some of the plans I'm seeing.

Suddenly my planned trip up to the scottish isles seems so smalltime!

That Raleigh is a beauty...

Where are you heading? I'd really like to go to Harris/Lewis this year if I can.

I'm heading to Islay and Jura over Easter, taking in the views and the whisky. Hopefully I can stash the bike somewhere and walk the paps of Jura while I'm there.

Do you have a plan for lewis and harris? I was puzzling over this last month - They're quite linear so look difficult to do without backtracking. I always wondered what the route between ports was like on the mainland to make it a loop.

Kyle of Lochalsh to Ullapool is great riding and very beautiful.

Kyle of Lochalsh to Ullapool is great riding and very beautiful.

North of Kyle is also really nice. There is a great account somewhere of a guy doing a hardcore DIY audax round there. The Applecross Peninsular, esp. the road through the middle looks awesome. The road here looks to wind up through a lunar landscape: http://goo.gl/maps/VFpjg

Yeah, we went through applecross. I recommend the haggis at the applecross inn.

but will be taking a tent for those times you need one.

I've spent a bit of time camping in S.E. Asia for work (in Sabah, Kalimantan and Cambodia) and I can't think of a single time we've used a tent. Normal procedure is to buy a cheap hammock, tarpaulin and some twine in a local market and then set the hammock up underneath the tarpaulin for sleeping. Most of the time I've done this we've been in rainforest areas and so there isn't a shortage of trees to sling the hammock but I guess it's a consideration. If you are buying in the UK you can get really nice lightweight hammocks with with built in flysheet. I'm not sure if it's the right option for you but it might be worth a thought.

Also I came into this thread to ask if there were any good resources to read for an introduction to touring? What kind of kit you need etc.

Neither my GF nor I have ever been touring before but I've always fancied it. Now, in preparation for my 30th birthday my GF has suggested we go touring somewhere in the UK (probably west coast scotland) this summer.

I think we'd plan to stay in B&Bs, and we wouldn't go for that long, however neither of us have touring bikes. I've got a road, TT and fixed rat bike, the GF has a road bike and SS rat. I'm a stronger rider than her so maybe I should take the Rat (which has a rear rack) and she could take her road bike. Any thoughts and tips for first time tourists?

^^ 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.

I found them pretty good. Just like everywhere else in Europe Ive seen, the drivers are trained to give a lot of space when passing bikes and they seem to all do it. I spent some time with locallers in their cars, they seemed to all be keen on driving very fast and efficiently, so can get a little annoyed when there are cyclists on the major roads slowing them down etc. They also went apeshit when me and my friend ended up riding on what was like a british A road, but bikes it turns out were not allowed. But still, better than UK for sure.

I think we'd plan to stay in B&Bs, and we wouldn't go for that long, however neither of us have touring bikes. I've got a road, TT and fixed rat bike, the GF has a road bike and SS rat. I'm a stronger rider than her so maybe I should take the Rat (which has a rear rack) and she could take her road bike. Any thoughts and tips for first time tourists?

If you're planning to stay in the UK in B&Bs, you can probably get away with not taking too much kit - for a week I'd reckon on two sets of on-bike and one set of off-bike clothes, plus a few tools, map/Garmin and a book/kindle. Pack carefully and you could probably get that into a large-ish saddlebag (like a Carradice) and a bar bag, so I wouldn't rule out a bike which doesn't have a rear rack.

Work out roughly what distance you want to cover, and try a couple of day trips before your tour to give yourself time to fine-tune your setup. Research whether any of the places you pass have bike shops, and mark them on the map in case of mechanical problems. Fit a second bottle cage on your bike and stash tools in it. Don't be afraid to cut a day short if the weather's miserable and you're hating it. Eat all the cakes you can. Enjoy!

So as ever my plans change.
My current plan is to make a base for myself on a farm in Devon, and do weekend tours out from there in various directions.
Plus maybe build a bike.
Plus work on the farm.
We'll see... JOGLE has been suggested by a friend.
Plan z) is to go to the Lakes, stay at uncle's, ride out to Fell bag each day, work with uncle, who'll be able to help me learn to braze better...
Its a tough call.

Will be awesome! Are you camping or hotelling? How much stuff you planning on taking? I'm actually travelling quite light (bar the 7 books.) but it gets easier when there's more than one of you because you only need 1 set of tools, cooking equipment...

My Polish friend and guide tells me b&b is quite cheap so we might forgo the tent and we would be eating cold during the day warm at night so no cooking gear.

As such he's estimating a week's travel to be around £300 excluding flights.

So, packing - Clothing, tools, toiletries and bike. Job Done.

I will be touring in South of France with a some friends late May this year. I've not done any touring before so hopefully things will go smoothly especially getting the bike on the plane. We will be camping outdoors so will need the usual equipments. Will be hoping not to over pack as I wanted to keep it quite minimum and simple as possible. The plan is to fly to Nice, do a loop back in about 2 weeks.

The route:

I

As such he's estimating a week's travel to be around £300 excluding flight.

I spend that much including flight for one month touring, 1 week is very excessive.

Granted, we tend to go wild camping a lots and get the cheapest food a lots, but I'm sure you can get it down a lots less than £300.

Switzerland: Anyone been?

Doing a 5 day tour to visit friends from Zurich to Bern and back (3 days cycling), with a stopover probably in Lucerne on the way back. There are lots of national cycling routes to jump on but my experience of following routes like these in Germany is constant stop/start making sure I haven't gone past any of those tiny signs saying where to go.

Does anyone have experience of cycling routes in Switzerland? is it worth using them or should I just follow the roads?

any other tips for the region would be greatly appreciated!

The signs are better than the German ones; they're big red ones not tiny pale-green-on-white ones.

Going from Zürich to Bern you might stick mostly to route no. 5, Romanshorn to Lausanne:
http://www.veloland.ch/en/routes/route-05.html

Swiss drivers are much more considerate than British ones, but it's more pleasant to stick to the marked routes than it is to ride busy roads.

There are guidebooks and maps too, if you feel the need.

http://www.veloland.ch/en/services/guides-maps.html