TomvanHalen's tourer - Raleigh 853 (sick flames ITT)

#buyer

And we're off!

Didn't get to sleep 'til 2am last night. Spent yesterday fitting the mudguards, arranging packing stuff and generally wrenching (including swapping the bars over on my girlfriend's bike to some more comfortable ones).

For those who care, the bike weighs about 12kg unladen, and luggage is roughly 9-10kg of clothes, toiletries, emergency tools, lock, sleeping bag, rollmat and OTB shoes, and 3kg of tent (fatty). Other half is carrying the trangia and food bits.

The Wald basket is affixed using just the upper struts to the light mounts on the Nitto rack, and will carry my satchel with electricals, valuables and bits needing easy access, rollmat slips nicely underneath. Scobleflap is Schwalbe SV13 innertube reinforced with sections of cable tie and assembled with superglue. Because professional.

Bike handles surprisingly well, even piling the weight on!

Looks good, only one bottle though?

Will be carrying another litre or two in one of the panniers for refills

the bike weighs about 12kg unladen.

A little less than my Elephants, which is reasonable.

The overall weight is pretty much on par with what I expected from a moderate load, but not enough to really bog you down, you're gonna have fun (although the lock and shoes is a little OTT).

the tent doesn't bang the back of your legs?

I feel its presence, but it doesn't really swing too much. Not ideal though, no.

@edscoble Yeah, bit OTT but I don't have on-trend flipflops, and didn't want to risk leaving this unlocked in random Welsh towns while we do stuff. Will be trying to slim everything down for subsequent trips

I mean like a small cable lock will sufficent if you're carrying a heavier D-lock.

Do you not have those MTB touring shoes?

Have to says your girlfriend's bike can get away with a small front rack and take your tent on top of it.

I have a light mini-D and a krypto cable, so not too bad. Yeah, MTB shoes but they're not that comfy walking and will be spending a few days in Pembrokeshire, so I just have some deck shoes for wandering

The bike looks awesome, godspeed!

Looks rad. Enjoy.

This looks bang on! Although I do love the Raleigh paint, it is screaming for something a little more sympathetic as it's built. Mudguards will probably be OK at that length as long as you have decent flaps. Seems daft outlying for another set at the price PX were doing them.

Yeah, it's a bit of a jarring contrast! I'm sure it will acquire tasteful fades in the future if I get the frame modded

It's not so much the length of the guards, but the width, I originally bought these planning for 38-42c tyres, not monster 2.3s! There's barely coverage on the back tyre. Gilles Berthoud sell the fenders on their own without any fitting hardware so it's not a huge pain to switch down the line.

I think the paint is magnificent.

Too many grey bikes around.

Agreed. Love the paint, be a shame to have it redone, until it's tatty as, even then it'll still look awesome.

The bike and I survived over 200 miles, 5000 metres of climbing and some truly awful roads. My phone didn't even survive the climb up Snowdon. Pics and tour report to come

Tour report, for interested parties! More bike stuff in the thread later

Clicky for words, pictures and puffins

Nice report and looks a fantastic tour. Chapeau.

so awesome!

So here's the after pic

And a few more choice shots for good measure

And now we're back home, I couldn't resist digging out some more brake levers and doing a bar swap. I think it'll stay like this for a while for bombing about unloaded, maybe try a longer stem too.

Does the original bar shape make it harder to rest your hand on due to the downward sweep?

Rad bike with a rad ride report. Really enjoyed that. Foggy climb sounds amazing.

Glad you changed the bars, ever since the thread started I've been wanting to say 'change the bars'