Mountain Bike as Tourer?

Bill Baka writes:

True about MTBs and mountains. They are made to go off road and not
at a very high speed. A road bike can handle a mountain just as well
as a MTB as long as it is on pavement. I did take a road bike off
pavement a few times and found the ride somewhere between
interesting and butt pounding. Those 120 PSI tires don't have much
give to them.

Much of my enjoyment comes from being outdoors and the bike becomes so
transparent after a while that I can forget which one I am riding. It is
possible to zone out while pedaling a long flat, and that is probably
better than worrying about other matters. By zone out, I do not mean
lack of attention to safety, but a certain bliss that a long steady ride
can bring.

For a cross section of where a road bike is a good tourer see the series:

http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/alps_photos/a44.html

There are trails and unpaved roads there as well.

Jobst Brandt

On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 00:53:03 GMT, wrote:

Bill Baka writes:

True about MTBs and mountains. They are made to go off road and not
at a very high speed. A road bike can handle a mountain just as well
as a MTB as long as it is on pavement. I did take a road bike off
pavement a few times and found the ride somewhere between
interesting and butt pounding. Those 120 PSI tires don't have much
give to them.

Much of my enjoyment comes from being outdoors and the bike becomes so
transparent after a while that I can forget which one I am riding. It is
possible to zone out while pedaling a long flat, and that is probably
better than worrying about other matters. By zone out, I do not mean
lack of attention to safety, but a certain bliss that a long steady ride
can bring.

For a cross section of where a road bike is a good tourer see the series:

http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/alps_photos/a44.html

There are trails and unpaved roads there as well.

Good for you. Obviously some great rides.

And what was the smallest gear on your bikes? I only ask to give the twiddlers
in the crowd a hard time.

Ron

I encounter European tourists traveling along the Pacific coast HWY1
with MTB's on ultra knobby tires making slow progress even with the
tailwind that blows from the north in summer. I coast down some of
the grades sitting upright and pass them with a significant speed
margin, one that tells me their rolling resistance is significantly
higher than my road slicks. Of course we know that from RR tests.


This is quite a normal thing for European tourists. Europeans love to
travel. While we do take for granted of our 2 weeks of vacation, the
Europeans, on the other hand, take vacations in 4 to 8 weeks block.
They consider that quite normal. So what's the rush to get from point
A to B when time is not an issue.

If you insist on using an MTB, at least get some slicks and try to fix
the position by using a short bar stem or even a short one turned
backward. Of course, I see the same thing in the Alps because young
(non-bikie) athletic people who can do these things without a lot of
training believe MTB's are made for riding in mountains. They are
not.


Have you considered that maybe they are comfortable and happy riding
with their MTBs?

About tires -- most mountain bike slicks are still considerably slower than
good
road bike tires, but some are just as fast. Continental has said the 1.75"
Avenue is their lowest RR model, including all the skinny road tires they
sell..
Having used Avenues I concur. They seem as fast as anything else. I have yet
to find another fat slick that's comparable

Is the Avenue the same as their Town & Country?

David.

wrote:
For a cross section of where a road bike is a good tourer see the series:

http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/alps_photos/a44.html

There are trails and unpaved roads there as well.

Jobst Brandt


That looks like bicycle heaven, but a bit under dressed with snow
showing. Those Alps sure look tempting.
Thanks for that,
Bill Baka

David wrote:

Is the Avenue the same as their Town & Country?

No, the T&C is a thick, heavy thing with a deep, inverted tread. The Avenue is
a plain road slick, with a few tiny cosmetic grooves.

Matt O.

In article , Matt O'Toole
wrote:

David wrote:

Is the Avenue the same as their Town & Country?

No, the T&C is a thick, heavy thing with a deep, inverted tread. The Avenue
is
a plain road slick, with a few tiny cosmetic grooves.

Matt O.



Ahh... Thanks for the heads up!

David.

In article . 68, Mike
DeMicco wrote:


As far as I know, only Gary Fisher bikes come with a long top tube and
shorter stem (Genesis geometry) to prevent endos. However, does a couple
of inches really make that much difference?

The Genesis geometry is just a gimmick really. No bike geometry will
prevent endos -- nothing.. What the genesis geometry does is to shift
more of your weight back, so you don't endo easily going down on
technical descent. However, expert trial riders do that anyhow and a
step further -- like leaning their tummy on the extra lowered saddle to
keep low center of gravity for that super steep cliff type decent.
Now, that's going to be mighty tough to endo for sure. Worse you can
do is fall smack backwards. But they've got spine armor for that
protection in a fully body armoured outfit!

Cross country bikes have a decent top tube length, best for touring.
It's the free ride and super downhill bikes that may have the compact
geometry that Jobst was talking about. But that's a segmented market
to say the least.
In my town, cross country bikes are dead -- yes fini. The sugars, the
fuels and the STPs are gonners, while the turners, Ellsworths and the
Brodies are in. Though, I had seen people touring with their sugars,
fuels, stps and Julianas fully loaded just fine.

David.

David wrote in
hoo.dsafds.com:

In article . 68, Mike
DeMicco wrote:


As far as I know, only Gary Fisher bikes come with a long top tube
and shorter stem (Genesis geometry) to prevent endos. However, does a
couple of inches really make that much difference?

The Genesis geometry is just a gimmick really. No bike geometry will
prevent endos -- nothing.. What the genesis geometry does is to shift
more of your weight back, so you don't endo easily going down on
technical descent. However, expert trial riders do that anyhow and a
step further -- like leaning their tummy on the extra lowered saddle
to keep low center of gravity for that super steep cliff type decent.
Now, that's going to be mighty tough to endo for sure. Worse you can
do is fall smack backwards. But they've got spine armor for that
protection in a fully body armoured outfit!

Cross country bikes have a decent top tube length, best for touring.
It's the free ride and super downhill bikes that may have the compact
geometry that Jobst was talking about. But that's a segmented market
to say the least.
In my town, cross country bikes are dead -- yes fini. The sugars, the
fuels and the STPs are gonners, while the turners, Ellsworths and the
Brodies are in. Though, I had seen people touring with their sugars,
fuels, stps and Julianas fully loaded just fine.

David.

I have an old Univega mountain bike with a rigid fork. It has full braze-
ons for racks. With drop bars, bar end shifters, and road tires, it would
make the perfect touring bike. Older bikes like this can be found cheap -
many in excellent condition due to the fact that most people buy a bike
and it hardly ever gets ridden.

I bought a Bruce Gordon BLT. While this is a nice touring bike, it has a
lot of similarities to a mountain bike but has 700c wheels and less
clearance for fat tires.

--
Mike DeMicco