Long distance touring

[treker]

After having stumbled onto this site from Bent-Rider.com, I became intrigued and spent considerable time perusing the site.
My interest is in long distance touring, as in trans-America; see Adventure Cycle.com. However, a few concerns come to mind.
1 Packing necessary gear for a cross-country trip, about 45-50lbs. Where?
2 Gearing, preferable 20 to 100 gear inches. West Virginias steep hills come to mind.
3 Reliability, the forum mentions problems with keeping the fron wheel trued. Wheels for touring should be 36-40 spokes.
4 Are 700x38 wheels out of the question? 16 inch is not bad, just that larger radius would seem to make for a smoother ride.
5 Wheel base. what is the wheel base of the sofrider? The 40 inch wheel base of the road bike seem a bit short.

 

[Mark B]

Treker,

Welcome to the forum!

Standard mountain bike wheels should be plenty beefy for touring. I think the issues they are having with the front wheels is due to machine built wheels that need to be touched up by human hands, especially after riding for awhile. That would be my humble opinion, anyway.

If it were me, I would seriously consider getting a Sofrider, upgrading the drivetrain to a triple and towing a Burley Nomad behind it. I have toured with a Nomad and it was a real pleasure.

Another option would be to get the V1 Sofrider (because of pricepoint), upgrade the entire drivetrain and put an Xtracycle on it, as discussed elsewhere on this forum.

I think the Sofrider would be a fine touring machine.

Mark

 

[John Tolhurst]

I would put all the weight over the rear wheel or under the seat, for touring. I regularly rode with a 45lb son on the back, no problem at all with the handling ridability etc and there was no extra wheel to drag along. He has a trailer bike now, we are a lot slower despite his erratic contributions.

Have the bike checked over by a mechanic to make sure all bearings are good and wheels trued.

I'd go 700 x 25 at 120 psi unless there were dirt road involved, then I would go 26 x 1.5 at 100 psi.

The wheel bases are adequate, if you have a load out back, you can move the seat forward an inch or two to compensate, thereby restoring roughly equal weight distribution, which will make it possible to avoid or recover from slides.

 

[treker]

700x25 at 120 psi would make for a very hard ride, I'm using 700x32 at 85 lbs now and the ride unweighted is firm, just right when loaded. Putting all the weight on the back might create a problem going up hills with FWD, sand, gravel,debris et al.
26 inch wheels would not be a great problem, a rack might be fashioned under the seat if the seat is easily removed and replaced or hinged. Trailers are nice, however when you get to a campground, church yard, whatever, you still may need to use the bike to get supplies or find a meal. Leaving the trailer and bag would leave the contents at least, at risk of theft. Taking it with you can be an inconvience in towns. However many people would rather use a trailer for various reasons.
I do appreciate the input. This FWD really seems to aleviate the problems associated with both upright bikes and recumbents.

 

[Mark B]

treker wrote: Trailers are nice, however when you get to a campground, church yard, whatever, you still may need to use the bike to get supplies or find a meal. Leaving the trailer and bag would leave the contents at least, at risk of theft.

My traveling was done with my then 12 year old son and I would leave him in charge of watching the trailer. I carried a small set of panniers on the bike that contained "the kitchen". When we got to camp, I would unhitch the trailer, unload the kitchen and ride to where I needed to get supplies. I would carry them back in the panniers. More often than not, though, we stopped to pick up supplies before we reached camp for the night. No matter how you do it, you run the risk of leaving your bike and gear unattended sometimes. In rural areas, this is not a problem, at all. Urban areas are another matter, of course.

I just really like the trailer.

Mark

 

[Doug Burton]

treker wrote: 700x25 at 120 psi would make for a very hard ride....

The bike on the right in this photo uses 559 x 1.0 tires at 120 psi.

The suspension makes these tires very comfortable, and because the suspension keeps them planted on the ground over most road irregularities, the bike is very fast and sure-footed.

The frame offers you the abilty to mount panniers on a rack at the rear ala MTB, plus you can mount panniers under the seat if you are carefull to match the depth of the pannier with the seat descent under full compression of the suspension. The Sofrider and Freerider can be real Sherpas as far as hauling stuff is concerned.

A two-leg kickstand can add to the stability of holding your stuff when off the bike.

I really can't think of a better loaded tourer, especially if you want to travel some less-than-optimum surfaces.

Please bring all your questions; we are glad you are here!

Be well,

Doug

 

[treker]

Thank you Mark B and Hardtailcruzer, I appreciate your help, especially the pictures.
120 psi would not require as much effort, the rolling reistance being greatly reduced. Do you have any problems with things vibrating loose, especially the drive train? What is the wheel base, and how much does the Sofride weigh? A mtb rack would no doubt fit on the rear, and a rack fabricated to fit under the seat should even out the weight distribution. My travels so far have been solo and so prefer panners. If I,m not carefull I,ll help you talk me into yet another bike!

 

[Doug Burton]

treker wrote: Thank you Mark B and Hardtailcruzer, I appreciate your help, especially the pictures.
120 psi would not require as much effort, the rolling reistance being greatly reduced. Do you have any problems with things vibrating loose, especially the drive train? What is the wheel base, and how much does the Sofride weigh? A mtb rack would no doubt fit on the rear, and a rack fabricated to fit under the seat should even out the weight distribution. My travels so far have been solo and so prefer panners. If I,m not carefull I,ll help you talk me into yet another bike!

The bike in the picture weighs 34 lbs. as you see it. The only time something comes off of my bike is when I fail to fasten it correctly - you should use blue Loctite on anything that will see vibration. The drivetrain has worked flawlessly.

The seat attachment parts offer several good places to add support for panniers.

If you're near Virginia, you're welcome to come take a look for yourself!

Be well,

Doug

 

[xkred27]

Hardtailcruzer wrote:

treker wrote: 700x25 at 120 psi would make for a very hard ride....

The bike on the right in this photo uses 559 x 1.0 tires at 120 psi.

The suspension makes these tires very comfortable, and because the suspension keeps them planted on the ground over most road irregularities, the bike is very fast and sure-footed.

Doug

Doug:

Wow, that must be some suspension. I'm amazed you can run 559x1.0 at 120 psi and not have your tooth fillings fall out. This is what happened when I ran 559x28 Schwalbe Stelvios on my Stratus (on good roads, mind you), causing me to switch to 26x1.5's @ 85psi and never look back. And we're talking about a bike that sets a standard for comfort, with its quality seat and long wheelbase. The more I read, the closer I get to buy one of these. Thanks.

 

[Kamatu]

xkred27 wrote:

Hardtailcruzer wrote:

treker wrote: 700x25 at 120 psi would make for a very hard ride....

The bike on the right in this photo uses 559 x 1.0 tires at 120 psi.

The suspension makes these tires very comfortable, and because the suspension keeps them planted on the ground over most road irregularities, the bike is very fast and sure-footed.

Doug

Doug:

Wow, that must be some suspension. I'm amazed you can run 559x1.0 at 120 psi and not have your tooth fillings fall out. This is what happened when I ran 559x28 Schwalbe Stelvios on my Stratus (on good roads, mind you), causing me to switch to 26x1.5's @ 85psi and never look back. And we're talking about a bike that sets a standard for comfort, with its quality seat and long wheelbase. The more I read, the closer I get to buy one of these. Thanks.

Notice his screen name.......

 

[treker]

Lets get down to some details:
1. What is the wheelbase?
2. What is the length of the top of the horizontal bar the seat rests on?
3. What is the height of this bar, from the top to the ground?
4. If you have made multi day trips, how far? what components, tires, & (psi) did you use?
5. Would bike shoes and clip in pedals be an asset? Would platform pedals and tennis or sandals be a problem?

It appears that the frame is made in Tiawan and the bike assembled in Fayettville NC. Since I am in that area about twice a year it may be be possible to pick one up at the factory. Could one be assembled with components supplied by the customer? Barring that, What components are available?

I like it, now to find space in my garage.

 

[John Tolhurst]

1, 2 and 3: are pretty well covered in this document, I think. http://www.cruzbike.com/SofriderV2-DougBurton.pdf

Clipping in will transform the ride

Bike is 95% assembled in Taiwan, the NC facilities don't run to component swaps.