Touring on a commuter bike?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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daydreamer
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Jan 2014, 10:00pm

Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by daydreamer »

Hi

I am looking to buy a new bike for my daily commute to work but would like it to double up as my mode of transport when I head off for my yearly 3 week bike tour. My tours could be anywhere in the world and on uneven, potholed roads cycling up to 100kms a day, may even have some gentle off road punishment also, all of this whilst being laiden down with heavy panniers.
The bike in question is;
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... 0#features

I have enquired about this and had some conflicting advice, one person has said it would be ideal whereas another advised me it wouldn't even cope with coming off or onto pavements (the deep rims would buckle) both of these worked in bike shops.

Would anybody here be able to shed some light, does anyone own this bike and can give me some advice on it, I know the ideal option is to buy a tourer but I would be doing more commuting than touring.

Thank you all very much in advance.

M
thornie1543
Posts: 162
Joined: 12 Feb 2015, 6:30pm
Location: Port talbot.

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by thornie1543 »

I has a sirrus hybrid and I certainly woundn't have wanted to put loaded paniers on it,more because the wheels didn't look up to it,but I had the bottom of the range and the wheels were quite cheap looking but I wouldn't imagine those wheels were made for loaded touring either but more for lightweight speed.But I,m just guessing as I don't know ,maybe get a tougher set of wheels you could swap onto that bike when you go on your tour if your budget stretches that far.
Personally I,d just get a tourer and commute on it if it was me(sorry not much help really:/)
hamster
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Joined: 2 Feb 2007, 12:42pm

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by hamster »

Budget is of course the issue, but I would consider as some default options:
Dawes Galaxy for something all-round
Hewitt Cheviot slightly more road oriented.
Surly Long Haul Trucker / Salsa Vaya / Planet-X Kaffenback for something a bit tougher.
Surly Troll / Ogre at the bombproof end of the scale

This is by no means an exhaustive list and I will get shot down in flames shortly for not mentioning others!
Tangled Metal
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Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by Tangled Metal »

The older models had 32 hole wheelset so I guess this does too. similarly 14g spokes. not sure what this means but it is not marketed as anything other than a simple road commuter / leisure bike. That is capable of going fast despite the upright position but unlikely to do so and not the sort of hybrid to go off road (those tend to have a 64mm travel front suspension. Also the Zertz inserts are sold as offering a degree of damping but I read somewhere that the insert has little effect it is only likely to get any damping from the hole that the insert goes in on the forks.

If you are looking at the bike in the link I would say that you have the budget to get a tourer of a reasonable spec. There is no reason why a tourer can not make a perfect commuter for you. If you are doing a proper 3 week tour every year then you are doing enough to warrant getting the right bike for that. Can I suggest you look at Spa Cycles tourer? Alternatively look at ridgeback. For a faster style of touring capable bike perhaps look at a Kona one. It used to be more touring but now has gone a bit fashionable gravel racer with pannier racks as standard and as a result the reviews seem to put it as a more leisure/commuter type bike that is still up for a bit of touring.

IIRC for £80 more you can get a Surly Long Haul Trucker. Worth considering that but not if you are doing it as a cycle to work bike obviously.
Merry_Wanderer
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Joined: 31 Aug 2012, 9:33am
Location: North Leicestershire

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by Merry_Wanderer »

Spa Cycles steel framed tourer is £50 less and would be a quicker ride, able to cope with some light off road cycling and will happily carry a load of gear. Surly Troll, also a steel frame is at the other end of the spectrum and will handle anything offroad but has straight bars and a more upright position and can be had for the same money. As an alternative to the Cycle to work scheme would your employer give you a 12 month loan to buy a bike? I had a look at the CTW scheme and decided it didn't offer me what I wanted and found that my employer gives 12 month interest free loans to buy rail season tickets and bikes. I will repay the money in 12 equal payments from my salary. Some of the best bikes aren't available on the CTW scheme
bohrsatom
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Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by bohrsatom »

I toured 3700 miles over four months on my non-disc sirrus comp. I didn't have front panniers (carbon fork) but carried two rear panniers, a tent on the rear rack and a bar bag. Before leaving I bought some 36 spoke wheels as I wasnt sure of the strength of the stock wheel set, but they would probably have been fine as well. My girlfriend toured with me on a specialised vita without new wheels and she had no troubles whatsoever.

My bike was my commuter before embarking on the trip. I actually wanted to buy a dedicated tourer but couldn't find a good reason to do so!
Last edited by bohrsatom on 19 Oct 2015, 10:38pm, edited 1 time in total.
DevonDamo
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Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by DevonDamo »

You can tour on it! I tour on a Kona Dew Deluxe which is a similar spec to that one. I have huge rear panniers heavily loaded, and I bump up the occasional kerb - it's never complained It regularly goes on rough stuff and gets slammed through pot-holes, as have all my bikes of various types. I did once buy a supermarket bike (Claud Butler Urban 100) whose silly wheels broke after a few years - so I bought some different ones and it's still going strong as my pub bike.
pwa
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Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by pwa »

The ideal commuter (unless you need a folder for taking on a train) is a tourer. I commuted for 18 years on tourers, passing bikes like the one you are looking at. A tourer is good at lots of things. As for riding up and down curbs, only an MTB can cope with that, and they are slow. And you should get off when you are on the pavement anyway.
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daydreamer
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Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by daydreamer »

Thank you for all your replies - gives me food for thought, a lot of food but great to have so much advice to work with :)

I am purchasing it on the Bike to Work scheme so £1000 is my limit, no loans are provided from my employer therefore I am stuck to the BTW scheme.
I am going to have a play on both the sirrus and a tourer and see how I both feel when cycling through the city.

Once again - Thank you for your advice, highly appreciated and very helpful.

P.S. pwa, I don't actually ride on pavements, it was the shop assistant using that as a metaphor to advise me on how fragile the wheels could be.
pwa
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Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by pwa »

Ah! I see. People who are new to cycling don't always know that wheels can be damaged, so I suppose warning about curbs makes sense.
Tangled Metal
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Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by Tangled Metal »

One thing some people say for commuting the upright position of the hybrids like the sirrus to see better in traffic, but I have never had any problem with a lower road bike position. Also the road bike position gives a better riding position for speed (if that is your thing) or tourers are more upright but still in a better position than hybrids based around the MTB. Just my view. I went hybrid and regretted it not least because it was really hard work fighting the headwind in autumn on it.
DevonDamo
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Joined: 24 May 2011, 1:42am

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by DevonDamo »

Sound like the bloke in your bike shop is just trotting out the standard line rather than talking from experience. You can bump up kerbs on a racing bike if you do it right - I started doing this as a paper boy over 30 years ago and the only pinch-puncture I've ever had was a couple of months ago on a wrecked dahon folder (purchased on a police stolen property auction) with duff tyres and tubes. Since it's had new rubber it's been happily bumped up all the kerbs necessary to get onto the various shared bike paths on my commute. Whenever going over any acute obstacle, you must always slow down and unload your weight from the front then the back wheel as each goes over - typically with a little wheelie or bunny hop.

If you listen to this bloke in the shop, you'll probably end up with a 'specialist' touring bike. That's great if you want it, but if you're after a cheapish bike that commutes and tours, then I'd say you've already found one. (The point about wind-resistance above is more the sort of thing you ought to be thinking about - i.e. do you like how the thing fits you and rides?)
Tompsk
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Joined: 6 Nov 2014, 9:35am

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by Tompsk »

You could do allot worse than:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/eastway-st10-2014/

Reynolds steel framed tourer / commuter with strong wheels, rack and guard mounts front and rear with canti brakes. Comes with guards.

Discounted to £450 which is a steal for an ok quality steel :-)

Looking at other reviews the frame is a bit long and nose down for me, so I went one size smaller than norm and flipped the stem. Front changer is a bit clunky, rear good, I may change front to '105 to see if any better and fit a 48 or 46 big chainring to bring the gears down a bit. A bit of toe overlap on the 'small'. I'm very happy so far.
Last edited by Tompsk on 1 May 2015, 3:59pm, edited 1 time in total.
MarkF
Posts: 436
Joined: 4 Apr 2011, 10:20am

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by MarkF »

thornie1543 wrote:I has a sirrus hybrid and I certainly woundn't have wanted to put loaded paniers on it,more because the wheels didn't look up to it,but I had the bottom of the range and the wheels were quite cheap looking but I wouldn't imagine those wheels were made for loaded touring either but more for lightweight speed.But I,m just guessing as I don't know ,maybe get a tougher set of wheels you could swap onto that bike when you go on your tour if your budget stretches that far.
Personally I,d just get a tourer and commute on it if it was me(sorry not much help really:/)


Like "bohrsatom", I toured loaded on a Sirrus. I bought a used basic Sirrus Sport for £200 and immediately rode it across Spain, without any issues at all. I've toured on hybirds since selling my tourer over 5 years ago now, zero problems to date.
nmnm
Posts: 470
Joined: 14 Nov 2010, 6:03pm

Re: Touring on a commuter bike?

Post by nmnm »

Yeah, great bike for commuting. Great for back panniers up to 10 or 15kg on holiday in france etc, if you are under 14 stones yourself. Not what I'd pick for heavy-duty use down through remote amazonian firetracks or rougher bits of Africa, if that's really what you mean by 3 weeks anywhere in the world.
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