By Nick Legan
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by Nick Legan 10 ADVENTURE CYCLIST MARCH 2019 “Audit” IT’S A WORD NO ONE LIKES TO HEAR, but it’s a concept that comes up again and again in dozens (hundreds?) of conversations with readers every year. What do you ride? Where? And why? We’re not the IRS of bike buying — if you want to buy a bike based solely on paint color or because an athlete or ad convinced you ... join the club! The marketing fervor and hair’s-breadth category splitting of All Road, Gravel, Adventure, Touring, Bikepacking, and whatever other buzzword of the week obscures a broader truth: however you ride, wherever you ride, and whatever adventure you have planned, there’s a bike ready to take you there. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 11 The hardest part in writing a touring bike buyers guide is in first defining the term “touring bike.” After all, nearly any bicycle can and has been used for a tour. For that matter, what exactly is a bicycle tour? For many of us, touring evokes the image of a dropbar bicycle with front and rear racks and panniers on a long and winding paved road. For others, a touring bike is a means of transport between hotels or B&Bs, lightly loaded with a set of clothes and essentials. And for the dustier crowd, the conjured bicycle has fat off-road tires, flat bars, and a collection of soft luggage strapped to the handlebars, frame, and saddle. The bike and equipment needs for each of these cases vary drastically. To recommend a classic touring bike — with its long and low geometry and abundant rack and fender options — to you with aspirations for supported trips or weekend rides is to deny you the pleasure of a lighter, more spirited bicycle. Likewise, a mountain bike or bikepacking rig like Kona’s Sutra LTD will also function as a rack and pannier machine, but if the bike never sees dirt it may be a poor recommendation. Because the touring bike category is expanding (at last!), it’s important for you to audit your own needs and preferences and recognize that not all advice is directed at you. Just as important is to realize that there are no hard-and-fast rules, and no single parameter that guarantees success when touring. So have an honest look at how you ride and where you want to explore before diving into the rest of this GEOMETRY feature. Self-reflection will serve you well and maybe even save you some money. ILLUSTRATIONS BY DANIEL MRGAN DANIEL BY ILLUSTRATIONS 12 ADVENTURE CYCLIST MARCH 2019 Frame and Fork Geometry for Touring The last 10 years have seen extensive evolution in the Traditional touring bike geometry is typified by a slack realm of bicycle geometry. While much of the most radical head tube angle, high trail numbers, long chainstays, a long change has been in the mountain bike world, the road and wheelbase, and a low bottom bracket. Each of these has touring scenes have also experienced some significant shifts. a function or an intention behind it. The slack head tube Notably, endurance road bikes — with taller head tubes, angle and high trail figures make for predictable, stable lower bottom brackets, and more stable geometry — are now steering even with a front and rear load. Long chainstays ubiquitous. Gravel bikes have also blasted onto the dropbar keep the rear panniers away from a rider’s heels and scene with increased tire clearances, disc brakes, thru-axles, increase the overall wheelbase, further increasing stability. and plentiful accessory mounting locations. Bikepacking The low bottom bracket lowers the rider’s center of gravity, machines, often dropbar 29ers like the Salsa Fargo, are now reduces the distance from the saddle to the ground, and available from a whole slew of manufacturers. To say that enhances straightline riding. touring cyclists have options is an understatement in 2019. To put these ideas into figures, let’s look at two popular This raises the question of whether classic touring examples that typify touring geometry — Surly’s Disc geometry is still relevant. Before we answer that, let’s have a Trucker and Trek’s 520. Here are the important handling quick refresher on what that looks like and, more importantly, numbers for the 56cm 700c Surly and 57cm Trek: why those geometry figures have settled where they are. Trek 520 57cm Surly Disc Trucker 56cm 700c Head Tube Angle 71.8˚ 72˚ Fork Offset 52mm 45mm Trail 61mm (with 38mm tire) 67mm (with 37mm tire) BB Drop 70mm 78mm Chainstay 450mm 460mm Wheelbase 1052mm 1055.6mm ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 13 In addition to these geometry figures, touring bikes are category. Some gravel machines are trending toward built with heavier tubing to handle the increased load of mountain bike geometry (Salsa Warbird) with higher front and rear luggage. While certainly vital to the safety of a trail numbers, while others (Allied Allroad) are designed touring bike, this also has an impact on the ride quality and to mimic the handling of a road bike but with the added comfort of the bike, especially when ridden without a load. traction and comfort of wider tires. Because of this, you’ll It’s important to recognize that the combination of these want to look closely at the geometry of any potential gravel geometry and construction cues results in the handling purchase if you intend to use it for touring. Our examples manners of a touring bike. No single facet of bicycle geometry below illustrate the differences. The Warbird is more likely or construction is a magic bullet. Instead, think of them as to provide stable handling once a load is added (it also interplaying — each geometry figure impacts the next. features front and rear rack compatibility). The Allied, When we look at other options that are gaining use in while a great bike, is aimed at more performance-oriented touring circles, namely gravel, mountain, and bikepacking riding and won’t fare as well with a touring load (never mind bikes, there are geometry differences, and with good reason. that it doesn’t have rack mounts). These bikes are designed with a different sort of riding in Generally, a gravel bike will have shorter chainstays, mind, but that doesn’t mean they should be dismissed for limited only by drivetrain and tire clearances, than a touring. In fact, depending on how you tour, they may suit touring bike. Bottom brackets are kept low to maintain your needs better than a “classic” touring bike. stability, with many of them actually lower than a touring In the case of gravel, manufacturers are looking for a bike because of the larger tires used. Headtube angles and blend of stability, responsiveness, and maneuverability. fork offsets (and subsequently trail figures) vary widely But design philosophies vary widely in this still-emerging among gravel bikes. Salsa Warbird 56cm Allied Alfa Allroad 56cm Head Tube Angle 70.75˚ 73˚ Fork Offset 50mm 48mm Trail 71mm (with 40mm tire) 55mm (with 35mm tire) BB Drop 70mm 69mm Chainstay 430mm 420mm Wheelbase 1038.2mm 1007mm 14 ADVENTURE CYCLIST MARCH 2019 Modern mountain bikes have far slacker head tube angles, which are needed when tackling downhill trails at full tilt, than a touring bike. Chainstays are kept as short as possible in order to aid climbing. And bottom bracket heights, compared to a touring bike, are raised to increase clearance between crank arms and trail obstacles. Here are a couple of examples of hardtail (front suspension) mountain bikes for comparison. Both use the 29er wheelsize and are listed in the size equivalent to a 56cm dropbar bike. The Specialized is more XC-oriented with quicker steering and a 100mm travel fork, while the Niner, with a 120mm travel fork, is made with more aggressive technical riding in mind. Both would make excellent bikepacking bikes. The Niner even features rear rack mounts. Specialized Chisel Expert L Niner SIR 9 L Head Tube Angle 69.8˚ 68˚ Fork Offset 51mm 51mm Trail 83mm (with 2.3in. tire) 97mm (with 2.4in. tire) BB Drop 57.5mm 52mm Chainstay 430mm 430mm Wheelbase 1128mm 1162mm ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 15 Bikepacking bikes are perhaps the closest in their geometries to a touring bike, but with added tire clearance and mountain bike–inspired handling and bottom bracket heights. Again, there are reasons for these changes. Below are two dropbar options. It’s interesting to see such drastic differences in trail between the Kona and the Salsa. But chainstay lengths are identical with the sliding dropout on the Fargo in its shortest position. In addition to geometry differences are technological changes. Common among all three categories (though they are also seen on an increasing number of touring bikes) are thru-axles, which reliably position wheels with the exacting standards that are helpful with disc brakes. If you plan on running bikepacking bags, a single rack, or using a hybrid luggage system with either Kona Sutra LTD 54cm Salsa Fargo Apex 1 M (56 effective) Head Tube Angle 71˚ 69˚ Fork Offset 50mm 45mm Trail 71mm (with 45mm tire) 98mm (with 2.6in. tire) BB Drop 72mm 70mm Chainstay 445mm 445–462mm (sliding dropouts) Wheelbase 1059mm 1077–1093mm 16 ADVENTURE CYCLIST MARCH 2019 EXPLORE THE PRISTINE a front or rear rack and bikepacking bags, then traditional touring geometry figures are likely less important. And ADIRONDACKS significantly, if you only carry that much gear on rare occasions, you’ll be better served by a bike with a lighter, more compliant frame and fork. This means that the purchase of a gravel bike, especially one with rack mounts, may be more compelling for many riders than a classic touring bike.