Well I sold my IronHorse SGS Freeride bike. I plan on building up another mountain bike but my interests have shifted to touring right now. So I bought a Surly Long Haul Trucker frameset from the guys at The Path Bikeshop. Here it is including some other stuff I've collected so far. The color is called Utility Blue. I got the Bontrager stem for 5 bucks at a clearance table at a bike shop in Riverside, perfect length and rise too and some water bottle holders for a buck each. A friend sent me the Walrus Micro Swift one person tent and the MSR Whisperlite Int'l stove for free My next purchase is a set of wheels being built by the guys at The Path, a set of Mavic A719 700c rims, DT Swiss Alpine III butted spokes, and Shimano XT Hubs 36 hole. Tires will be Schwalbe Marathon Supreme's in 700 x 35
Nice, I am still playing with the idea of a touring bike but more of a dirt touring bike, will build it around a Niner Air-9 frame. Or a custom built frame. Mavic 719A's are strong rims but no where near strong as in a 26 inch wheel. I was surprized how easy it was to but a wobble into my front rim. I got out off control on Catcus and stuffed my front wheel into a dirt bank resulting in a out of true wheel. Done that tons of times with my Mavic 721's without any problems.
Cool idea. I have always wanted to do the same. What will you do for cargo? Panniers, Bob trailer, backpack? There is a nice Tom Kenney thread (really old) on SoCalMTB about dirt touring around Mt. Gleason.
Try to make sure the frame you are going to use has a chainstay length of at least 18" so your heels won't keep hitting the panniers, unless you plan on using a BOB Ibex. The LHT can take gravel roads and buffed singletrack OK.
I'm on the fence about this one in more ways then one. Do I build my ultimate road bike? Or do I build a touring bike? And if I do build a touring bike will it be for the road or the dirt or both? I've been reading about a ride that takes place thru the Rockies and starts in Canada and finishes in Mexico.You cross over the Continental Divide like a dozen times or so. I don't have the time to do the whole thing, but I was thinking of starting to plan an adventure and see how far I might get in say 30 days??? I was told by a friend they also have a ride like this that is done by a touring company and you are somewhat supported.
After seing what the guys are riding on Mt. Zion Trail days I am leaning towards a trailer. Part of what I am thinking is to ride into someplace and set up camp and ride out of a base camp. I think a trailer better fits that.
For panniers I'll probably be using Ortlieb waterproof panniers from TheTouringStore.com but I might just cheap out and get something cheaper that uses a rain fly. What about the Karate Monkey from Surly? It has front and rear eyelets for mounting a rack, you can bring foldable 700c tires for when you are doing long stretches of paved road and use MTB 29" tires for doing the Great Divide trail. Well if you do decide to use panniers, that should effect the frame material you chose. For fully loaded touring with panniers, steel is the way to go. The Air 9 bike with an Ibex trailer would be sick too.
For me it is between the Air 9 and there is a guy in Santa Ana that is making custom steel frames for $650 unpainted. He will weld you up anything you want. Tani at the Path rides a purple Singlespeed that he made.
If you guys haven't already checked out the Bike Forum Tour forum you really should. The forum is a great source for information. There are tons of threads on the LHT. Have you considered getting on of those Schmidt hubs that power headlights? See this thread for tons of great information on long distance night riding. Also check out my thread on lightweight camping.
I had thought about a cyclocross bike for my commute. I still might get one eventually. I thought it would be cool to take a CX bike up in the hills. I, too, would love to do an extended tour like you guys are talking about.
