Choosing An Expedition Touring Bike
Expedition bikes are the toughest machines available for bicycle touring.
They are eye-wateringly expensive. Plan on setting aside a minimum of $2,500 and as much as $5,000 for the bike, racks, pedals, saddle and of course a good lock! The price is justified by the fact that this is a bike that will last a lifetime. You can take it across continents, around the world or even on several circuits of the globe.
Because you might be riding on this bike for decades to come, do plenty of research. Start exploring the options as early as possible before your trip and certainly no later than 6 months before you leave. Some custom expedition tourers may take 3-4 months to build.
What distinguishes these bikes from cheaper touring bikes?
- A Robust Frame – The geometry is made to be as comfortable and durable as possible for long-distance touring under heavy loads.
- Custom Sizing – Many expedition touring bikes are made-to-measure or come in a wider range of sizes than the standard bicycle.
- Gearing Systems – Increasingly, expedition touring bikes come with a Rohloff Hub, an internally contained gearing system that eliminates the derailleur, keeps your transmission free of dirt and is virtually maintenance free. Belt drives are also sometimes available.
- Wheels – Many expedition bikes will have hand-built wheels, which are stronger than machine-built wheels. Wheels will ideally be 26″ so replacements can easily be found anywhere in the world, though many manufacturers offer a choice.
- Space for Wide Tires – There will be space for extra wide tires and mudguards.
- Quality Components – Everything on these bikes will be a high quality product, to minimize the chance of a break down in remote parts of the world.
Now that you know the basics, here are some specific brands of expedition touring bikes that you might consider. Click the photos of each bike for more information.
KOGA WORLD TRAVELLER |
 SANTOS TRAVELMASTER |
 THORN RAVEN TOUR |
 TOUT TERRAIN SILK ROAD |
BRUCE GORDON ROCK ‘N ROAD |
ROBERTS ROUGHSTUFF |
THORN RAVEN STERLING |
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Where do you start? Personal preference obviously pays a key role here. Starting with Drop bar or flat bar? Steel Aluminium? Titanium? 26″? 700c?
After riding both drop bar tourers and flat bar tourers I must admit I prefer a flat bar tourer (specifically butterfly bars) with 700c (28″) wheels. I favour the cannondale aluminium frames and usually custom build them to my own specification. You cant really go wrong with a mid-spec shimano groupset such as the Deore group, strong, rubust and good value for money and also available in 48T touring gear ratios. Ensure your wheels are double walled and eyeletted for strength. Many cyclists opt for 36H as they are stronger although all my tourers have been 32H and I have never seen this a problem. If you decide to build your own wheels ensure you choose good quality spokes. DT swiss offer double butted spokes which are strong and lightweight. If you feel that strength is more important, opt for the plain guage.
Spending money on good quality racks is paramount. Tubus offer some fantastic lightweight and strong racks, although pricey they will not let you down. Plus within two years of your purchase if the rack were to fail they will send a replacement for you wherever in the world you may be and within fives years will replace the rack. Blackburn and Tortec also produce good quality front and rear racks.
Nothing can rival the advice you can get from your local bike shop. No amount of online data can substiture the advice and experience from a long distance touring cyclist plus precise sizing can be determined.
Hope this helps
CALLUM
Hi Callum, some nice tips there. I completely agree with spending money on good racks and double-walled rims are iimportant too, though on any decent bike costing more than a few hundred dollars I’d be shocked to see single-walled rims.
FRIEDEL,
You would be surprised! I much prefer to build my own wheels rather than using stock wheels, nothing beats a hand built wheel. Currently using Mavic’s A317 Disc rims (700c) which I am very impressed with. Strong and light. My previous tourers where all 26″ (except the drop bar) and I used cross country rims (XC717 disc) and once again never missed a beat, never needed to retrue.
There isn’t a noticable difference in drivetrain components (deore, SLX, XT) although I would highly reccommend a Hollowtech 2 chainset on any setup, lighter, less tools, less maintanence and it will never damage your frame even if you are running it rough!
CALLUM
I’ve used a Mongoose Randonnier for the last few years with Alex Adventurer rims and Shimano XT components. Its been to China, cycled the Gibb River Road in Western Australia (carried 10 days food and up to 20 litres of water in 43C heat), been raced (Rainbow Rage) and in used for the odd mountain bike ride with no issues whatsoever.
Highly recommend and very well priced. Alloy frame very strongly built for loads and steel fork.
Drop bars (more hand positions) and bar end shifters (reduced risk of being stranded if fully loaded bike falls over and damages a brake lever) are my preference and 700c (28′) wheels smooth out the rough stuff.
Schrader valves good for very hot rides where valves melting around the tubes can be an issue on Presta valves.
Cheers,
Al
Al, do they still make this bike? I went on the Mongoose site but I don’t see it there.
These are all great choices for touring bikes and as the owner of two Thorn bikes including a Raven Tour I’d like to suggest that there is one more bike that should be added to the list. There are a lot of keen cyclists these days that like to mix touring and mountain biking. Thorn offer a bike called the STERLING which has MTB geometry and a suspension fork but the correct build and all the important essentials ( including the Rohloff speedhub) for serious touring.This is well worth considering because of it’s versatility.With a rack and fully loaded up, its a real touring bike, but you can also enjoy XC and singletrack mountain biking.I mention this because i think these days quite a few cyclists start off with an MTB and THEN find they want to try touring. This is perhaps the only bike designed from the ground up, to do both. Of course if you only plan to do road touring, any good quality bike like those shown above will do the job.
Steve J
Thanks Steve – I’ve just added it to the list. Interesting bike!
I think you are missing out on a factor that can significantly lessen your bike set up costs.
I tour with a Bob trailer, on an old hybrid road bike from the 1990’s, with 21 speed and mtn bike gearing. cost of the bike? $200
Sure I have renewed many components, gears, wheels, etc, but as the load of the bike is distributed across the bob, it means the bike itself doesn’t come under too much pressure.
The bob has been so heavy laden that bike flex meant I couldn’t take my hands off the handlebars, yet the bike itself suffered no breaks, damage, for over 8000kms at least. I used continental touring tires, 700’s and never had a puncture the entire life of the tyre.
All this I put down to the trailer reducing work on the bike, meaning that the equipment didn’t need to be so expensive, and thieves were not interested in stealing it.
Once when i was in Turkey, a local was so disparaging of the bike that I was sure no one wanted to steal it.
Gary, I’m preparing quite an extensive article (may turn into a series) on trailers so watch this space
You’re right, a trailer can take a load off the bike. It also means more parts to potentially break down on the trailer itself but it’s true that many people love their trailers.
Thanks Friedel for adding the Sterling to the list.It rides very smoothly indeed loaded with a tent and panniers as long as you balance things up ( which you should always do anyway) Cass Gilbert’s- While out riding – site gives a good idea of what this bike can do, and is worth tuning into for the pictures and inspiration alone! When you’re thinking of spending big money on a serious touring bike it’s nice to know all of the options out there! I’m lucky enough to be able to afford one, but I think it’s really cool that you can tour on a $200 dollar bike with a trailer too! Why not?
I do find that my bike is more than enough to manage at the airport though, so I’m not sure how I’d cope with a trailer too.( Any thoughts, advice, on that Gary?) It would be great once on the road though.
Will look forward to the article/series on trailers!
Friedel, Here is a page I made on the bob, I really like it, the only downside is the weight of the bob itself, it breaks down great for airplanes as well