Our Steel Touring Bicycles: Technical Specs

We bought our our Robin Mather steel-framed touring bicycles in 2006 and took them on a 3-year world tour.

The top photos show the bikes as they originally looked, near the start of our epic tour.

After such an adventure (50,000km of pedalling), the bikes needed some work. In 2011, we rebuilt them to the specs listed below. You can also read more about the rebuilding process.

First, we’d like to share some thoughts on the rebuild:

1. These are meant to be sensible, basic touring bikes. Some people might say the components are a bit boring but we focused on simplicity and reliability. After all, these are not our only touring bikes.

2. If we were planning an extended tour (3+ months) in the near future, we would have plumped for more parts from Shimano’s Deore LX or XT range.

3. Many parts were cleaned and reused from the original bikes.

4. We’ve mixed and matched some parts from our Santos Travelmaster touring bicycles. For example, Andrew built a front wheel with dynamo hub (just like on Friedel’s steel bike) but that now sits on his Santos Travelmaster and the steel bike has the front wheel that came with the Travelmaster.

5. Total rebuild cost was about €500 for Andrew’s bike and €750 for Friedel’s bike. The most expensive things were the new paint job (€250) and – on Friedel’s bike – the dynamo wheel (€275). Originally, the bikes cost £1,500.

6. The current photos don’t show the totally complete bikes. One day we’ll take a picture with all the racks and accessories on the bikes. Nonetheless, we’ve listed everything that we plan to put on the bikes at this point.

We’re still not real ‘tech-heads’ so it’s possible that we’ve made a mistake or forgotten something on the list. If you have questions, get in touch and we’ll do our best to answer.

Bike #1 – Andrew’s Bicycle

Frame & Fork

Handmade from steel by British bike builder Robin Mather. This is a classic touring bike from top to bottom. Robin does beautiful work. It’s just a shame that he hasn’t been building bikes for several years now. The cost at the time (2006) for the custom frame and fork was £755.

Transmission

Bottom Bracket – Shimano BB-UN55 (68mm) new
Crankset – Shimano Alivio 42-32-22 with 175mm cracks (M431) new (similar to this crankset on Wiggle)
Rear Derailleur – Shimano Deore M531 (bought in New Zealand in 2009; the original Deore derailleur was nearly dead after about 40,000km)
Front Derailleur – Shimano Deore M530 original
Cassette – 9-speed Shimano Deore XT CS-HG50 new
Shifters – Shimano Deore M510 original

Wheels

Front Hub – Shimano Deore LX M580 new
Front Rim & Spokes – Exal SP19 rim (spokes unknown) new (built by Santos Bikes)
Rear Rim & Spokes – Sputnik Rigidia & Sapim 14-15 double-butted spokes new (self-built)
Front and Rear Tires – Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tourers, 26 x 1.75 new
Rear Hub – Shimano Deore LX T660 new
Front and Rear Fenders – SKS chromoplastic mudguards original

Steering

Handlebars – Profile ‘Bar None’ XC original
Stem – Bontrager Sport 110mm, 10° rise original (similar to this stem)
Headset – Cane Creek 40 EC34 new
Handlebar Grips – Ergon GP1 new (buy Ergon Grips at REI in the U.S. or Wiggle in the UK or for international orders.)

Brakes

Front & Rear Brakes – Shimano Deore LX M580 V-Brakes original
Teflon casing new

Seat

Seatpost – Selcof Team original
Saddle – Brooks B17 original

Racks

Front Rack – Tubus Ergo original (more on luggage racks)
Rear Rack – Tubus Logo original (more on luggage racks)

DMR V8 Pedals

Pedals

Pedals – DMR V8 Flat Pedals new

Accessories

GPS – Garmin 62S GPS

(more on GPS systems for bike touring)

Bike #2 – Friedel’s Bicycle