UKH

I've been getting nostalgic for my cycle-touring days ! Health problems have put out of reach much in the way of alpine climbing, therefore riding a bike seems a better proposition !

My bike at the beginning of the 80's was a Carlton Corsair. I made a number of changes to the equipment, notably the wheels which I found very weak in the spoke department. I became expert in using the spoke-key !

The big question is what to buy today ? I have no interest in mountain-biking whatsoever, so it would be exclusively a 'road-bike'. I also do not want to spend 'silly money' on something. No point in spending hundreds extra on forks as, with any bike and cyclist, they will hardly make any difference at all to my performance.

I regularly check E-bay to see what's on offer second-hand; there's even a decent Carlton Corsair on offer at the moment , starting bid £140 ! Perhaps for reliability, I'd better avoid a museum-piece ! A Cannondale Tour would appear to be a good choice and there was an excellent example on offer for £500.

Over to you. Any reccommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

In reply to Pyreneenemec:




Don't buy a second hand bike off of eBay if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.

In reply to Pyreneenemec: Buying off e-bay? A friend bought a rather nice bike for £1000, about a year later, the police came knocking on his door - it was stolen.

In reply to Frank4short & Mark Kemball

"Buying off e-bay? A friend bought a rather nice bike for £1000, about a year later, the police came knocking on his door - it was stolen."



Sure, I'm no idiot ! I was just checking E-bay for ideas, price range etc

In reply to Pyreneenemec: I love my Surly Crosscheck for touring, commuting, and even offroad. Simple as you can get steel frame although the brakes leave something to be desired. There are many cyclocross bikes out there with disk brakes now and if I get another one I would seriously consider one of those.

Saying that, I think I may try some mini-V brakes first and see what kind of improvement I get out of those.

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/cross_check

In reply to Pyreneenemec:

There are probably some very nice s/h Cervelos about to find their way on to the market -- the Garmin team truck was recently 'emptied' overnight during the Tour Mediterranee in the south of France forcing the team to withdraw from the race!

In reply to Pyreneenemec: when buying second hand the following sites will help eliminate stolen bikes http://www.checkmend.com/uk/ and http://www.bikeshepherd.org/ this is assuming that the owner has said bike registered at either immobilise or bike Shepard which is free to do.

As for what bike..... There is plenty of choice out there that take panniers, go and have a look in a local bike shop and see if they do test rides.

In reply to sleavesley: If you're on a limited budget have a look at the Edinburgh cycle coop. they have some own brand touring bikes which have a lot of spec for not a lot of cash.

In reply to Pyreneenemec: I’ve recently been through this; here’s my half peneth:
The recent trend towards using cyclo cross bikes for light n fast touring is well founded; but cross bikes have one or two disadvantages: race oriented bikes will have too narrow a gear ratio spread for touring being designed for races where the top speeds aren’t huge and steep climbs are done by carrying the bike. The handling will be nervous too, especially when loaded with luggage. And you won’t be able to put font panniers on many of them. Lastly the ride will likely not be exactly plush. That said, Ive just bought a Pinnacle Arkose from Evans and I’m very happy with it: great blend of speed and comfort. The Arkose is cross style but its really an audax wanabe with a bit of off-road capability so it suits my needs to a tee.
Second option is a traditional touring bike. Think Dawes Horizon or Ridgeback Voyage. Either would be much more like your Carlton than a cross bike, if only for the frame material, but with the added benefits of a comfy ride position and modern shifters n brakes. (Speaking of which, disc brakes may seem like overkill but I have them on both my mtb and roadbike and I wouldn’t go back to rim brakes if you paid me!) Another plus to a trad tourer is having a full set of braze ons for panniers etc; the bike’s geometry will also have been designed for riding with panniers which makes things much more pleasant when you’re loaded.
Whatever you buy make sure you can get tyres between 28 and 35mm wide on and still have clearance for mudguards.
Hope the above helps; anything more specific just ask n I’ll do my best to help.

In reply to Pyreneenemec: As Tony said, have a look at EBC’s bikes:

http://road.cc/content/review/19389-revolution-country-explorer

In reply to Pyreneenemec:


One of my relatives bought a second hand Dawes Galaxy (don't know if it was from eBay). It did need some work, but the overall cost gave him a great bike for much less than buying an equivalent new one.

I have still got my Raleigh Randonneur, which is about 20yrs old. If you see a second hand one they are well worth considering. See http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=134909 for some discussion about the Raleigh.

In reply to Pyreneenemec: Sounds like touring bike territory to me and as one of the earlier posters said, Dawes tourers have a brilliant reputation if they are in your price range. eBay is fine if you have an idea what youre after and if not I'll happily look over an ebay listing if you need help. Just ping an email to me and I'll see whats what. I've been biking 22 years and have bought mountain bikes, road bikes and now am usually found on an old Cyclocross bike.

In reply to BruceWee:

If it is set up as in the link with bar end shifters then you can get some Tektro V brake road levers and use full size Vs which will be much better than mini Vs.

In reply to BigBrother & al :-

Thanks for all the suggestions.