Hey guys,
I'm new here and pretty new to touring as well... Coming to ask the experts for some help
So far I’ve been doing some 50-70km day trips over weekends and I ride to work every day (20km round trip) – and would like to get into some more serious touring – doing to 2-3 days trips occasionally and in a few months I want to ride from Melbourne to Sydney (~1,000km coz I don’t want to do it via the highway), and the Great Ocean Rd (~400km).
Right now I ride an entry level mountain bike (Shogun Trailbreaker II), which is awright for the city, but I want to buy a bike that’d be more suitable for touring.
So… I’ve had a look and got to the conclusion that I want a relatively light bike, strong, and that would have at least the eyelets for a back pannier (I don’t think I’ll do much self supported touring).
The two bikes that caught my eye are the Specialized Sequoia Elite (http://www.freedommachine.com.au/frame_welcome.htm) and the Giant OCR Tourer (http://www.cycleworks.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=15613#72792).
Pro and Cons?
The Specialized has carbon seat stays and fork – is it actually a good thing or a bad thing? Would it be as strong as aluminum? (I’m not a heavy rider, I weigh less than 50kg, and when touring probably won’t carry more than max 15-20kg). I don’t like the suspension seat pole and will change it to a plain aluminum/carbon one. The tires seem too skinny as well (25mm) and will have to be changed. The groupset is a 105 like the OCR Tourer.
And the OCR… it’s about a grand cheaper. The guy at the shop said that it won’t be a problem to change the brakes from disk breaks to Shimano v-breaks. But I couldn’t find much info about the OCR Tourer, the shop that sells it doesn’t have the full specifications online, and I can’t find any 2005 OCR Tourers, not even at Giant’s website, and it doesn’t look like the previous models. The OCR has eyelets for front panniers as well, so if one day I’ll decide to go on a full on touring experience I’ll be able to with no qualms (but then again, I don’t think that there’s a strong chance that it’ll happen, and worse case scenario I’d always be able to put a different for on the Sequoia…)
As you can see I’m a very confused puppy… which do you reckon would be a better bike for some touring and daily commuting?
Thanks heaps,
A confused begginer
I'm new here and pretty new to touring as well... Coming to ask the experts for some help
So far I’ve been doing some 50-70km day trips over weekends and I ride to work every day (20km round trip) – and would like to get into some more serious touring – doing to 2-3 days trips occasionally and in a few months I want to ride from Melbourne to Sydney (~1,000km coz I don’t want to do it via the highway), and the Great Ocean Rd (~400km).
Right now I ride an entry level mountain bike (Shogun Trailbreaker II), which is awright for the city, but I want to buy a bike that’d be more suitable for touring.
So… I’ve had a look and got to the conclusion that I want a relatively light bike, strong, and that would have at least the eyelets for a back pannier (I don’t think I’ll do much self supported touring).
The two bikes that caught my eye are the Specialized Sequoia Elite (http://www.freedommachine.com.au/frame_welcome.htm) and the Giant OCR Tourer (http://www.cycleworks.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=15613#72792).
Pro and Cons?
The Specialized has carbon seat stays and fork – is it actually a good thing or a bad thing? Would it be as strong as aluminum? (I’m not a heavy rider, I weigh less than 50kg, and when touring probably won’t carry more than max 15-20kg). I don’t like the suspension seat pole and will change it to a plain aluminum/carbon one. The tires seem too skinny as well (25mm) and will have to be changed. The groupset is a 105 like the OCR Tourer.
And the OCR… it’s about a grand cheaper. The guy at the shop said that it won’t be a problem to change the brakes from disk breaks to Shimano v-breaks. But I couldn’t find much info about the OCR Tourer, the shop that sells it doesn’t have the full specifications online, and I can’t find any 2005 OCR Tourers, not even at Giant’s website, and it doesn’t look like the previous models. The OCR has eyelets for front panniers as well, so if one day I’ll decide to go on a full on touring experience I’ll be able to with no qualms (but then again, I don’t think that there’s a strong chance that it’ll happen, and worse case scenario I’d always be able to put a different for on the Sequoia…)
As you can see I’m a very confused puppy… which do you reckon would be a better bike for some touring and daily commuting?
Thanks heaps,
A confused begginer