Sequoia Elite Good for Touring?
- Thread starter barrabus
- Start date
barrabus said:
I saw one in a cross country tour... broken down in a shop.
Front wheel with minimal spokes and radially laced... not good for touring.
Rear wheel minimal spokes... not good for touring.
Front fork without lowrider eyelets... not good for touring.
High gearing... not good for touring.
The women riding it was having the wheels, crankset, and front derailer replaced. She was towing a trailer and struggling with every grade. Both wheels were shot due to broken spokes and bent rims.
I think it would be OK for unloaded riding.. and it does have eyelets for fenders and a rear rack... so it could be used for commuting with a light rider.
I have a friend who owns a shop that deals Specialized. He has had very good support from Specialized.
He also carries Bianchi. The Bianchi Volpe is a very nicely equipped bicycle for loaded touring. The only fault I fid with it is the chainstays are only 425 mm.... so if you don't have very small feet you heels will hit the panniers.
There are others out there like Jamis Aurora that look good for loaded touring.
I have a 2004 Sequoia Elite that is 100% stock except for heavier wider tires and the saddle. Although I don't use it for touring, I weigh 245 LBS, which I'm willing to bet is more than your girlfriend and her extra baggage.barrabus said:
I've put just under 800 miles on it this summer and the wheels are as true as the day I brought it home. I can't even say that about my MTB. On my MTB I was having to true up the rear wheel every couple of weeks until it finally stabilized. That was probably due to a bad factory wheel build more than any abuse. I ride pavement only and don't do drops or anything silly.
The only problem I've had with the Sequoia is the 12 tooth cog was not put on the cassette correctly. A very easy fix if you have the tools. I didn't even notice it until I was washing and degreasing the bike. Fortunatly there was no damage done as I don't use that gear.
Doctor Morbius said:I have a 2004 Sequoia Elite that is 100% stock except for heavier wider tires and the saddle. Although I don't use it for touring, I weigh 245 LBS, which I'm willing to bet is more than your girlfriend and her extra baggage.
I've put just under 800 miles on it this summer and the wheels are as true as the day I brought it home. I can't even say that about my MTB. On my MTB I was having to true up the rear wheel every couple of weeks until it finally stabilized. That was probably due to a bad factory wheel build more than any abuse. I ride pavement only and don't do drops or anything silly.
The only problem I've had with the Sequoia is the 12 tooth cog was not put on the cassette correctly. A very easy fix if you have the tools. I didn't even notice it until I was washing and degreasing the bike. Fortunatly there was no damage done as I don't use that gear.
I have 50,000+ miles of loaded touring experience.
The two most common problems that I find with other touring cyclist I have met is wheels and gearing. The woman I mentioned in my previous posting was in very good shape, had already ridden the bicycle, unloaded for 2,500 miles; but when she put on the dead weight of her touring load she struggled with the gearing not being low enough and having the wheels come apart.
I have never heard anyone touring wishing they had 28 total less spokes in their wheels or higher gearing.
Perhaps their LBS could swap out the wheels, tires and rear cassette? The lowest gearing on a stock Seq. Elite would be 30t in front and 28t in the rear. Since it has a long cage 105 rear derailure, a mountain cassette should fit in there nicely.daveornee said:
I have lower back problems so I find the Sequoia a pretty comfortable bike to ride. It seems to be made fairly well also, although it is a tad on the heavy side but so am I.
As for the wheels holding up, I'm sure everyone's mileage will vary. I am suprised (and quite pleased) with as few spokes as the wheels have that they are staying true. As I said previously, the rear wheel on my MTB was going out of whack every couple of weeks and it has 32 spokes. I had even bought a new set of wheels to remedy the problem (LX hubs laced to Sun's BMF rims) and right after they were delivered I seemed to have finally put the correct tension on the spokes on the original rear wheel as it has not needed any adjustments for a couple of months. It's always nice to have a backup set of wheels though!
