Touring on Full Suspension- am I nuts?

[skelonas]

I'm planning a 4-6 month tour of Europe and am trying to sort out a few things.

First of all, I'd like to tour on a full suspension GT idrive mtn bike. I haven't seen too much discussion of touring on FS. Please tell me if I'm crazy, but my reasons are:
1. It's all I have right now and don't feel like buying another bike
2. I did a week long tour in Korea on it and it worked fine. In fact, it was quite nice to have suspension on bumpy roads and dirt.
3. I'm a mountain biker at heart and would like to take as many off road/singletrack routes as possible (even though the majority of miles will be on road). In Korea I did this using performance brand fastrac 1.9 tires (very light tread with knobs on corners only).
4. I'm not on a budget of time, so speed is not too much of an issue.

My possible concerns would be:
1. It may be significantly slower/more painful (don't get me wrong though, I'm a 24 hour mtn. bike racer so I'm willing to face a reasonable amount of pain).
2. Maintance issues. I tend to think that my alum frame, manitou fork, fox rearshock, and double wall wheels are bombproof, and that the amount of abuse I've put them through on rugged trails is so much more than they'll take on roads fully loaded. Everybody is so big on steel, but my thought is that modern alum mtn. bike frames are made to take lots of abuse. Any thoughts?
3. Loading. I got an old man mountain rear rack used (mounts via the axel skewer) and suspension fork racks are around $50, but it still may be an issue.
4. Theft. My bike's only worth about $500 I'd say, but it still worries me (vs. a cheap old steel rigid bike).

One more thing... My current sleeping bag is a 0 deg, 5 pound qualliofil bag. Is that beyond what is considered a reasonable weight for a touring bag? I would like the warmth, and do not want to spend $300 to save 2 pounds. I also like the fact that I can get it wet and it will still be warm. My tent is 4.5 lbs, and I'll pack light otherwise. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

 

[daveornee]

I'm planning a 4-6 month tour of Europe and am trying to sort out a few things.

First of all, I'd like to tour on a full suspension GT idrive mtn bike. I haven't seen too much discussion of touring on FS. Please tell me if I'm crazy, but my reasons are:
1. It's all I have right now and don't feel like buying another bike
2. I did a week long tour in Korea on it and it worked fine. In fact, it was quite nice to have suspension on bumpy roads and dirt.
3. I'm a mountain biker at heart and would like to take as many off road/singletrack routes as possible (even though the majority of miles will be on road). In Korea I did this using performance brand fastrac 1.9 tires (very light tread with knobs on corners only).
4. I'm not on a budget of time, so speed is not too much of an issue.

My possible concerns would be:
1. It may be significantly slower/more painful (don't get me wrong though, I'm a 24 hour mtn. bike racer so I'm willing to face a reasonable amount of pain).
2. Maintance issues. I tend to think that my alum frame, manitou fork, fox rearshock, and double wall wheels are bombproof, and that the amount of abuse I've put them through on rugged trails is so much more than they'll take on roads fully loaded. Everybody is so big on steel, but my thought is that modern alum mtn. bike frames are made to take lots of abuse. Any thoughts?
3. Loading. I got an old man mountain rear rack used (mounts via the axel skewer) and suspension fork racks are around $50, but it still may be an issue.
4. Theft. My bike's only worth about $500 I'd say, but it still worries me (vs. a cheap old steel rigid bike).

One more thing... My current sleeping bag is a 0 deg, 5 pound qualliofil bag. Is that beyond what is considered a reasonable weight for a touring bag? I would like the warmth, and do not want to spend $300 to save 2 pounds. I also like the fact that I can get it wet and it will still be warm. My tent is 4.5 lbs, and I'll pack light otherwise. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

You will be slower than you would be on a drop bar touring bicycle without the knobs on the tires... except when you use all the features off road.
Shocks take maintenance & rebuilds. If you know what the re-build cycles are you can plan to get the kits (or have the work done at a place you would like along the way).
Old Man Mountain racks are great. I would keep what you have in the way of tent and bag if they already work for you. Keep the load is light and tightly packed (and orderly as you can).
Theft is always a potential problem. Use all the cautions you have learned, but keep you bicycle, bags, etc. with you as much as you can. Even a small cable with loops on the ends with a small lock can be worth the weight as a deterrent to most thieves. I don't know the minds of potential thieves, but I don't think you bicycle will put you into a statistical "most attactive" list.
Enjoy the journey!

 

[skelonas]

So I assume you don't think I'm nuts! Not too worried about the shocks- maintenance is easy and the only load on them will be my weight on mostly roads. The off road stuff will be much less abuse than I typically put them through daily mountain biking.

You will be slower than you would be on a drop bar touring bicycle without the knobs on the tires... except when you use all the features off road.
Shocks take maintenance & rebuilds. If you know what the re-build cycles are you can plan to get the kits (or have the work done at a place you would like along the way).
Old Man Mountain racks are great. I would keep what you have in the way of tent and bag if they already work for you. Keep the load is light and tightly packed (and orderly as you can).
Theft is always a potential problem. Use all the cautions you have learned, but keep you bicycle, bags, etc. with you as much as you can. Even a small cable with loops on the ends with a small lock can be worth the weight as a deterrent to most thieves. I don't know the minds of potential thieves, but I don't think you bicycle will put you into a statistical "most attactive" list.
Enjoy the journey!

 

[alfeng]

"YES" to the warmest sleeping bag you have ...

You probably want drop/(road) bars ...

Consider a set of TruVativ TEAM road handlebars ... presuming that they would be similar to OTHER ergonomic bars where the brake mounting area was narrower than the measured size (at the bar ends), I got a pair of 46cm bars thinking that the brake mounting area would be closer to 44cm, and the net position of the hoods would be around 43cm/whatever -- the brake mounting area is 46cm (or, whatever the particular size you select). Since you are a MTB rider, you will probably find the wider bars more comfortable.

ALSO, consider a pair of pre-2007, Campagnolo Centaur-or-Veloce 10-speed shifters -- use the hubbub.com alternate rear derailleur cable anchor position (at 3 o'clock) to index them to a 9-speed Shimano/SRAM cassette with a Shimano 8-/9-speed standard pull MTB rear derailleur.

The Campagnolo ERGO shifters can shift when under load almost effortlessly -- a good thing!

Bring a pair of goggles that will fit over your eyewear ... plus, at least one disposable-type dust mask (if you find that you use it once, you'll probably use it several times, so don't throw it away until the trip is completed!) ... bring more sun screen than you think you'll need/use ... bring a cap/hat for when you are off the bike.

A Brooks-type leather saddle (B17, regular width) will probably be more comfortable toward the end of each day since the leather dissipates the heat better than vinyl-or-leather over foam over a plastic platform can.

A hardtail with a suspension seatpost would probably be slightly better because of the reduced weight ... but, what the heck ... a couple of pounds here for the sleeping bag ... a few more pounds for the suspension/etc. If you have to, you can always pause and look at the scenary OR just walk up the last few yards/meters of each switchback.

 

[cruisin]

If you mount a front rack onto suspension forks make sure you do a fully laden shake down tour before you go as you may have major handling problems from front end wobbles (I found out the hard way).
I always tour with mountain bike type bars with bar ends and do not feel comfortable with drops. I also believe mountain bike bars are safer in an emergency giving more leverage for control.
As to aluminium versus steel, my new tourer is aluminium with a ridgid chromoly fork, mainly because it is not easy to find a production steel bike in Australia that is really suitable for offroad touring.
I personally would worry about an aluminium frame that has done a lot of work as I have had four aluminium mountain bike frames break, usually without warning.