^^ I agree. Such a sick photo.
Zimbale 7lt, waterproof canvas seat bag courtesy of Mark at Epic Cycles.
^I like.
Pubbike/beater/shopping bike/commuter (the commute is less than 10mins)
Old Lawrencia road frame, made out of spaghetti steel. 27inch with 700c wheels=lots of clearance for fenders and 35mm tyres (still looking for some). Tektro long reach calipers (most expensive part on the bike, but the original brakes were suicidal), cheap avid levers, cheap ass wheelset, fixed 44x17.
It’s a very comfy ride already, but am planning bigger tyres and a higher stem (bar height equal to milk crate height). Maybe swap the ghetto milk crate for a wald basket.
Awesome photo. This should have been entered into the Cyclingtips photo comp- ya would have won!
Jelmer, give it a free-wheel for bonus comfort!
I get annoyed by the grinding combination of cheap freewheel and riding all day every day rain or shine. And i don’t want to buy an expensive freewheel for it.
On the other hand, it would help with the horrible pedal strike i get when flying into Domain st from Toorak rd every morning…
I’ll enter it in next year’s comp if they run it again 
Here’s a bunch more photos from that ride, but that one’s the best I took!
Looking at doing a bit of tour(beard)ing this year, hopefully something quite large. Will likely just buy a complete, and am naturally looking at the long haul trucker, given that it’s so “tried and tested” so to speak. Any other bikes people would like to mention? Something solid and sick wicked would be ideal, but given that this is touring, just solid will do. And suggestions for racks / panniers? Haven’t looked so much at racks but I will likely just go for ortlieb panniers.
For a complete, LHT, LHT 26", LHT disc, Salsa Vaya, Vivente World Randonneur (this is really well specced).
Tubus racks.
Ortliebs for no questions waterproofness, Arkel if you want compartments.
Just postin my commuter…
just gt ava. 1.0, rigid fork, 1.125inch gators, upgraded brakes, mudguard, basket, etc
+1 on Vaya (my next bike) and Ortlieb, but you will need stuff sacks. I’m ordering Tubus rack this week.
How much stuff do you want to haul as a cross check or a good steel hardtail can also work well. I rode around the south of Ireland on a steel hardtail and it was good if you were having a couple of days break as you could drop the racks and off road explore, just my 2 cents.
Yeah this seems like a really cool idea actually, especially if I do NZ. Brands like on-one I guess?
Yeah something like the new version of the On-one Inbred (with ‘swopouts’) fitted with a cro-mo or carbon fork, or the Surly Karate Monkey would be pretty good for this. The majority of tourers I have seen traveling around New Zealand do it on hybrid/rigid MTBs. The obvious drawback that I could see with riding a flat bar tourer would be limited hand positions of regular flat/riser bars, but this would be an easy fix with the addition of bar ends or even better, fitting the hideously ugly but suited to the purpose Euro touring bars. Alternately if you look to run it with a 9-speed MTB rear derailleur and mechanical disc brakes (Avid BB7s), you’ll have the option running it as a Monstercross with (dirt) drops and bar end shifters.
I have done some of the Gravel Grinder rides on a chro-mo hardtail fitted with a suspension fork (80-100 km hilly gravel road rides), its not the easiest thing and certainly I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d be a different story on a MTB with rigid forks. The real benefit of going with a MTB/Monstercross is having a bike that is also fun to ride (off-road) when you’re not touring.
At the end of the day its all a matter of budget, if you have the dough the Salsa Fargo would be my choice for an off-the-shelf adventure tourer. The LHT, or the new Disc Trucker, is definitely the old faithful, and undoubtedly will work well as a loaded tourer but perhaps not as fun to ride otherwise - note it has seriously long chainstays and my friends that have them tend to have them as dedicated tourers because of this. And if your on a budget and are prepared to build something up it’d be definately worth looking at a On-one Inbred, and probably the 29er version (depending on your height, and the trade-off with wheel strength?).
Old Man Mountain makes lowrider racks that work with forks without rack mounts.
Cheers for the write-up, DICE. Lots of useful info. The Karate Monkey seems like a pretty fitting ride, I’m about 6’1 so I could definitely ride a 29er. I’d probably be going for front as well as rear racks, can that stock fork run a front rack? It doesn’t seem to have eyelets for one. My only issue with this mtb-touring/off-roading thing is the tyre width. What would be good for long long days on real roads as well as off-road funs? Tyre suggestions? Also, online store for Surly stuff?
I coverted my Voodoo Wanga 26" mtb from single speed into a fully blown touring machine. Admittedly the frame is probably a bit on the light side for heavy touring (lots and lots of flex) but once you get used to it it’s a pretty fun and stable ride. Like dice suggested, I went with bar ends to provide a different position for my hands, and they definitely come in handy… Also fitted BB7s, mudguards, Topeak rack on the rear and a cheapy on the front and the extremely durable (but fairly heavy) Geax Evolution tyres. Planning on getting a Tubus rack for the rear that’s designed for 26" so it sits a bit lower and has less flex, but that’s about it.
Oh and a kickstand. Comes in very handy when you’re loaded up with panniers and there’s no trees around!
Looking good. Barends are the go for long riding. My 26" bike now has a rigid fork and barends. Have done century rides on it without issue.
How do you find the Geax?
I’ve got the next version on mine and find they are a bit ‘buzzy’ for commuting/tarmac riding. On the plus side they are very comfy.
Sorry Lemontime, my mistake the Karate Monkey with rack mounts and the disc mount positioned to work with racks etc is actually called the “Ogre”. Universal Cycles sells them but I’ve never bought from them myself. I have bought stuff from JensonUSA before, and their shipping is reasonable, but they only sell the Troll (26" version). But why don’t you see how much Cheeky Transport can get one in for you? Dirtworks (Aussie Distributor) has them listed for $1899 complete (http://202.130.45.38:8080/products/products.aspx?CatalogView=Catalog&Text=ogre). The spec looks good enough to me. My only gripe would be the Deore hubs, and maybe - maybe - the Deore derailleurs (?) but you can always upgrade them sometime down the track if need be.
Re tyres: Something like a 1.9 - 2.1" tyre with a tight tread pattern such as a Kenda Small Block 8 or a Maxxis Larsen TT will be fast rolling on and off road - will not be good in mud but hey, whatever. The thing you will have to look out for is getting a version of the tyre with a harder compound to stop them wearing out too quick on the tarmac I would imagine - Maxxis sell their MTB tyres in various compounds. PS - 29" and 700c are one and the same. So depending on your rim width you can have a massive range of tyres to choose from.