nancy sv

I've always toured on a mountain bike - never ridden a touring bike at all. However, I developed pretty serious hand problems on our last trip - to the point of nearly having to call our trip off. I was able to make some pretty drastic changes to my handlebars and got the pain to a manageable level so we could continue. But - given that, comfort has taken on a whole new level of importance on our upcoming journey.

I'm seriously considering getting a touring bike - either the Novara Randonee or the Surley LHT. I think they would be more comfortable for such a long trip. However, there will be portions of our trip that will be on dirt roads. For the most part, we will stick to pavement, but we know we have 300 miles of dirt between Prudhoe Bay and Fairbanks and I'm sure we will want to get off-road a bit down in Central and South America.

So here's my question - how hard would it be to ride the touring bike on dirt roads? We would put the widest tires possible on it and would have some knobbies - not like great big mountain bike tires, but still fairly knobby. Would the touring bikes hold us back a lot? How much difference in comfort would there be between the mountain bike and touring bike - worth the price in flexibility? thanks for whatever input you have!

Nigeyy

Have you thought using road bars or a trekking bar on your mtb? Might be the easiest and cheapest solution.

eric von zipper

I'm curious about the height of your saddle compared to the handlebars. Is your saddle much higher than the bars? Even? Lower? Are you holding a lot of your weight on your hands?

nancy sv

That's what we did on our last trip - switched to the butterfly trekking bars and raised them up four inches. Realistically they need to come up another 2 - 4" in order to get them where they need to be - but that's not possible. I've got them as high as I can. By getting the new handlebars and raising them up a lot, it helped a lot.

Unfortunately, I have very long legs, but a short torso. I have to have my seat up pretty high to accomodate my legs, but I can't get a huge bike or the reach is too long. That's why the touring bike is so attractive - they are designed with higher handlebars to start with.

nancy sv

Right now my handlebars are about 2 inches lower than my saddle. I would like to get them at least even - or perhaps slightly higher. I can't do that on my current bike (I don't think). I've got a four inch riser on it right now, and I don't think they make them any longer than that. Because the handlebars are lower than the seat, there is a fair amount of pressure on my hands - that's what I'm trying to alleviate by getting a touring bike.

EZ-SportAX Curt

Have you tried one of these.

https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...+Extender.aspx

Nigeyy

I'm not sure that is the case, particularly with threadless headset. As someone else posted, have you tried a different stem (an adjustable one would be good, because at the highest angle, it would also give you the shortest reach to the handlebars). You should be able to get enough height with that. The bottom line is that I don't think intrinsically many touring bikes will be able to have handlebars any higer than many (at least older) mtbs. Also if your mtb is an older one, the use of a quill stem makes height adjustment obviously easier.

Someone else also posted the idea of an extender as well -good if you have a threadless headset.

Or is the trouble deeper than that? Have you got medical issues that might still cause issues? If so, it might be a case of looking for alternatives (quietly mentions the word "recumbent").

nancy sv

That's basically what I have on it now - a different brand and it raised it up 4 inches. But it still needs to go up another 3 or 4 inches.

wahoonc

Nancy,
Sounds like you may need a women's specific frame or possilbly a custom built frame? I would spend the money and get FitKit'ed to spell out exactly what you need for top tube length vs seat height. That will give you a geometry measurement to start looking for. FWIW I typically ride a 64cm+ road/tour frame, but can tour on a 21"-23" (53cm-58cm) MTB frame depending on how it is set up. It sounds like you need a more upright position or need to move the bars closer to you. On my tour specific frame my bars are even to just slightly above seat level, however when I take my hands off the bars my weight is balanced so I don't fall forward even though I am bent forward.

Aaron

nancy sv

We seriously toyed with the idea of a recumbent, but decided to go with a regular bike. It seems like recumbents are so specialized and the parts are hard to come by - we didn't want to end up in the middle of Bolivia somewhere and need some specialized part sent down to us. I really think I'll be fine if I can get my handlebars up high enough - but I'm not sure how to do that with a mountain bike. We will be buying a new bike for this trip anyway, so I could go either way - mountain or touring.

Nigeyy

I agree -those measurements sound like you have an unusual body type, or that you need an unusually upright position. A custom frame may be the way to go -but from the description it does sound to me like you are after a very upright position. If that is the case, then whatever issue (back or wrist issues?) that causes this might best be addressed first (that is, if it can?) Or quite seriously, have you considered a recumbent where the weight is not placed on the wrists or stresses the back in the same way? (not pushing a recumbent here, just from the description it might be worth a consideration).

nancy sv

It seems like the women's specific frames are all so small - I'm 6 feet tall with a 35" inseam. I really think if I could just get the handlebars even with the seat, I'd be fine. I'm OK with them now - they are 2 inches below the seat - but just barely OK. Just slightly higher and they'll be fine.

nancy sv

Here's a pic of me on my bike before we swapped out the handelbars - they were about 6 inches below the seat here.

Nigeyy

OK, the only route I can think of:

assuming threadless headset:
an extender
an adjustable long reach stem (so stem is adjusted at the highest angle and does not change the overall reach)
set of Nitto handlebars (can't remember precise name, but they are swept back and will give a bit more height while keeping reach short)

And for an older threaded headset, just use an adjustable quill stem with adjustable stem and those Nitto handlebars.

If money is an expense, it might be worthwhile to check out the 'comfort' bikes (which are also cheaper too, but you might have to put a rigid fork in) . E.g. look at this:

https://www.capeablebikes.com/images/...gator50_lg.jpg

this might be closer to the geometry I think you want. As I said, and I might well be wrong, I don't think a touring specific bike will give you any more advantage for the adjustments you require. Last resort is to go for the custom frame.

nancy sv

I just thought of something!! On the triple last year my son in the rear was having to bend way over in order to reach the handlebars and we couldn't raise them because his brother was on the middle seat, which had to be all the way down. We ended up getting some of those curved bars which added a couple inches to the height - that might be just the ticket here!!

nancy sv

What do you think of something like what we had on the triple for the kid in the rear - you can see it here. Would that work? Would that compromise control in any way?

wahoonc

I know a lot of people can't take the retheoric but take a look at the Rivendell as a possible starting point. You do have a problem with your height vs arm reach, my sister is similarly proportioned, for her we converted an old Peugeot or Moby (don't recall at the moment) to a "city" bike by using north road bars, this allowed her a more upright position, but is not particularly good for long distance touring.

Aaron

knobster

I'd stick with the mountain bike if I was you. Going down to where you're planning on going, it'd be much easier to get parts for a mountain bike than any other one. I built a steel mountain bike with an adjustable stem (quill) with drop bars. I picked a frame that was much too large as a mountain bike, but worked great for a touring/road bike. You could pick a frame like I got for less than $50 and transfer the parts.

scumglob

I'd say the LHT might not be your best option then - it's long, or at least the bigger sizes are...

nancy sv

Well gosh - what in the heck am I gonna do here?? I think maybe I'll just go down to my friendly local bike store and start riding bikes - lots of them. Hopefully I'll find one that feels "right" - and we can make minor changes. I think you have convinced me to stick with a mountain bike and go from there. I can't help but think we can figure out how to make whatever modifications we have to...

hoss10

Getting back to the question, How would a touring bike fare on dirt roads?

I'm a bit of an expert, I live on a dirt road which I ride everyday (in season) and I just last year switched my main ride over to a touring bike from a mountain bike set up to tour. A lot depends on what you mean by "dirt" if you mean fresh gravel the touring bike will be poor and the mountain bike better but it still is a tough go.

Packed roads both are OK.

Tar and chip (common around here) now this strange my new touring bike with 700 wheels and wide 1.9 tires is better then the mountain bike with a front shock and larger tires. This is perhaps due to the steel frame on the touring bike, Aluminum on the Mtb.

In most cases the mountain bike is better on dirt but sometimes not by much.

BUT In my case there is simply no comparrison when it comes to comfort and speed. (this might not be fair, the touring bike is a custom rig) the touring bike is much, faster and I can ride for longer periods of time without any pain. I have Nitto Noodles on the touring and trekking bars on the mtb.

I hope all this helps. Good luck sounds like a great trip.

scumglob

I toured on a mountain bike 700 mi or so before getting my LHT and I had severe hand problems too -- numbness in the ring and pinky fingers that lingered for weeks after the tour. I think it was a combination of being too upright (for me maybe???) and the bike being small and the flats putting pressure on that nerve... My LHT, while not without its own share of problems, has me WAY more stretched out and I didn't have severe hand problems on my first tour with it. I rode mostly in the drops (being down so low caused a different, and possibly worse problem in my nether regions...). Anyway, I think handlebar height is only one issue... distance and angle of hand positions (whether you're putting pressure on that nerve down the middle of the hand) are important too...

I don't think you should give up the idea of a touring bike -- my 2c

valygrl

You don't really say what your hand problem IS. If it's ulnar nerve - pinky & ring finger numb - then changing your hand position to road style bars could be the ticket - was for me. The outside of both hands were completely numb after only 2 weeks on an MTB, and stayed numb for a month after I stopped riding. Never had a single problem when I switched to road bars.

mev

I rode from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay in 2005 on a Cannondale T400 touring bike with 700x35 tires (https://www.mvermeulen.com/dalton). As you know, during that stretch you'll have 300 miles of gravel. Half of that is well-surfaced and reasonably smooth. The other half is a bit rougher and depends on recent grading. In my experience, a touring bike with slightly wider tires e.g. 700x35 should be fine. [I don't have a mountain bike to compare].

I've also ridden touring bikes with 700x35 tires on the Dempster Highway in Canada. Except for mud after rains this also worked well. I've also ridden touring bikes with 700x35 tires on 1000+ miles of gravel on roads across Russia. Definitely some spots where a mountain bike would have been better, but I got through.

In summary, I haven't (yet ) cycled gravel roads through Latin America, but I would expect you would be ok on a touring bike between Prudhoe Bay and the Mexican Border.

Bacciagalupe

If the highest you can get your handlebars is 2" below the saddle, then it definitely sounds to me like you're on the wrong frame. If things are really that far off you may need a custom frame.

Modern mountain bikes, though, aren't ideal for touring; the chainstays tend to be too short. Hybrid is more likely to do the trick. Or look into the Thorns, if you can swing it.