Touring on Specialized Roubaix

hillclimber

I was thinking of doing some light touring on my Roubaix next year, and was thinking of replacing the carbon seat post for alloy to take a bag.

Will this do any harm to the frame ?

I know some people may think this mad but the bike is so so comfy:)

blorg

I am just back from a bit of a jaunt around Ireland on my road bike (Litespeed Archon) with a saddle bag as testing for the Raid Pyrenean in a few weeks. I also am used to touring on a proper touring bike with rear rack and panniers. My verdict would be that you can certainly do it on the road bike, but you would want to keep it VERY light. Think 3-4.5kg sort of weight MAX in the bag. I ended up posting back my evening clothes, PDA and some other bits because it was making the saddle and handling very wobbly. Consider a bar bag also, you could put anything heavy in there.

Note this was with an In-Sy bag that attaches to the saddle, something that stabilises onto the seatpost in some way might avoid the saddle wobble issue but would still affect the handling. Once I got the weight down (posted back 2.4kg) it was fine.

Anything much heavier and you might be better off doing it on a touring bike with a rear rack.

hillclimber

Many thanks for your reply. Was considering the In-Sy bag, might rethink that one.;)

Dromcarrig

I have used a Carradice saddle bag (SQR Tour see link http://www.carradice.co.uk/sqr-saddlepacks/sqr-tour.shtml ) on the carbon seatpost of the Roubaix to do both a 1200K and 1400K "tour". Have had no trouble with the seat post. Would also recommend a Brooks saddle to make it the most comfortable bike you will ever ride!!

hillclimber

Thanks for that Dromcarrig, good to know.Will look into the Carradice bag.
Thankfully I find my Selle Italia SLR as comfortable as could be so no need to resort to the Brooks.:)