dawes karakum for world tour advice please

Paddy1995

Hi,

I am planning on buying a dawes karakum next week and hitting the road soon enough, i am getting the karakum for 700 GBP, 18 inch frame. I'm about 5,9 and 70kg.

the bike and specs can be seen here - Karakum Gents - Dawes Cycles Touring Tandem and Sportif bikes

the reason i am posting here is i dont too much about the techincalities of bike, i just love to pedal and im tryng to learn as much as i can recently about the specs, i have been doing research but still not up to speed so looking for some help please..

i know its aluminium so harder to weld but i am hoping it wont have to be welded.

i will have it loaded with panniers front and back but not plannin on bringing too much, will the spokes handle it for a year?

i am planning on riding the 24,ooo k in around a year (france to turkey via the danube, cross the pamir highway and on accross china, cyce around a bit of australia and then cross the USA), do you think the bike will last for one year? the gears, brakes, spokes etc??

it has v brakes will the rims become worn down and have tobe replaced at some stage do you think? Am i better off getting disc brakes fitted if this will be the case?

has 27 speed gears, will these be low enough for climbing mountain like the pamir highway?

32mm tyres? these should get too many punctures i dont think should they? i will mostly be on good roads.. i dont want to be plagued with punctures

omri

Paddy1995 wrote: »

Hi,

I am planning on buying a dawes karakum next week and hitting the road soon enough, i am getting the karakum for 700 GBP, 18 inch frame. I'm about 5,9 and 70kg.

the bike and specs can be seen here - Karakum Gents - Dawes Cycles Touring Tandem and Sportif bikes

the reason i am posting here is i dont too much about the techincalities of bike, i just love to pedal and im tryng to learn as much as i can recently about the specs, i have been doing research but still not up to speed so looking for some help please..

i know its aluminium so harder to weld but i am hoping it wont have to be welded.

i will have it loaded with panniers front and back but not plannin on bringing too much, will the spokes handle it for a year?

i am planning on riding the 24,ooo k in around a year (france to turkey via the danube, cross the pamir highway and on accross china, cyce around a bit of australia and then cross the USA), do you think the bike will last for one year? the gears, brakes, spokes etc??

it has v brakes will the rims become worn down and have tobe replaced at some stage do you think? Am i better off getting disc brakes fitted if this will be the case?

has 27 speed gears, will these be low enough for climbing mountain like the pamir highway?

32mm tyres? these should get too many punctures i dont think should they? i will mostly be on good roads.. i dont want to be plagued with punctures

It would be a good idea to do some bicycle maintenance classes - so youre confident with all the repairs during this voyage.

Ryath

There are more experienced tourers than me around here but most will give this advice. Any reason you are not going for a model with drops? They are more comfortable over distance more hand positions and your weight is more evenly distributed between your arms and rear. Sitting upright with all the weight through your rear is not comfortable for long distance.

Steel is probably better for touring welding would be easier with it but that is highly unlikely to be needed unless you seriously overload the bike.

The bike you link to linked to should last the year fine obliviously with the distance you're doing it will need some care and cables spokes etc may need to be replaced at some stage but the bike should never leave you stranded. The tyres I would replace with schalbe marathons which all the Dawes galaxy's come with as standard. My brother did 6500k across europe on his galaxy with no punctures.

I'd prefer this and it's cheaper
http://dawescycles.com/product/galaxy-al/

You are going to be spending a lot of time on it for a year though so for the sake of saving a few hundred euro I'd buy the best you can afford.


This is probably the best value purest's would prefer bar end shifters but the STI shifters are unlikely to give trouble. I'd possibly get a cheap set of second hand bar end shifters to carry for emergencies anyway.
http://dawescycles.com/product/galaxy/

Next model up has bar end shifters but disc brakes which wouldn't be my preference rim brakes work perfectly fine and you can pick up new blocks any where in the world. Some may prefer the disc though and carrying spare pads is not going to take up space they are more fiddly to set up though.

This would meet my spec but you are getting into a good bit more money and there are other brands to consider when you get to that price range.
http://dawescycles.com/product/galaxy-classic/

ford2600

omri wrote: »

It would be a good idea to do some bicycle maintenance classes - so youre confident with all the repairs during this voyage.

I would like disc brakes, msybe high quality hub gears, good quality dynamo.

Have you tried second hand market?

Also learn how to maintain your bike.

For frame repair would steel be a better bet, especially in rural China for example?

25sean

I did a lot of touring after college, throughout Europe, Northern Africa, China and did a long distance trip from Dublin down to Turkey, across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and into India back in 2003.

I had a steel Dawes Galaxy, with simple spec, Deore, rim brakes, panniers on the front and the back. Steel is good because you can weld it easier (or more commonly in the backlands of China etc)if it breaks. Naturally as you say, you hope not to have to weld it, but I hoped not to as well, and was in an accident with a moped in Iran. Never mind me! but the bike got a bad bang and the rear triangle was beaten in. Because it was steel, I was able to have it repaired, not to a great standard, but good enough to roll and that did the job.

Go on whatever bike you like, but the geometry of the Karakum would be slower than a more traditional tourer. Are you going alone? I did and it can be a long road so a feeling that you are making progress is important. I would say to load light as well, 10-15kgs max. Go without and rough it a bit. I had a go on a dutch guys tourer once, with front and rear panniers, 30-40kgs in them, MAN!! it was slow..

Regards the bike lasting the year, any bike will, but you do need spares.. bring brake blocks, good tubes(they are hard to get the farther from home you go) a spare tyre?, 10 spokes or so, and a spare chain.. as mentioned above, a maintenance class would be very advisable.. ROTHAR do them.. The only thing I would change on a bike would be the wheels, the back in particular, road get worse and worse as you travel East, and with you as well as your bags on the back, they take such a pounding.. DO NOT SKIMP ON THE BACK WHEEL!! even get a new rim put onto your new back wheel.. these are what I had

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/mavic-a719-road-rim-2014/rp-prod71048

Back to the bike.. Dawes are great, and Ive always stood by mine, but the new ones have lost the more traditional set up.. check out spa cycles in england.. old school and theyve got all kinds of stuff..

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s21p0

decisions, decisions... why can't you just hop on a bike and get the ferry from Roasslare!

As I say, I was over some of the routes you were so if you need anything feel free to ask..

Oh, and I attached a few images with some of the wilder routes you might come across!

moonshadow

^^^
You need to do a blog that looks and sounds pretty amazing !!

Paddy1995

thank ye all very much for the advice, i will definatly get some maintenance classes and learn how to treat the bike right..

I will be travelling very light bringing the minimum i can.

The main reason i like the karakum is because of the buterfly bars.. money isnt a issue really to be honest i have saved uo a bit and dont mind splashin cash on a bike, i will be living cheaply on the road anyway..

i would mind spending extra on the galaxy or even on a surly LHT http://surlybikes.com/bikes/long_haul_trucker.... this would also be steel and 26" wheels..

i was thinking of the karakam as i heard butterfly bars were the best for touring due to multiple positions.. I know i will be going slower on them because i will not be in a greater aerodynmaic position but i dont mind about speed really.. i will tip along at my own pace

would it be better for my back to be in a ore upright position rather than hunched down over drops? i had a merrida racing bike before but didnt like the drops my back was offten sore, i prefered my mountain bike with straight bars