Touring bike

feedyourhead

---New User, can't post links, so just bike names!--

So, being stuck indoors at the moment has made me really want to go on a cycling holiday sometime in the near future. I will hopefully get this bike on the cycle to work scheme. I hope to maybe do some cycling round the west coast of Ireland and then hopefully somewhere like Portegal.

These are the two bikes I was looking at, both seem to have good reviews, and seem to be good value for money. My background is more in BMX, but I have cycled road bikes most of my life too, just casually though, for the last 7 or 8 years I have cycled a fixed gear.

The first is straight forword enough:
Decathlon Triban RC500


This one however is a gravel bike. As I may be doing some off road cycling, do you think the gearing and wider tyres on this would be usual, or do the advantages they bring to the off road experience not really outweight their use when just cycling on the road?
Decathlon GRVL 120


Any help would be great! Cheers

TGD

feedyourhead wrote: »

---New User, can't post links, so just bike names!--

So, being stuck indoors at the moment has made me really want to go on a cycling holiday sometime in the near future. I will hopefully get this bike on the cycle to work scheme. I hope to maybe do some cycling round the west coast of Ireland and then hopefully somewhere like Portegal.

These are the two bikes I was looking at, both seem to have good reviews, and seem to be good value for money. My background is more in BMX, but I have cycled road bikes most of my life too, just casually though, for the last 7 or 8 years I have cycled a fixed gear.

The first is straight forword enough:
Decathlon Triban RC500


This one however is a gravel bike. As I may be doing some off road cycling, do you think the gearing and wider tyres on this would be usual, or do the advantages they bring to the off road experience not really outweight their use when just cycling on the road?
Decathlon GRVL 120


Any help would be great! Cheers

A lot depends on what you mean by 'off-road' as this varies so much.

tomasrojo

Dawes do entry-level touring bikes (and fancier ones, naturall). They usually come with 700x32 tyres, so they'd be fairly wide, so they'd be ok for somewhat uneven surfaces. You can go down at least as low as 28s, if you want to use it for general-purpose utility cycling.

Anyway, they're well set up for cycling long distances with luggage. That's their raison d'être!

magicbastarder

this would be more expensive than the triban, but gets a good review (spotted it in a link posted on another bike recommendation thread posted yesterday):

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/bristol-bicycles-expedition-review/

may not be ideal for offroad mind.

Tony04

To answer your question. Gravel bikes are slightly slower on road but are more durable and more well designed to carry gear.

If your background is in bmx you might want to try some mountain biking. Lighter mountain bikes might be a bit slower than road bikes and gravel bikes but you can ride any thing on them.

This mountain bike reduced offers huge value, although youd have to build up for yourself, not as hard as youd think.
https://www.bike24.com/p2351747.html?menu=1000,173,87

nilhg

Just following this as I'm trying to persuade myself that my next n+1 will be a gravel/tourer, I've been reading various bits and pieces and the consensus among all the reviewers/commentators seems to be that the one thing to spend money on is hydraulic brakes, especially if touring, cable/hydraulic hybrids come in as a useful compromise if totally necessary, straight cable disc brakes seem to be a big no no. No personal experience of the above, anyone any views?

cletus

nilhg wrote: »

Just following this as I'm trying to persuade myself that my next n+1 will be a gravel/tourer, I've been reading various bits and pieces and the consensus among all the reviewers/commentators seems to be that the one thing to spend money on is hydraulic brakes, especially if touring, cable/hydraulic hybrids come in as a useful compromise if totally necessary, straight cable disc brakes seem to be a big no no. No personal experience of the above, anyone any views?

I have mechanical disc brakes. I have no issues with them, but have never used hydraulic, so can't compare, unfortunately

magicbastarder

i have full hydraulics on an old MTB, and hybrid on my road bike. there's more of an 'immediateness' on the MTB, definitely.
that said, in case of damage, would cables be easier to bodge a fix for than a hydraulic hose?

Tony04

Hydraulics are more responsive. I have them on my mtb and road bike. Definitely noticeable how 1 finger braking is enough even in the case of coming to a quick halt where in the past that was a handful of brake.

The advantage of hydraulic compared to cables is theres no friction so you can modulate your braking much easier.

Hydraulic is probably more durable then cables which stretch, I'd replace cables more often then bleed brakes.

In terms of maintenance as long as you have a bleed kit for hydraulics it's not as complicated as it seems. With cables you have to tweak the tension.

Its probably easier to bodge a fix on cables but your not going to have hydraulics brakes failing on a ride unless you plan on sticking nails in it or something.

Feliks

feedyourhead wrote: »

---New User, can't post links, so just bike names!--

So, being stuck indoors at the moment has made me really want to go on a cycling holiday sometime in the near future. I will hopefully get this bike on the cycle to work scheme. I hope to maybe do some cycling round the west coast of Ireland and then hopefully somewhere like Portegal.

These are the two bikes I was looking at, both seem to have good reviews, and seem to be good value for money. My background is more in BMX, but I have cycled road bikes most of my life too, just casually though, for the last 7 or 8 years I have cycled a fixed gear.

The first is straight forword enough:
Decathlon Triban RC500


This one however is a gravel bike. As I may be doing some off road cycling, do you think the gearing and wider tyres on this would be usual, or do the advantages they bring to the off road experience not really outweight their use when just cycling on the road?
Decathlon GRVL 120


Any help would be great! Cheers

Hi . Would recommend a Dawes Karakoum. A touring bike specifically but can go off road with no difficulty. Has butterfly/figure of 8 handlebars; great if you were spending hours pedalling.

The bike will have better balance if use front and rear panniers.

I replaced original front rack with a Tubus rack, German make.

Check rack bolts regularly as they can become loosened on even good roads.

Would suggest Ortlieb panniers. V easy to put on and take off.

I live in Ireland; can rain on t west coast!

Has been excellent here for over a month now.

Anyway, stay safe on t road.

Bye.

byrnem31

I'd look at the cube nuroad also. I have a 2018 one, stunning looking with spyre mechanical disc brakes that stop on a dime.
Its a solid bike and I have literally ploughed it through rough fields, gravel and back onto tarmac. Its fast on tarmac to.

feedyourhead

Thanks for all the replies guys.
I realize now, calling this thread 'touring bike' wasn't the best idea, its more a road bike with some gravel/CX features I want really.

Basically the first major trip I would be doing on this bike would be around Connemara. I'd also be heading to some of the islands off the coast there and doing some cycling there too. So it would be a lot more road, than gravel track/ off road, but there would certainly be some in there.

I think at this price point, mechanical dics brakes is the best you'll get.
Giant have some horrible hybird thing on some of there bikes, like the Revolt 2.

I also think at this price point its either going to be Claris or Sora, or if you are lucky Tiagra.

Some bikes that have caught my eye are:
GIANT CONTEND AR 3
TREK Checkpoint AL 3
Giant ToughRoad GX SLR 2

and the Dema Grid 3.0, but cant seem to find any sort of reviews or extended info on this.

Cant see any bike shops in Dublin that do the Bristol Bicycles’ Expedition.
The Dawes Karakoum wouldn't be my cup of tea, but the Galaxy Cromo looks interesting.
I've had a look at a few of the Cube bikes, and have considered some of them.

feedyourhead

Thinking the Giant Contend AR3 might be my best option.