From: scheng@bcarh886.bnr.ca (Spencer Cheng)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.marketplace
Subject: Re: ARGENTINA->ALASKA:SUITABLE MTB NEEDED!
Date: 29 Sep 92 16:22:19 GMT
	<1992Sep28.151837.3449@cbnewsm.cb.att.com>
Organization: Bell-Northern Research

In article <1992Sep28.151837.3449@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> madine@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (G. E. Madine, AT&T-BL/AL, cbnewsm.) writes:


   The first piece of gear that I thought about after I read the request was
   Bruce Gordon's steel front and rear racks.  They are widely regarded to
   be the strongest and most reliable.  The racks are expensive for tourers
   who do not need the reliability as badly.  Blackburn racks are good enough
   for most tourers.

US$80 - US$105 depending on the model but they are suppose to be THE
best racks arround. A frame builder will also be able to braze one
right onto the frame for you. I have that on the back of my tandem. No
loose nuts (except the one captaining the tandems :-) to worry about.

   Then I thought, why not suggest a Bruce Gordon "Rock 'n' Road" cross-terrain
   bicycle to attach the racks to.  Besides being optimized for the racks,
   the "Rock 'n' Road" offers good tire clearance (I think), light weight,
   and a methoud for quickly switching from straight bars to drop bars (I
   vaguely remember this).  The package should be affordable.  The price is
   a bit large for us common occasional short distance tourers.  

My brochure from BG list Rock'n Road Touring version at US$1400 with
Suntour XC Comp bits and US$1600 for XT bits. It comes with 700x43c
tires.

   The items left to check out for durability are hubs, spokes (both quality
   and number used), and rims; freewheel and chain; and, if the driver is
   exceptionally large and/or strong, quality of the crank and bottom bracket.

Much like Gary, the first thing I thought of was BG's Rock'n Road as
the best bike for an interesting ride like this. Traditional touring
bikes are great for paved roads and any unpaved roads which are in
good shape but where they are inadequate is the "off-road" kind of
riding. The "cross" bikes that I have seen sold in stores are usually
inadequate for real logn distance riding (they are normally marketed
for people who doesn't ride too far.. hmmmm think I can feel the fires
burning already..:-) The Rock 'n Road seems to me (from pictures and
brochures) a better designed comprise for both fairly rough riding as
well as open road touring.

It comes down to what the road conditions are like in South America. If
you can manage to stay on fairly good roads all the way, then a
traditional touring bike does the job (though they are getting harder
to find). If in S.A. you have to ride on very rough roads (the old
Inca roads ? - [there was a description of a tour taken over the old
Incas roads in Bicycling (?) probably about 10-15 years ago before the
advent of mountain bikes. I vaguely remember something about death
defying rides involving high speed descents on very narrow, winding
and bumpty tracks with vertical drops on one side]), than a BG might
be more appropriate.

The only thing I would add to the list of things to look out for in
terms of parts is to go for a screw on freewheel rather than a
cassette type of hub because you are more likely to find a
conventional freewheel in out of way places. In addition with a screw
on freewheel, it doesn't matter how many speed you have. If your bike
take a 7-cog FW now, you can just as easily put on a 5-cog FW in a
pinch. Advantage of old technology.

Make sure your shifters can run in friction mode so you can get out of
indexing if necessary. [This excludes STI/Rapidfire type of shifters
which only runs in index mode]

Reliability becomes everything when you are 500 Km from the nearest
bike store :-)

--

Spencer Cheng     scheng@BNR.CA  Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada  613-763-4046
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.marketplace