Re: Worst Touring Bike?

Devla Murphy toured the world in the 1960s on the British equivalent
of a 3rd world roadster -- 'nuff said. (Actually, a Bicycling
Quarterly article a few quarters ago featured the tail of an American
woman who toured India with an Indian roadster hacked with a 3 speed
derailleur -- interesting account).

Having owned, ridden, taken apart, built and adjusted such bikes as a
boy, I can personally swear that they are pretty damn' bad compared to
modern bikes -- heck, even a modern Electra Amsterdam would be a large
improvement.

On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 1:11 PM, william shaneyfelt
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> The first one... I can't say it was bad, it was just not a touring bike.
>
> My first multi-day tour the summer of 1963 as a 17 year old. =A0I rode fr=
om Mojave, CA, over the mountains to Ventura to play on the beach for a few=
 days. =A0The bike was a 26 incher with 1 3/4 inch tires. =A0An off-brand "=
Tempo" with parts from all over Europe, it was a single speed with coaster =
brakes, had aluminum rims, long crank arms and the old style typical bike h=
andlebars and a plastic saddle. =A0I rigged it up with a basket hung on the=
 rear because I hated how floppy it felt on the front where it was designed=
 to be. =A0I tossed my sleeping bag into the basket and hung a few other th=
ings on a (wire?) refrigerator shelf that I had bolted & tied to the left s=
ide of the rear wheel. =A0My canteen was a plastic half gallon bleach bottl=
e. =A0I didn't even take a tent. =A0(It was summer, and I lived in the dese=
rt.) =A0I did have my folding GI shovel hung on the side so I could use it =
to turn over rocks or dig or whatever in case I happened to find a lizard o=
r snake I wanted to catch & it disa
> =A0ppeared into a place that was digable.
>
> I could easily cruise at 10 mph, and spun out at 20 mph, but standing on =
the long crank arms, my skinny sub-100 pound body could actually grind slow=
ly up pretty steep grades. =A0I left at about daybreak on Monday. =A0It was=
 about 40 miles across relatively flat ground from Mojave past Quartz Hill =
and on up to the base of the Coast Range, where "Johnson's Grade" as we kne=
w it awaited me. =A0I rode up and up and up, eventually passing a couple of=
 other people pushing their 10 speeds. =A0I stopped somewhere on the way up=
 to the pass for my lunch of cheese & bread. =A0The cheese had become somew=
hat soft and the grease had begun to exude in the heat of the day, but it w=
as still pretty good. =A0After I crossed the pass, pedalling was much easie=
r, but I ran out of water, and rode for a couple hours on empty. =A0I got a=
s far as Piru, a tiny orange picking/packing community 86 miles from home. =
=A0I stopped there to use their park to sleep in, and met lots of kids abou=
t my age and younger, who just co
> =A0uld not believe I had ridden that far in a single day. =A0The next day=
, I rode on to Ventura and spent a couple days just hanging out before goin=
g back to spend the night in Piru again. =A0The next day, I rode as far as =
Lancaster, where I spent the night about a quarter mile west of Antelope Va=
lley Junior College, camped in the desert. =A0(it is solid houses there now=
). =A0The next day, I was on the bike again about sunup, and was home in ti=
me for a second breakfast on Saturday morning. =A0Meals were what I bought =
at whatever store I could find on the way, generally consisting of a quart =
of milk and a can of beans. (except for the first lunch). =A0It was such a =
successful tour, I considered riding back to Indiana the next summer to vis=
it old friends and relatives, but that got shelved in favor of making money=
 for college.
>
> The bike touring dream lay dormant till I retired in 2008, and rode 2,200=
 miles from Dayton, OH to Wake Forest, NC and back in a loop, visiting frie=
nds and relatives along the way. =A0I started out with an old (mid-late 70s=
?) Fuji that a friend gave me and I jury rigged with bar end shifters from =
an old (late 70s?) Nishiki that I had used for my 12 mile commute for the p=
ast few years. =A0When I got about 500 miles to my brother's, he took me to=
 several bike shops to look at new bikes (as a retirement present), pointin=
g to carbon fiber bikes that only weighed 17 pounds and the like... I prote=
sted, and he ended up buying me a Trek Portland, which had disk brakes (rea=
lly like) and 30 speeds (too many gears, I thought) a nice handlebar bag, a=
nd a carbon front fork... =A0No front panniers. =A0I mounted my homemade pa=
nniers on the rear rack, and finished the tour on it, but there was one hug=
e problem. =A0The saddle... =A0It was absolutely horrible. =A0It felt nice =
the first 20 miles, but I rode
> =A0a little over 100 the first day and hurt every move after 20 miles. =
=A0I was terribly sore by the time I got another 100 or so miles to Ashevil=
le, where I found a K-Mart and bought a gel saddle cover. =A0It helped enou=
gh that I could at least continue. =A0When I finished my loop through NC, S=
C and GA back into TN at my brother's, I took Trek up on the saddle replace=
ment guarantee, and had them refund my brother the price of the saddle. =A0=
I put on the old saddle that I started the trip with, and did fine the rest=
 of the trip.
>
> So the worst "bike" was actually the bike saddle.
>
>
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0---------->Bill<----------
> Do it heartily, as to the Lord
> =A0 _o
> _-\<,_
> (_)/ (_)
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- =

Patrick Moore
Albuquerque, NM
For professional resumes, contact
Patrick Moore, ACRW at [email protected]