A number of folks have asked for a bike check of my touring rig and so today I’ve sat down and written one for y’all. I started with a Fairdale Weekender frame and fork set. At 6’1 I can ride both the large or XL size frames and chose an XL this time around. No real reason except I thought a little more room on the bike might be good for a long tour. When you’re on the cusp of a bike size it is easy to adjust fit with little things like where you postion your saddle on the rails, seat post height and stem length. 

My friends at Cycletherapy in Waterford, MI did some of the assembly and built up a set of wheels for me. I was still out in Whistler before this trip began and only had one day to grab the bike, make some final adjustments and start my pedal towards NYC.

For wheels I went with a “gravel” rim (which I assumed meant tough), straight gauge spokes (leave the butted spokes off your touring wheel build since there will be a lot of extra weight on your bike) and SRAM 900 hubs (they fit the Weekender’s hub spacing and have a XD driver so I could run the rear cassette I wanted). I picked a 700c wheel size working under the theory that it would be easier to find a replacement tire should I need one while on the road. I picked Schwalbe G-One Allaround tires in a 40mm width just because I saw them on a bike in Whistler and thought they looked cool. I’ve gotten one flat so far and these tires don’t seem to have as robust a flat protection as you might normally choose for a touring bike. On the upside the tires are light and a good width for just about anything you might get into. A few times I found myself on very loose gravel/ sand and they were adequate width to keep me upright, and they roll fast on pavement.

There’s fenders wrapped around the wheels and I’m very glad to have them. Fenders are notoriously finicky to install and these were kind of a pain. Having fenders on rainy or just finished raining days is the best though. You stay so much dryer without water spraying all over your shoes or up your back. These particular fenders are Portland Design Works’ Full Metal Fenders and I’m not sure I could recommend them. I think they look cool and I like that they are aluminum. The coverage is also great. The size I got just barely allows my tires to clear but works ok. They are rather pricey though and the “Full Metal” name omits the fact that although the fenders are metal, the breakaway plastic “plug” is not. I think the idea is that if you get debris sucked into your fender it can unplug from its mount instead of allowing something to wedge your wheel to a stop (like a stick stuck between the fender and the tire). However, one of the plastic “plugs” broke during installation and had to be glued into place (I was leaving mere hours later). All has been well since and I do very much recommend some kind of fenders for a touring bike if you have the patience for them.

I picked up a pair of Surly’s Cornerbars for the trip. They are really interesting and a simple way to turn your bike with MTB controls into a bike with dropbars. Normally to switch to dropbars you also need to buy different (and expensive) dropbar shift/brake levers. You also often have to switch the brakes since MTB levers and Drop levers have a different pull ratio. It’s one of those things that seems simple but is kind of a pain (see the price difference between the Weekender Archer and Weekender Nomad as an example). However, the Surly Cornerbar allows you to simply switch your MTB controls over to the bar directly. If you had a Weekender Archer or Lookfar you could do this pretty easily. You’d probably need some longer brake cables but otherwise things will just transfer. Anyhow, in the bike shop the hand position felt kind of low so at the last minute I grabbed a set of Salsa Bend Deluxe bars and threw them on. They are very similar to the Fairdale Archer bars and a shape I’m comfortable with. After a while of riding this set up I kind of wish I would have given the Cornerbars a try but these Salsa bars are good too. Thanks to the exaggerated bend of the bars I’m able to find a few different hand positions which is good on long days. Dropbars would make for a faster ride as I can average almost 2-3 mph faster in dropbar position but riser bars are cool for sitting up and looking around. Slower but a better position for a tourist.

My bike has an 12 speed Eagle drivetrain configured in what SRAM calls a “mullet build.” That essentially means it has a road sized front chain ring and a MTB rear cassette. This gives you a massive range of gears for dragging a heavily loaded bike up a mountain and flying down the other side. True touring bike folks will balk at my GX AXS wireless derailleur and there are some good reasons why they should. A wireless rear derailleur needs a battery for one thing. If the battery is dead you won’t be able to shift and that is a worry when you’re out in the middle of nowhere. Typically simple-is-better and having a part that you can fix on the side of the road makes more sense then having one that pretty much no one can repair. If something happened and you had to replace one of these derailleurs it would be pricey too (as they are quite expensive). However, I had a few reasons for giving this shifting system a try. First of all, I had the rear derailleur already as it is a take off part from my MTB (I didn’t have to buy a new one). And the miles on my MTB had already proven it to be pretty tough. The only problem I had with it was that it didn’t do a very good job of tensioning the chain and while riding at Whistler my chain kept jumping off the entire front chainring. I took it off my MTB for downhill but I didn’t think that low tension issue would be a problem on a touring bike (and it hasn’t been). The 2nd reason for choosing this system is that on long tours I’ve found shifting to become a chore. Especially on dropbar shifters but also on flat bar shifters my hands seem to get sore from shifting. I’m talking about the really longs stretches when I’m doing multiple 8+ hour days in the saddle. With a wireless shifting system you need only lightly tap a button and the shift happens. It seems a small thing but on multiple occasions I’ve been checking a map on my phone or eating a banana when I want to shift a gear. With the push button ease of wireless shifting I can reach down and stick out an unused pinky to easily pop into another gear. So far I’ve not had any problems with the system and I’ve been very happy with it. Shifting has been absolutely flawless. The battery made it all the way from outside of Detroit to NYC without being recharged too. I have a backup battery with me just incase I forget to keep the main one charged but battery life is very impressive.

In contrast to the fancy new school shifting I went for old as dirt Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes. Simple, easy to work on, easy to find brake pads for and they work fine. Pairing some Odyssey Linear cables to these brakes is the trick to making them feel more powerful as the linear cables don’t flex like a normal brake cable.

A friend at SRAM gave me these fancy XO Transmission cranks. I am honestly skeptical of the weight saving hole that is in the middle of the crank arm. My BMX brain can’t help but think there should not be a hole right where the crank needs to be the strongest. These will eventually end up on my MTB to test my theory but for now have ended up on my touring bike. These cranks use a different chain ring interface then the older SRAM MTB cranks and it matches the road bike stuff. Shopping for a spider I found the SRAM RED AXS power meter spider on sale and so picked one up. Power meters measure how much force you put through the pedals and can put a number to how hard you push them (watts). There is absolutely no reason to have this on a touring bike but I thought it might be interesting to see how much power I’m putting out climbing mountains on a fully loaded bike. In reality even I don’t find the results very interesting but I have noticed my daily power average is slowly creeping up as I get fitter from all this pedaling.

Flat pedals and Vans for me while out on the road. Any normal cyclist would be clipped in for this kind of long distance ride as it would be a lot more efficient, but I like being able to hop off and run around any time I get the urge and not have to worry about clippy shoes. 

For racks I have the Salsa Downunder racks on front and a very old Blackburn Outpost rear rack. The rear rack is nice and beefy and can handle having a heavy bag on it. The front racks are pretty clever and allow the front bags to sit low which keeps your steering stable. I’ve been carrying all my valuable stuff in the back bag so if I run into a store I can simply pop it off and sling it over my shoulder. The front bags have an extra set of shoes, some snacks, extra tubes and my dirty laundry so I’m not as worried about that stuff. I have Ortlieb pannier bags and they have kept everything inside perfectly dry even on the heavy rain days. If you’re new to this kind of thing “pannier bags” all have some system or another that allows them to hang off the racks on your bike. The Ortlieb ones are pretty cool as they clamp around the rack but when you lift up on the little handle the clamp releases. 

I’ve also got a little frame bag by Snack. I picked it up at Mello Velo in Albany as I found I needed somewhere with easy access for my phone and wallet. Size wise it is perfect. Graphic wise it is not really my style but function over fashion! 

I have a Orange Velo seat on my bike. Sadly my all time favorite seat, the Fairdale one that comes on the Weekender completes, got lost in shipping. I grabbed this Orange Velo saddle at the last minute and it is fine. The cover is kind of sticky and tries to pull my shorts down sometimes but otherwise it fits me decently. ESI grips on the bars are soft and do well when it is raining or I’m sweaty. They look like they are foam grips from an old school exercise bike but they are actually silicone and waterproof. Nice and squishy for absorbing bumps too.

I have a OneUp Components EDC pump and tool. This nifty little product deserves its own review and I’m sure there is plenty of them. In short the pump works really well and I am easily able to get my tires up to around the 60psi that I’ve been running. As a bonus the EDC multi tool (which can be installed inside your steer tube) fits into the pump’s handle. The multitool has every tool I wanted to bring including a tire lever and a chain tool. Extremely clever little system that mounts to the water bottle cage mount and is easy to access anytime. 

Hit me up with any bike questions and I’ll try to answer them. And, day dreaming about all the gear is cool but any bike will get you out on an adventure if you just start pedaling it! 

Frame: Weekender XL
Fork: Weekender 
Handlebar: Salsa Bend Deluxe 23º sweep
Stem: Whiskey No.7 70mm reach, 31.8mm clamp
Headset: Odyssey Conical
Brake Lever: Avid FR-5 
Brake: Avid BB7 MTB
Brake Rotor: SRAM CenterLine 160mm 
Grips: ESI
Saddle: Velo Orange 
Seat Post: Ritchey Classic 25mm offset, 27.2mm 
Seat Clamp: Wolf Tooth 29.8mm
Cranks: SRAM X0 Eagle Transmission  
Spider: SRAM Red AXS Power Meter 107BCD
Chainring: Wolf Tooth 44t 107BCD
BB: SRAM Dub 68/73mm
Pedals: DMR Vault Mg
Rims: DT Swiss TK540 700c 
Spokes: DT Swiss 2.0 Straight Gauge
Front Hub: SRAM 900 100mm q/r
Rear Hub: SRAM 900 135mm q/r
Tires: Schwalbe G-One Allaround 700c x 40mm
Fender: Portland Design Works Full Metal Fender 700 x 45mm
Chain: SRAM X01 Eagle Chain
Cassette: SRAM X01 Eagle 10-50t
Rear Shift Lever: SRAM AXS POD
Rear Derailleur: SRAM GX AXS
Shift Cable: invisible magic
Front Rack: Salsa Down Under
Rear Rack: Blackburn Outpost
Bottle Cages: MSW PC-150 Composite
Front Bags: Ortlieb Front Roller
Rear Bag: Ortlieb High Visibility 20 liter
Front Light: Blackburn (old, not sure which one… looks similar to the new Dayblazer)
Rear Light: Garmin Varia
Computer: Garmin 1030 Plus
Pump/ Tool: OneUp 100cc EDC pump with EDC V2 tool and EDC Pump Bottle Cage Mount