I thought it would be fun to document the process of selecting and building from scratch a bicycle suitable for a 2 or 3 week tour on decent roads close enough to civilization that food supplies can be replenished every couple of days. This bike would also be a great bike for fast day rides, commuting and group/charity rides. A bike designed as a dedicated loaded touring bike would have a specific geometry. Generally speaking, longer chainstays for better heal clearance when using panniers and a relatively low bottom bracket. There are plenty of sources more qualified than me to discuss the finer points of things like fork rake and trail, bike fit, frame materials , so I will leave that alone.
The main constraints we put on this project were, for the frame:
-frame clearance for minimum 700 x 32 tires with room for fenders.
-lugged steel frame construction. This was a personal preference and the subject of frame materials and construction is available from a plethora of on line sources and not worth going into here.
-brazed-on attachments for cargo racks.
and for the parts:
-triple front crankset for a wide range of gears
-road or drop handlebars with bar-end shifters
-standard spoke wheels laced in a 3 cross pattern
and for the bolt on accessories:
-a small top loading front rack supporting a handlebar bag
-rear rack with panniers
-dynamo front hub and headlight
The Stanyan lugged steel road sport frame from Soma Fabrications is what we landed on. Not exactly a dedicated touring bike geometry, but for light, fast touring it should work great.
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- 58 cm Soma Stanyan
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- Jewelry by Phil Wood
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- The Chris King No-Thread Set
If the frame is part of the skeleton, then the bottom bracket and the headset are like ligaments holding the bones together, or maybe more like tendons connecting muscle and bone. It just so happens that the products widely considered to be the best examples of both are made by American companies, Phil Wood for bottom brackets and Chris King for headsets. Peace of mind is worth the few extra dollars for these critical components .
Now, let’s put it together!
