Travel Bike Wishlist

@EasyRider 149757 wrote:

I was just talking to a cowoker about this yesterday. He was quoted $1100 extra to add couplers to a custom Seven dream bike. I think that’s about what Bilenky chargest to retrofit an existing frame. If that’s the going price, $1100 for a new Surly Traveler’s Check seems like a bargain. Could a zero setback post help with the STA?

Good point on the relative value! — So, the 73.5º assumes 0-setback. For a 72.5º I would need a 10mm forward offset post or a 5mm forward and then jam the saddle all the way forward on rails. (A saddle with lots of adjustment room in the rails could work too, but it’s not a great first choice.)

I’m also not thrilled about canti bosses, but I could get TRP mini V brakes and I guess it would open up tire choices a bit (I imagine I’d just have to deflate bigger tires if trying to fit in the 26×26 box), but I feel like I’d be better off focusing this on just road tires. If I want a gravel bike, I would really want disc brakes.

I see that the Salsa Vaya also has a travel edition …

Waltly will build a custom ti frame with 2 couplers (which essentially look the same as S&S couplers) for $1250. So that’s close enough to the Surly that I might just do that to get what I want. Some risk in making sure they know what they’re doing about where to put the couplers so it will fit, but it looks like they’ve done this before.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12873[/ATTACH]

(I guess someone wanted a ss/fixed-gear travel bike?)

2 couplers add $550 to their frame price (standard rim-brake road frame $700).

They also offer a version where you only pay for a single coupler ($275) and then it bolts around the seatpost. I don’t know if this has a name or whether this would actually fit in the box.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12874[/ATTACH]

Here’s a pretty sweet example of the latter:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12875[/ATTACH]

I guess I should just ask them for the contact info for that buyer so I can discuss with him/her the practicality of using hydro discs on a travel build!

Edit: I see that this latter design is actually how the Ritchey Breakaway splits, which does apparently fit in travel-sized luggage. So that’s good. That drops my price down to $950 for custom ti road frame, so that sounds like the clear winner here so far.

@Harry Meatmotor 149763 wrote:

So, of all the wishes on the wishlist, the one that’s going to kill just about any deal is the STA. Just sayin’. anything below 72-ish degrees is ‘tarck bike’ or CRITMONSTER type geometry for most things 700c-wheeled. 71/73 bikes have been the norm for so long it’s hard to get anything far outside that without going custom.

If we’re including more “normal” geometry bikes, don’t forget Ritchey breakaway frames. Most QBP-backed shops can order Ritchey frames (but not bikes), IIRC Ritchey’s dealer stipulations.

I think at the end of the day to smartest money (for as much as you’ll use the bike) will be to go Waltly – and it looks like the less expensive setup is similar to the seat cluster on a Ritchey, but using an S&S style coupler on the downtube.

Ah, I probably wasn’t clear there. I need a 73.5º seat-tube-angle (which is what the Ritchey Breakaway has). This still seems to be pretty common for road bikes, but it does often happen that for sizes larger than 56 the seat tubes are more slack. Most people have femurs that are more in proportion, I guess I can work with 73º too, but 72.5º is making the adjustment more than I can usually get on a saddle without some forward-offset help. Of course, I can ride a bike that has me too far behind the pedals for a few days, but I just balk a bit at buying a frame that I know ahead of time isn’t quite right

@mstone 149762 wrote:

FWIW, I’ve heard from a few people that the S&S couplers are a PITA, and not worth doing unless you fly a lot and also can’t live without a perfectly fitted full size bike. For infrequent travel, even the ridiculous airline fees are less than the couplers. (Note: I’ve also heard horror stories about broken down bikes being charged the bike fee because it’s a bike.) I’ve settled on renting a bike at the destination rather than spending an extra minute in an airport.

Interesting! I haven’t read enough to have encountered the negatives yet. I’ve never actually watched a youtube video on how to actually use the tool to decouple the couplers. So I should probably familiarize myself with this system.

Yeah, I considered bringing my bike to europe recently, but at $120 each way (on United), IIRC, renting a bike was going to be much cheaper for a week-long trip. The 3-day rental was $120 and I did get to try a new bike (Trek Domane Disc) which was fun, but looking at potential for some longer trips, the rental wouldn’t be as cost effective as paying to ship my (non-travel) bike.

Am wondering, though, if having a bike in a suitcase would let me to do some riding in other parts of the country/world on family vacations, without changing the character/focus of the trip. Of course, there’s still the helmet/shoes/clothes, so that idea may need some further analysis.

@vvill 149766 wrote:

Also just sharing my experience: I bought my folding bike about 5 years ago under the premise I’d fly with it for free (amongst other premises), but I only ever did it once. Every other time I ended up just renting/borrowing a bike at the destination (BYO pedals, shoes, helmet, etc.). Faffing around with an extra suitcase at airport transfers, etc. and then having to dis-/re-assemble parts of the bike while on vacation just never seemed quite worth it. I’d consider sending my full-size bike in advance if possible (BikeFlights or similar) ahead of dealing with actually flying with a travel bike – although that still involves re-assembly, risk of damage, etc.

Good point. My biggest fear is that I’d end up investing a significant amount of money in something that just sits in the corner of our basement.

Good point about the mullet too — I guess that could just be just a fork decision — though if I go custom I’ll need to decide whether I want to do canti/mini-v brakes and support larger tires or just stick to road (frame geometry obviously would need to take fork length into advanced consideration). I like the idea of having flexibility to run larger tires … but I figure if I can get a rim-brake setup that will just clear 28mm tires, that should suffice for any mixed-surface riding I’d be likely to do anywhere I’d be traveling.