Haven't had one of those for a while, what's new with you and yer wheels, folks? Any questions for things?
I recently came back from a vaction in Berlin and like half the fun was seeing cool bicycles all the time and having an actual bike culture, with like, cool shops n shit. It owned super hard. Even got a show of Fixie Riders doing mad spins and tricks.
Any projects on your mind? After having seen so many of the old steelframe roadbikes, I kinda wanna get one, even with frame shifters, just as a second café racer. Also still looking for a cargo bike that doesn't break the bank, but the local used market is ... fairly nonexistant, sadly. I'll find one of these days.
DA GUIDE
Anyway I recently converted an old trekking bike into a sort of cargo bike (transportation bike?). And it fucking rules, man. Panniers are nice, but the convenience of always rolling around with 70L and 40KG of carrying capacity on your daily fucking owns. Oh look, a computer monitor I need for home office, into the crate it goes!
So what you want is a front rack that affixes to the frame, not the fork. Because then your bars don't drop to one side and bring the whole thing clattering down when you leave it. This is about 25€. And then you put a fitting crate on it, that's somewhere between free and 5€ or so. Make sure it has holes so the rain can drain.
For the rear, you want your standard rear rack and then put a bigger baseplate on it for BIG CRATE. In the old continent the M-Wave Racky Baseplate (sorry for the advertising) is probably your most convenient bed, for the rugged individualists elsewhere in the world I'm sure you can find or just make something similar to screw onto a standard rack. Maybe take the Racky as a guide, it's not like it's a complicated system.
And then you just ziptie on a big crate. I got a 46L one. Make sure you you have somewhere to put your lights if you're running clip on lights, as the seatpost is probably going to be hidden by it. I'd avise a step-through frame for ease of use, but being young I've had no problems kicking my leg over one on a step-over frame. As long as the crate isn't too far out to the side and lower than the saddle it's the same motion anyways, allthough it does sort of limit how high you can stack goods in the back.
Et voila. The front racks take about 10kg, your usual rear rack can take about 30kg and together you have about ~70L of storage space on your bike. It's not particularly aero, but some plastic crates also aren't going to be all that heavy and the baseplate / front rack probably add around 3kg. It's noticeable, but you know have a quasi cargo-bike!
Covid Bike-Touring, heyoooo.
Nah for real, that's just called bike touring I think. It's sadly, in my opinion, a bit underrepresented in the bike sphere compared to say, road biking, bike packing, mountain biking and such.
Allthough it is basically my forté if I have one, so I'd be very glad to help you with it. /r/bicycletouring is okay if you're willing to dredge through the useless if sometimes nice photos and an avalanche of people having never ridden a bike before wanting to do a cross continental trip.
Seriously though, ask away.
the main barrier i can think of for me is endurance; is there anything else riding-wise i might need to improve at for touring?
If you're not going for top speed or whatever I'm pretty sure without enough nutrition any reasonably healthy adult could bike 50km a day, given the roads are good enough. Cycling is one of the few sports where eating during it, especially during a day tour, is advised. Also probably plan a break in about the middle of it, say 15 mins to walk around or so. It makes a load of difference.
Biggest hurdle'd probably be the bike fit and whether your saddle fits your ass without causing literal butthurt.
Check out how to fit a bike properly online and the rest is basically experience as every body is different. I'd start with some training tours, say around quarter to half of what you want to do, and if you can do those no problem there's little chance anything higher gets in your way as far as joints or ass are concerned.
This isn't magic or whatever, but you don't wanna find out you can't sit anymore 30km from home. That's gonna blow (trust me, I have done this). Some of it is just getting used to it, yes, but not all of it. Just go for shorter rides at first and then build up. This also goes for your bar. A flat bar might be good for 10km rides, but maybe you eventually wanna change hand positions on it for a bit and as such, bar ends and / or ergonomic grips might be good. Latter one is, from my experience, really down to personal preference. And that's basically what you wanna find out before you need to do 30km back home.
I'd also advise learning how to do the basic maintenance at home. Know how to change or fix a tyre / tube and how to put the chain back on. It's easy to learn and might save yourself from a lot of walking. And of course, bring the appropiate tools and materials to the ride so you can actually change the tube / tyre.
As such, some on-bike storage is advised. A backpack is doable, but it does get annoying quickly for longer rides IMO. One or two small bags and of course the bottle cages should supply you with everything you need for a day tour.
The rest ist just comfort things you learn as you go. Whether you wanna dress in layers or just be a bit too cold or too hot etc.
great advice, thanks! i built my bike so i've already got some experience with the maintenance you listed thankfully, though i hadn't thought about bringing spare tubes/tires
Padded bike shorts (by themselves or under clothes) are an absolute must for any tour over 50km. Trust me, you'll have a better time.