The Bike

The bike I have built for this ride features an early 90's era Reynolds steel frame. Pictured above is the bike before I started a round of modifications to make it into a tourer. Steel racers of this era are great for touring, as the tubing isn't quite as thin and dent prone as modern racing steel. They do have very narrow chainstays though, so if you want to use anything more than a 28mm tyre in the back buy something else. After attempting to add certain other touring accessories that I originally overlooked (racks, fenders, etc) I would not use a steel racing frame if I had my time over again. They dont have the braze on's for adding any of these accessories. It was still possible to fit the rear rack, but ended up costing $280, and now its more difficult to remove the rear wheel.  Surly long haul trucker frames are so popular because they feature all of these things, and the FFF (fatties fit fine) dropouts accomodate very large tyres, up to 40mm I believe. There seem to be numerous other features that surly has added to the long haul trucker making it perhaps the ideal frame for long distance touring.

THE ALL IMPORTANT TOURING WHEELS

I have chosen 700c Mavic CXP33 rims, on ultegra 36h hubs, with SWISS DT alpine triple butted stainless steel spokes. As narrow touring wheels go this is about as strong as it gets. Mavic Open Pros are the only comparable rim, but the deeper section of a CXP33 makes for a stronger build due to the shortening of the spoke lengths. They are also thicker in their apex as they do not feature eyelets, so you would not expect these to crack. Whilst these are strong 700c rims, they would pale in comparison to the abuse MTB wheels can take. Not only this but 26" inch MTB wheels are available almost everywhere, particularly in Asia where 700c road bikes are unheard of outside of capital cities. So again, whilst I have got something that will roll fast on good roads, if I end up on bumpy, uneven surfaces the wheels just may fail. So if the bike survives this tour I will probably relegate this bike as a commuter and build up my old mountain bike into a dedicated tourer. On the front I have gone with a 700 x 32 Vittoria Randonneur Cross Pro Kevlar bead tyre, and on the back a 700 x 25 Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Maraton plus tyres have been known to survive up to 22,000 km before the tread wears out, and are also verifiably the most puncture resistant tyre available.

Other notable features are:

• S & S coupling - installed by Ewan Gellie, of Gellie Custom Bike Frames. I highly reccomend this framebuilder if you need a new frame, or want some modifications done. He did an excellent job of retrofitting this frame. 
  
• Tubus cargo rack - overpriced, but you get a 10 year guarantee against breakage, and if it does happen to break, anywhere in the world in the first 3 years they will send an express courier to deliver a new one.
• Rido PSG, (pressure shift geometry) saddle. Ugly as sin, but it works. Cheap as chips.
  
• Ortlieb ultimate 5 handlebar bag with camera insert and waterproof map case. This is a good lightweight, waterproof handlebar bag. I recommend it. Expensive however.
  
• I designed the canvas frame bag, and had a friend sew it. Works a treat but is wearing quickly, and is already covered in sweat and road grit. I would use vinyl if I was making another.
  
• Sci-con heavy duty vinyl panniers. Waterproof, strong, best panniers i've seen.
  
• Shimano friction shifters. Absolutely hideous shifters, that I got for $10 at Human Powered cycles in Thornbury. If your using triple chainrings on the front be aware that friction shifters tend to slip on the big ring; they cant handle the amount of cable tension needed to extend across 3 rings easily. Try and get something with a ratchet mechanism as it will stay in place better. These are only just working if I really crank down the shifter bolts.
  
• Sugino XD600 cranks. Outstanding value, attractive cranks. Made in Japan from forged aluminium. Chainring sizes 26t, 36t, 46t.
  
• Shimano Deore LX long cage rear MTB derailleur.
• Interloc Racing Design alpina-d, front derailleur. Cheap, but hard to find, and is a good match to the Sugino XD-600. Can be problematic getting it to align with the chainrings properly if you have a short bottom bracket spindle. I was told 113mm spindle would be fine. I would go a little longer (115) and you will be able to have it aligned properly parallel with rings.
• Shimano 13-34t cassette. 
• SRAM powerlink chains. Cheap, and I really like the powerlink feature.