2009-09-19 03:07:28
5
Need to buy a bike, but I don't know what to buy.
Hello!
I need to buy a bike, but I have no clue what to buy. My plan is to bike ride through Latin America in April/ May, starting in Peru, then heading to Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. The terrain will be mountain, trail, and dirt path for the first part of the trip. For the second part, it will mostly be on paved road, although still very hilly. Can anyone give me advice on what to get? The boys at Iron City bikes in Oakland told me to speak to a few people first, but also recommended the Sherpa 10-30 and the TR 101. Does anyone have advice? Any thoughts would be helpful. Also, I'm looking for a person to go with me. So, if anyone would like to go, let me know!!!
2009-09-18 23:59:33
When you say "dirt path" do you mean a path that poor people would walk on? Take carts on?
What's the rainfall like? You'd want serious fenders for rainforest, but no need for desert.
I'm guessing that most trail-touring bikes would do just fine for travelling down there.
I use a Surly Crosscheck with 700 X 38 kevlar-type tires. The only problem I had on a Pgh-DC-Pgh trip was mud catching in the fenders in the worst of it. (think century old mule droppings)
My small chainring is 22 and my big back gear is 30. I would not want to deal with mountains using the TR101 30F/34B and for sure not with the sherpa 30F/32B. You might be able to modify with a smaller chain ring
Or, who knows? You might not be as much of a wimp. But I'm guessing that about a quarter of the way up one of those Andes mountains, your pride won't be bothered about having a non-macho gear ratio at all.
How long wil you be going for? Do you speak spanish?
Mick
2009-09-19 06:32:45
@ Phil: Thanks for the website, I checked it out, and I'm going to email them some questions.
@Mick: Thanks for the info. I am going to go for about 2-3 months. I do speak at an almost fluent level. I studied Spanish as an undergrad, and studied and lived in Argentina for 5 months. I'm most likely going to go as soon as school ends in April/ beginning of May. Are you interested in coming???
2009-09-19 11:15:13
Jut a thought. The Novara Safari from REI actually gets pretty good reviews for trips like what you are describing. It has disc brakes, handles pretty fat tires, etc. In general, people replace saddles and pedals like with most bikes as those are entirely personal preference.
http://www.rei.com/product/775749
Here is a review of the 2007 model
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_7U2RbnOg
2009-09-19 12:44:08