Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Thorn General => Topic started by: Austerby on August 06, 2014, 11:47:50 AM
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I'm a bit confused by all the choices and options!
A bit of background - I've always had a bike but my cycling has been city-based, either commuting or shopping / pub trips. A ride of more than an hour or further than, say, 15 miles is rare. I do occasionally put the bike in the back of the car and take it to the country and have a 30 mile day's ride following a guide-book route. My bikes have always been off-the-shelf hybrids - currently on a Giant Escape M1, which is very much specc'd for city riding.
Oh, I'm 48, not fit, overweight, like beer and cake a bit too much. I'm not planning on wearing a lycra cycling suit, ever. Oh, and I really struggle to get up much more than a modest gradient - hills are my enemy on a bike.
I enjoy my cycling and would like to do more and am starting to look for my next bike - and I want something that'll last me 20 years, so I'm looking at the quality end of the market.
I have been thinking about a touring bicycle but to be quite honest I'm not planning on any major adventures. The sort of thing I have in mind is a couple of weeks or so cycling through France, for example, travelling light and staying in charming, cheap, local hotels.
I'd also like to do more of the country day-rides, either taking my bike out of London on the train or on a bike rack on the car.
There's quite a few Thorn bikes that could fit these requirements but I'm really don't have the knowledge to make an informed decision.
Where should I start?
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Welcome :) Plenty of advice readily offered here.
Quick reponse for now: If you don't want a rohloff hub a Thorn Audax might be just the thing. If you do want a rohloff its probably a Raven or even a Mercury.
The people at SJS are really very helpful and its well worth giving them a call.
I'm sure others will chip in shortly.
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Welcome to the forum Austerby.
Here is my take on your question ...
A touring bike is a very versatile machine that will cover a lot of bases apart from touring.
Given that you do a lot of city riding I would imagine straight bars would be best. I would suggest firstly a Thorn Club Tour with tyre 32mm or 35mm wide, these will give some comfort over city roads. The Audax will be a bit lighter and faster but not so forgiving on bad city road surfaces.
A Sherpa would take 2 inch tyres, but it is a heavy bike designed to carry heavy loads, not a good fit to your criteria.
If I were you I wouldn't go to the expense of a Rohloff hub bike, I think you need to put in a high mileage each year to get a decent return on your investment, even over 20 years ... unless of course spending a lot of money isn't a problem. I would also imagine a Rohloff could attract attention from cycle thieves in the city; it depends if you can always keep it well secured.
So, a flat barred Club Tour with 35mm tyres is my tuppence worth. ;)
Jim
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welcome again ;)
Jim is near enough spot on with his choice only if your used to riding straight bars, me i use drops on my Audax.My audax is super smooth fast enough and great on hills it will take 28 tyres which might suit you,i use 700x 23 racing slicks on custom wheels.
the audax will also take racks front and rear i only use rear ,which would be plenty good enough for what you want to do.
but yeah either the Audax or club tour will suit you perfect both have 700c wheels the rest of the thorn range are 599 well except for one which escapes my tiny mind. ::)
cheers
jags.
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Yeah the Club Tour would be a very smart choice. Very versatile! Here is one that's out and about:
http://www.pbase.com/image/116670711
I think the Nomad has two main advantages: 1) the Rohloff hub, which is a bit tougher, lower maintenance, and allows relatively brain-less shifting (i.e. no cross chaining issues); 2) can haul heavier loads over rougher terrain. I like to use, or anyway would like to use, my bike as a utility hauling machine. I can really load up with groceries and even hitting rough potholes I don't really worry about breaking anything.
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I'd say Club Tour. I have an audax, which is a very nice machine, but the club tour is just slightly more versatile. Someone on here has also mentioned in the past that there is a weight limit on the Audax which may mean that it's not a good idea either - check with Thorn before you buy. Finally the club tour can be set up with straight or drop bars and disc brakes if that's your thing.
Rohloff is very nice, but rather expensive, I would be tempted to look at a Mercury if I were going that route. So I guess it depends on your budget!
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Very helpful comments, thank you.
Neither the Club Tour or the Audax were bikes I was considering so thank you for bringing them to my attention. I think of the two the Club Tour would more than meet my likely needs.
As mentioned before, I struggle with hills - they're my enemies on a bicycle, yet they're difficult to avoid if you want to ride any attractive countryside.
I see lots of options for gearing and chainsets but it's not clear to me how they translate into hill-climbing effectiveness - which are the key bits to focus on and which of the various figures/ratios/gears mentioned are the most critical to understand?
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Having a look at the pure gear ratio (i.e. the ratio between the front gear to the back gear) having a smaller ratio helps. For example on a normal road bike the ratio at the top end could be 50 (teeth) to 11 (teeth) or 50:11 or 4.55:1 which means for every 1 turn of the pedals the rear wheel will turn 4.55 times. At the bottom end of the gear range on my touring bike I have a ratio of 26:32 or 0.8125:1, so my back wheel is actually turning faster than I pedal.
On top of this you have to take into consideration the size of the wheel (and tyre!), which is where people come up with a measurement called gear inches - the number of inches that the bike will actually go for each full turn of the pedal. There's online calculators for this. I use the Sheldon Brown one here (http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/)
The lowest sets of gearing you can find are from mountain bike setups - 22:36 for example - and where with current modern gears flat bars really help. You cant get modern 11 speed mountain gear trains to work with road gear shifters or mount on drop bars. Saying that the lowest you get from a current modern 10 speed road system is pretty low, and should see you over most hills even if you do pootle up at 3pmh!
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You could start by defnining the purpose of the bike you want, as you've been doing, and make the component decisions on hand of that. By way of example:
Do you want to travel fast or be comfortable? If you choose speed, you might choose drop bars. If you choose comfort, you may want to sit more upright and use well-cranked bars, or even city (North Road) bars, and you will absolutely insist on forks wide enough to use balloon tyres (47mm and up) with space left over for mudguards. A fast, lightweight narrow-tyred bike ("a light tourer") might have derailleurs. A low maintenance bike, fast enough but more adaptable all round, would have hub gears; many of us swear by the outstanding 14-speed German hub gearbox made by Rohloff.
Suppose you choose comfort and a Rohloff. To start with, given your age and present condition, and the fact that you intend credit card touring, 38x16 gears will let you pedal relatively easily but not necessarily quickly up most hills you will meet though you must resign yourself to freewheeling down the steepest hills as you run out of gears at the top; 38x17 would be lower (i.e. slower) to get you up steeper hills still, but probably unnecessary. Depending on precisely what you mean by unfit, 42x17 gears may be within your reach. It is better to undergear and get up the hills than to overgear and have your holiday ruined when you discover you don't have the legs and the lungs consistently to pull that high a gear train. Many Thorns have 17 tooth sprockets, and the cheapest sprocket, supplied free with new Rohloff boxes, is 16T, so a good choice that leaves your options open is 38x17, or the standard 38x16 favoured by many owners; if you find this combination too slow, a new chainring is cheap to buy and you can sell a barely used one on here, or just give it away. This also leaves you with the option of using a Hebie Chainglider to cover the transmission, which reduces maintenance tremendously.
Let's take another example, the saddle, a very, very important interface with your bike. If you want to go fast, you'll have a certain forward posture on the bike, and will use a narrow saddle, because that is what works with the posture. You may be used to a narrow saddle from past cycling, but there are alternatives that come with different cycling outlooks. A more upright, semi-sporting or comfort, stance on the bike requires a wider saddle, and the sprung Brooks have their fans, for good reasons, including that you can be hours in the saddle between wineries in France, without feeling too much pain.
Do you see how in a proper bicyclist's decision tree the choices cascade from deciding what you want the bike to do, rather than shopping for a bike that someone else has though up and put together with components he bought as a job lot on price?
Forget the technicalities; you can bone up on them later, or have your new mates on the forum give you a quick primer. Instead think hard about what you want the bike to do for you, and how best to share that with us, and someone here will have had the same expectation, and be able to advise you on the best frame type and size, and components and their scaling, to meet your expectations exactly.
It works; it's not rocket science; it just takes patience. Buying this class of bike is not a process that can be hurried.
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Lovely reply Andre, fully endorse everything you say there.
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I think Andre has hit all the nails on the head with his comments, good luck on your journey.
Researching components and options is great fun and I think you will always be fine tuning your bike to some extent once you have it, I know I am.
I love the Rohloff hub, it is expensive but you generally get what you pay for in life, quality doesn't come cheap. That said Thorns derailleur models are superb too and considerably cheaper. if you can get down to SJS Cycles at some point and test ride a few options it will give you a clearer idea as to what suits you best.
Regards, Neil.
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All good advice but you must reconsider the wearing of Lycra. Bright colours, that match of course and a helmet that glows in daylight let alone the dark. Then you can consider yourself a real CYCLIST ! Like the bevvy of cyclists that just rode past my house.
;)
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All good advice but you must reconsider the wearing of Lycra. Bright colours, that match of course and a helmet that glows in daylight let alone the dark. Then you can consider yourself a real CYCLIST ! Like the bevvy of cyclists that just rode past my house.
;)
Oh and don't worry about going up hills. I found that over time you eventually realise that can get up them hills without resorting to being a pedestrian.
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Having a look at the pure gear ratio (i.e. the ratio between the front gear to the back gear) having a smaller ratio helps. For example on a normal road bike the ratio at the top end could be 50 (teeth) to 11 (teeth) or 50:11 or 4.55:1 which means for every 1 turn of the pedals the rear wheel will turn 4.55 times. At the bottom end of the gear range on my touring bike I have a ratio of 26:32 or 0.8125:1, so my back wheel is actually turning faster than I pedal.
On top of this you have to take into consideration the size of the wheel (and tyre!), which is where people come up with a measurement called gear inches - the number of inches that the bike will actually go for each full turn of the pedal. There's online calculators for this. I use the Sheldon Brown one here (http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/)
The lowest sets of gearing you can find are from mountain bike setups - 22:36 for example - and where with current modern gears flat bars really help. You cant get modern 11 speed mountain gear trains to work with road gear shifters or mount on drop bars. Saying that the lowest you get from a current modern 10 speed road system is pretty low, and should see you over most hills even if you do pootle up at 3pmh!
Couple of errors in what you have said there.
With a 26 tooth chainring and a 32 tooth rear sprocket your wheels are turning slower than you pedal.
And the 'gear inches' measure is not the distance that you travel for each full turn of the pedals, that is 'gear development'.
Gear inches is the size of the diameter of an imaginary wheel that would give the same gearing with a 1:1 chainring :sprocket ratio, or as it is more often described as the diameter of a direct drive penny farthing wheel that produces the same equivalent gear.
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All good advice but you must reconsider the wearing of Lycra. Bright colours, that match of course and a helmet that glows in daylight let alone the dark. Then you can consider yourself a real CYCLIST ! Like the bevvy of cyclists that just rode past my house.
;)
And, to offset the cheerful colors of the lycra, your face must be like thunder with your determination not to greet anyone lest they burst out laughing.
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Couple of errors in what you have said there.
With a 26 tooth chainring and a 32 tooth rear sprocket your wheels are turning slower than you pedal.
And the 'gear inches' measure is not the distance that you travel for each full turn of the pedals, that is 'gear development'.
Gear inches is the size of the diameter of an imaginary wheel that would give the same gearing with a 1:1 chainring :sprocket ratio, or as it is more often described as the diameter of a direct drive penny farthing wheel that produces the same equivalent gear.
Ah yep! I blame the fact I was trying to work at the same time for that basic error, I even got it right the first time as well.
Good info on gear inches though, teach me to assume and not research it!
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Ah, the penny farthing equivalence rating :P How could anybody not grasp the gear-inch and love it immediately :o
Theoretically as absurd as even slightly overweight men in lycra with insufficiently low gearing.
BUT! The good thing with gear inches though is that the numbers are spaced just right to make a common sense scale if you ignore the derivation and the units. 100 is plenty big and 19 gets you up almost anything.
Funnily enough that's exactly the range Herr Rohloff provides 8)
Get a Rohloff Austerby (maybe in a Raven Tour) and specify bottom gear of 19" or less. Hills will no longer be your enemy, merely bits of road to be savoured at lower speed, and you will be able to engage this low gear without fuss, drama or breaking the chain.
Happy climbing
Ian
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Ah, the penny farthing equivalence rating :P How could anybody not grasp the gear-inch and love it immediately :o
Theoretically as absurd as even slightly overweight men in lycra with insufficiently low gearing.
No, never! At school I rode in a parade on the penny-farthing from the museum, dressed in a loud check suit also from the museum. I mounted the pennyfarthing by having my gang hoist me up to the crossbar on the rugby goalposts and then wheeling the bike in under me.
Later I ordered a suit exactly like that cut for me by John Stephen of Carnaby Street. It was so loud that at the polo Prince Philip tried to place a bet with me. I pocketed his money before I told him I was a guest of his mother-in-law, so he'd better mind his manners. (If you want to know what happened to my knighthood, that's probably the moment it went walkabye.) I wish I still had that suit. It would be ideal for that jaunt in vintage clothes Brooks organizes every year.
I shall never, ever, desert the penny-farthing standard of inter-transmission comparison. I have fond memories of it: the first bicycle I loved, holding handlebars with it in light rain under dripping oak trees, the warmth of her love for me cheering the day of everyone who caught sight of us. Yes.
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How much is that ordinary worth in penny farthing equivalence my friend, we need a handy conversion chart because my hovercraft is full of eels.
What a paean Andre ;D
Made my morning.
Happy day ahead!
Ian
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Just wanted to come back and say thanks, these comments have been really instructive (well, most of them :))
I'm down in the west country a few times a year so will have to build in some time on my next trip to visit Thorn in person.
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Hi,
Having just been at Thorn (and subsequently bought a CT), and been through the 'choice' process, I think you might want to bear a couple of things in mind before a visit. Andre Jute is right, you need to first consider what you want to do with the bike. Is it something specific, or an all-round 'only one' bike? The guys at Thorn will simply give you the bike most suitable for the purpose that you tell them. If you don't know what that will be, then a visit might not help. But you will get to look at/ride some really shiny bikes :) Having said that, initiating an email conversation with one of their sales guys helped me quite a bit; before the visit.
btw, I have a Rohloff'd bike and conventionally geared bikes, and the difference is not life changing. They are just, well, same but different; except for the price! I did about 15k dirty kms on a conventionally geared bike before I had to replace the gearing, for about £80 (chainrings, chain, cassette, rear-mech). The Rohloff is interesting, but doesn't always stack up financially. £80 every 15,000 km is a pretty ok rate, to me.
cheers,
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Good points: I think I'm pretty clear on what I want it for:
1. day rides local to home - 40milers - for exercise. I'll be going out of SE London towards Kent and there are some big, long hills around
2. In summer 2016 I'm planning a London-Mallorca cycle ride, well, to Barcelona to catch the ferry to Palma. This will be light touring, staying at B&Bs rather than carrying camping gear etc. Some of this will be on roads, but I'd like to follow canal paths / riverside paths, for part of it so some rougher surfaces.
3. I'll then keep the bike at my property in Mallorca to be used for day rides around NE Mallorca - unlikely to attempt to follow the pro-teams training routes in the mountains but more around the agricultural areas.
4. The occasional commute to work, though I'll keep my Giant hybrid for that, mostly.
I don't see the need for a Rohloff hub, derailleurs are fine as far as I can see and I'm not going anywhere much further than 10 miles from the nearest bike shop I expect.
I am looking around at other manufacturers but happy to spend £1500 or so for the right bike. I'm also thinking about going on a build your own bike course so I can build something like a Velo Orange Pass Hunter or a Surly Pacer or even just find an old frame I can use.
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Hi Austerby
Other than the fact I'm a couple of years older it sounds like you have the same set of criteria and are going through the same thought processes which I went through 6 months ago.
I went for a Raven in the end which I've had for about 3 months. 2-3 rides per week, 10-30 miles each time and I have to say it's brilliant. Comfort was important to me as I have a dodgy back, rather than out and out speed. I plan to keep the bike until I fall off my perch (or the saddle) so as long as I stick to that plan the high initial cost won't be so bad.
Would strongly advise test rides at Thorn as others have said. I initially was going to go for the Mercury but, great bike as it undoubtably is, it wasn't right for me.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Martin
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Oh, I'm 48, not fit, overweight, like beer and cake a bit too much. I'm not planning on wearing a lycra cycling suit, ever. Oh, and I really struggle to get up much more than a modest gradient - hills are my enemy on a bike
Lol had to laugh when i read that and then read your thinking of buying a Velo Orange pass hunter
freshtripe says The term ‘pass hunter’ refers to the sport of riding over mountain passes, popular in
France and Japan - rules are explained on this page http://velo-orange.blogspot.co.uk/2006/03/pass-hunting_20.html (http://velo-orange.blogspot.co.uk/2006/03/pass-hunting_20.html)
i think your right to buy a frame and build it up yourself, youtube and forums are your friend if you do
one bit of advice if you don't already have a workstand get a good one as it makes everything a doddle
p.s
i'd look at the sherpa it really aint that heavy, and will last a lifetime
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Lol had to laugh when i read that and then read your thinking of buying a Velo Orange pass hunter
Well, my thinking is that it would be a good bike for hills ;D I may need all the help I can get.
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Well, my thinking is that it would be a good bike for hills ;D I may need all the help I can get.
just a suggestion. if you build up a frameset with new parts, it is likely to cost a fair bit more than just buying the complete bike. you can do it cheaper, but you tend to need to have some experience and patience when ordering parts. if you were to build a Pacer I expect you're thinking is that you'd have a lighter bike to take up the hills? I think what you'd have is two very similar road bikes; including the Thorn you're possibly going to buy.
An alternative is to get your primary bike (let's say a Club Tour), and then over time buy parts to turn it into a lighter-weight road bike (if that's what your intention is with the second bike). So you'd learn about gearing (inches/Ordinary's/etc) and with your new theoretical knowledge you'd purchase some new parts (perhaps going lighter weight) and fit them to your primary bike. The parts you take of that bike are known-good parts, and you put them on the spares shelf. And because you're replacing like for like, you can see how things should look before you pull it apart. Perhaps you learn wheel building, and you build yourself a set of wheels for fast-road riding. Your old wheels are always there should you need to tweak your self-built wheels off the bike.
This way, you're less likely to have an unusable 'project bike' festering in the corner. You're also able to see and measure what's already there, before you buy/upgrade. A collection of spares is always handy. And the money you save on a new frameset (£350-ish for a Pacer?) can be put into good quality tools instead.
If the Thorn bike is bought as a 'keeper', and it's as good as you expect, then being able to reconfigure it into a full-tourer/shopper/fast-road/audax/sportive/etc bike will only add to the enjoyment. Obviously, if you just want another bike then ignore all of this :-)
btw, I've cycled Edinburgh/Barcelona/Edinburgh a couple of times and it's a great ride.
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It's not so much lightness that I'm after (I need to lose quite a few lbs personally before I begin to worry about a few ounces here or there between components) as efficiency and, to be honest, the look of a nice bicycle.
I'm not going to be a fast rider (I like to enjoy my surroundings rather than trying to beat the clock) and I'm not going to clock up huge mileages, nor am I likely to be taking the bike to far away places.
My current bike is a very handy commuter but it doesn't inspire me to use it for other that utility purposes. I rather fancy something fancier for different types of riding, so I don't want to replicate or replace.
The Thorn Audax and GT were not bikes I'd really looked at until prompted by suggestions here. They certainly appeal and I've moved on from looking at specialised heavy-duty touring bikes to the sports touring type but this could yet change.
I realised that I don't actually know that much about bicycles and am intending to do some courses at the London Bike Kitchen, or similar, over the winter in maintenance and they also do a "Build Your Own Bike" course.
Ideally, I'd like to have something by, say, Spring 2015, so I have a year to get it run in before taking it down to Mallorca, so I'm not in any particular hurry to make a decision just yet.
Far-Ouef: I'm interested in your Edinburgh/Barcelona/Edinburgh ride - my plans are not in that league, but interesting to hear which route you took through France - I'm looking at either Calais, Lyon, Perpignan; or Caen, Chartres, Orleans, Poitiers, Bordeaux, Canal du Midi, Perpignan; or St Malo, Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Perpignan, Barcelona.
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hey,
Just some hi-lights/low-lights, to consider:
you can skirt down the west side of Paris, fairly close, on reasonable roads for cycling by going through Dreux.
Orleans is a favourite place of mine, so I tend to cycle there when I'm near. The municipal campsite at Olivet (5km south of Orleans, an easy cycle) is justifiably full in summer (it is a fantastic site) so booking is essential. The campsite in Orleans, by the river, is acceptable but nowhere near as good. Hotel de l'Abeille in the centre of Orleans is a very nice, and not so expensive, hotel in an old town house, and if you turn up by bicycle they'll give you a cool drink while checking in; very bicycle friendly.
The centre route, I've found, is less touristy, which I prefer. That means eating (properly) local, during fixed hours (without tourists they serve the locals and then close up) in bars and truck-stops (not like our truck-stops!). I've had the best, most interesting food this way.
Albi is a cultural centre (Cathars), so there's lots of interesting things around there. Just south is the road from Mazamet to Carcassonne, which is really scenic and well worth the initial hill.
Bordeaux is quite far out of the way, though chosen because it's flatter. I don't think that justifies going that way, is it's not a particularly nice route (heavy traffic too). Canal du Midi is, in my experience and opinion, quite boring; you just sit on a straight canal for day after day without being able to see over the bankings. They have also taken out the trees (or are about to) because of disease, I think. Lyon I liked a lot, and it was another very bike friendly city.
The coastal route to Barcelona is one I'd avoid, having done it once. After a few weeks in France, pleasantly meandering and being welcomed as a cyclist, the Costa Brava is not a great place to be (tourists, traffic, HGVs). Although it means a few hills (by this time that won't be a problem) the route through Foix, Puigcerdá and to Ripoll is much, much nicer. There's also a railway on that route, should you prefer to let the train take the strain. You'll also get a much nicer entry cycling into Barcelona this way, as Barcelona hasn't been able to spill westwards far as it has northwards.
Regional trains in France and Spain are very easy with a bike, so keep that in mind. I've cycled all over France and I really prefer the hilly areas (Massif Central, Ardèche, etc). But to get to Barcelona I preferred most the central route along the lines of : Calais, Dreux, Orleans, Montluçon, Figeac, Albi, Carcassonne, Foix, Puigcerdá, Ripoll, Vic, Barcelona. If you really didn't want to cycle up the Pyrenees to Puigcerdá, I'd recommend the train up from Foix rather then the Perpignan route.
I don't plan a route in advance, I just pick up a map showing D-roads (our B-roads) and make it up each morning over a coffee/croissant. It's also worth, in advance, working out what sort of food keeps you going (protein/chicken-based dinner means my legs are brand new in the morning for example), as eating the right things makes a big difference. That's more trial and error though, but you've plenty of time to try out a few days on the bike.
I travelled up and down to Barcelona by motorbike for years (I freelanced down there), but it was not until I cycled that I really felt immersed in France and realised I'd missed out on a lot of the culture. Traversing the country (rather than a 2 week holiday) really puts you in the right mental frame of mind I think, and the French give you an extra bit of kudos for it too :)
sorry to deviate off your bike-choosing thread.
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Never mind "deviating", that's the meat and drink that people come to a touring forum for. Fascinating and authoritative.
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hey,
Just some hi-lights/low-lights, to consider:
you can skirt down the west side of Paris, fairly close, on reasonable roads for cycling by going through Dreux.
Orleans is a favourite place of mine, so I tend to cycle there when I'm near. The municipal campsite at Olivet (5km south of Orleans, an easy cycle) is justifiably full in summer (it is a fantastic site) so booking is essential. The campsite in Orleans, by the river, is acceptable but nowhere near as good. Hotel de l'Abeille in the centre of Orleans is a very nice, and not so expensive, hotel in an old town house, and if you turn up by bicycle they'll give you a cool drink while checking in; very bicycle friendly.
The centre route, I've found, is less touristy, which I prefer. That means eating (properly) local, during fixed hours (without tourists they serve the locals and then close up) in bars and truck-stops (not like our truck-stops!). I've had the best, most interesting food this way.
Albi is a cultural centre (Cathars), so there's lots of interesting things around there. Just south is the road from Mazamet to Carcassonne, which is really scenic and well worth the initial hill.
Bordeaux is quite far out of the way, though chosen because it's flatter. I don't think that justifies going that way, is it's not a particularly nice route (heavy traffic too). Canal du Midi is, in my experience and opinion, quite boring; you just sit on a straight canal for day after day without being able to see over the bankings. They have also taken out the trees (or are about to) because of disease, I think. Lyon I liked a lot, and it was another very bike friendly city.
The coastal route to Barcelona is one I'd avoid, having done it once. After a few weeks in France, pleasantly meandering and being welcomed as a cyclist, the Costa Brava is not a great place to be (tourists, traffic, HGVs). Although it means a few hills (by this time that won't be a problem) the route through Foix, Puigcerdá and to Ripoll is much, much nicer. There's also a railway on that route, should you prefer to let the train take the strain. You'll also get a much nicer entry cycling into Barcelona this way, as Barcelona hasn't been able to spill westwards far as it has northwards.
Regional trains in France and Spain are very easy with a bike, so keep that in mind. I've cycled all over France and I really prefer the hilly areas (Massif Central, Ardèche, etc). But to get to Barcelona I preferred most the central route along the lines of : Calais, Dreux, Orleans, Montluçon, Figeac, Albi, Carcassonne, Foix, Puigcerdá, Ripoll, Vic, Barcelona. If you really didn't want to cycle up the Pyrenees to Puigcerdá, I'd recommend the train up from Foix rather then the Perpignan route.
I don't plan a route in advance, I just pick up a map showing D-roads (our B-roads) and make it up each morning over a coffee/croissant. It's also worth, in advance, working out what sort of food keeps you going (protein/chicken-based dinner means my legs are brand new in the morning for example), as eating the right things makes a big difference. That's more trial and error though, but you've plenty of time to try out a few days on the bike.
I travelled up and down to Barcelona by motorbike for years (I freelanced down there), but it was not until I cycled that I really felt immersed in France and realised I'd missed out on a lot of the culture. Traversing the country (rather than a 2 week holiday) really puts you in the right mental frame of mind I think, and the French give you an extra bit of kudos for it too :)
sorry to deviate off your bike-choosing thread.
This made me want to set off tomorrow!! (I would if I hadn't got someone to care for, and be the carer of!). I'm going to save this post for future reference... you never know what the future holds...
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sorry to deviate off your bike-choosing thread.
No problem whatsoever - thank you so much for sharing. This is saved for future reference: invaluable.
Cheers.
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It's also worth, in advance, working out what sort of food keeps you going (protein/chicken-based dinner means my legs are brand new in the morning for example), as eating the right things makes a big difference. That's more trial and error though, but you've plenty of time to try out a few days on the bike.
I'm hoping it'll be confit du canard and/or cassoulet for me, but I'm willing to give it a try.
Damn: I want to go tomorrow now, not wait until 2016.