this bike is ?

[jags]

I've come to the conclusion that although my audax is a well made bike its just way to heavy.
i reckon the gear i have on it doesnt help matters much,get rid of the wheels and tyres mudguards  for a start  bottom bracket and chainset ,and defo the front forks..

but the way i'm fixed with money as in  having none these changes will never happen ,
it's in my mind to sell it and buy a much lighter bike,problem with that i don't think theres a bike on the planet light enough to take my camping load if ever i do decide to do some touring.

my cycling buddy rides a very old giant aluminium  mountain bike pile of scrap  
but he loves it and it would be well capable of  carrying a load.i reckon that bike is worth 25euro 50 tops,yeah it would make a fella think why the hell spend a fortune on a touring or audax bike  would it not be more sensible to buy a pile of  dirt for touring like an old mountain bike  and a good lightweigh bike for everything else.  
my audax is here beside me and i know its thinking AW don't sell me Anto i like it here.

[Relayer]

Anto

I reckon an old rigid mountain bike would carry a fair bit more weight than your Audax would; you'de just need p-clips and other workarounds for mudguards and rack(s).

I'm surprised your Audax is "way to heavy" for you, are you thinking alloy or even carbon?

Anyway, you can do light(ish) touring perfectly well with a cheap bike, and get as light as you can for your everyday bike, makes a lot of sense to me.

Good luck.
Jim

[leftpoole]

Anto!
You are just mad!  The Audax 853 is a fabulous bike to ride. If it had been the correct size I would have just ridden it to death. If only I could find an Audax 853 size 550S. I was let down if you recall and purchased the frame that you now have, hoping I could fit it. But it was just a little too small.
Anto, keep it, ride it and forget camping with it. Your camping gear is just too heavy. Get shot of your camping gear and hope that one day you can afford what you want.
DO NOT SELL THE AUDAX 853!!!
John  

[jags]

i was talking to an old friend few weeks back, he's a great cyclist and at 75 years old he can still average 15 to 17 mph .he  said to me get the lightest bike i  could afford makes it make cycling  so so much easier  can't argue with that. 

i seriously dont like the way the audax feels with these heaver wheels and tyres it gives the bike a dead feeling,and i know mudguards keep you clean but i hate the fecking things honest to god.

i'd love to put a good carbon fork on this bike it will never see front panniers to be honest,and i know it will give me a better ride.

yeah just having a moan i know im a geek but sure it keeps a fella wanting ,no harm in that.

anto.

[triaesthete]

 

 It's the wanting that's the problem Anto. You have a bad case of consumerism. It's stopping you being happy.

When you've spent the money you're still you, just poorer with more stuff.

Get well soon 
Ian

[jags]

  .
Thanks Ian your as bad as the other two.

anto.

[JimK]

what size is that bike anyway? I have always wanted to visit Ireland! I bet it's lighter than my Nomad!

[leftpoole]

i was talking to an old friend few weeks back, he's a great cyclist and at 75 years old he can still average 15 to 17 mph .he  said to me get the lightest bike i  could afford makes it make cycling  so so much easier  can't argue with that. 

i seriously dont like the way the audax feels with these heaver wheels and tyres it gives the bike a dead feeling,and i know mudguards keep you clean but i hate the fecking things honest to god.

i'd love to put a good carbon fork on this bike it will never see front panniers to be honest,and i know it will give me a better ride.

yeah just having a moan i know im a geek but sure it keeps a fella wanting ,no harm in that.

anto.

Anto,
The tent I am going to send you. It weighs around 2kg which is half the weight that you have now. It is possibly half the size too 
I will post it later this week.
If it suits you let me have lots of money when you have some...
If it does not suit, sell it for a profit to a 'friend'     
Anyhow, I will let you know how expensive it will be ACTUALLY very cheap..
This will reduce your weight so far by about 50% judging by the weight that you have now!
Regards,
John

[jags]

cheers john fix you up as soon as i can apreciate that buddy.
me bike is getting lighter by the day  .

jim it  much lighter than the nomad ,although i've be riding thorn bikes this past 10 years i come from a road bike background used to riding lightweigh bike's .
as it stands at the moment i have it set up all wrong, its fine for touring as it is    ,strong wheels n mudguards, good gear range . but for group cycling its hard to stay with the lads on there carbon bikes.
guess i need to change a few things either that i train much much harder.huh not much chance of that happening.
to be honest i can't for the life of me figure out why you guys would want to tour ireland ,its only a dot on the landscape compared to your country which has so much to offer a cycle tourist.
ok its had loads of history if your into that, me i just want the sun on my back and a craic along the way ,when they were dishing out culture i hid in the corner i like the simple things in life .like a light weight road bike sunny days and a pocket full of money and the ol ipod fully charged.
ok enough of tis nonesense i need coffee.

thanks  john let me know how you got on today best of luck and thanks again.

Anto.

[il padrone]

Anto

Go to Italy...... down south. Nice and cheap to travel. Lots of bars and cafes. Sunshine a-plenty. Culture is mostly fairly low scale, but the best Greek temples are in Sicily, and the churches!! Every little town has a church full of masterpieces - I'm no churchy person but in every town we went to the piazza, church, cafe, in that order. Great travelling!






Oh yes, all that riding was done on the Nomad (the beast) weighing 18 kgs, but that was minor with the full camping load. Next time in Italy.... NO camping gear!

[jags]

i bet you got plenty of strange looks with all that weight on your bike. i was there few years back loved the country but  the food was terrible pasta coming out of my feckin ears..
aw but yes its beautifull country to ride a bike . as is  Spain we done the camino  loved it.
but yeah we cheated i suppose you could say, i was on my look kx light superb bike and we had a support wagon for all the gear .

class photos BTW the old guy at the end of the seat is mystified how you could ride with all that load .


anto.

[il padrone]

Yes, we took the camping gear, because that's what you do if you're cycle-touring in Australia. It's along way between drinks   But in Italy we found the caravan parks a tad unconventional by our standards, and always 5-10 kms out of town by a beach. If I wanted to go to really good beaches I'd have stayed at home in Aus! We wanted to see the towns, museums, cathedrals, and the local life and culture of the people. We tended to go to 3-star hotels that were fairly affordable and right in the 'centro storico'. It was great. I reckon that in 90 days in Italy and Corsica we camped out about 12 nights.

Yes a few people commented on the load, but actually it was not as heavy as we often carry in Australia on tour, mainly as we rarely carried more than one day's supply of food. Future tours will be hotel/B&B/hostel based and we will just  carry two panniers, at least in Italy.

BTW, we loved the food in Italy, but I do love a good pasta