Building an off-road touring bike

When you decide to build a custom bike for your next trip you’ll quickly realize that there is a lot to think about. When I made the decision to take three months off work to ride Adventure Cycling’s Great Divide Route, I knew I’d have to find a bike that was up to the challenge.

I started by doing a lot of research online. I read as many online travel logs as I could find and looked for the different problems that people experienced with their equipment along the route. I planned to design my bike to avoid these problems.

At first, I thought about finding a factory built bike that was close to what I needed. I’d use that as a starting point and swap off certain components to meet my needs. As my mental picture of the perfect off-road touring bike took shape, I realized that the only realistic choice was to build a bike from scratch.

Here is a list of components that I chose and my reasons for each choice.

Frame
I knew I wanted a steel frame for the durability and comfortable ride they are known for. I quickly ruled out a frame with rear suspension because of their increased chance of having mechanical problems and the additional weight of the suspension mechanism. I found a great deal on a Jamis Dragon frame at Jenson USA. It is made with Renolds 853 Steel, and has mount points for both disc and rim brakes. I decided I wanted to use disc brakes and I’d need the rim brake mount points for my Old Man Mountain racks.

Fork
I was looking for a few specific things in a fork: I wanted to be able to lock-out the suspension, and I also wanted a “symmetrical” design, with a coil spring on each side. Like the frame, the fork would also need to have mount points for disc and rim brakes. I decided on Marzocchi’s Marathon S shock, which ended up being the most popular shock used by other riders in the group.

This fork has 110mm of travel which can be locked down to 40mm. I would leave the suspension locked down to 40mm and unlock it for the downhills. I thought 110mm might be overkill, but it was absolutely worth it on the fast and rough downhills of Montana.

Seatpost and Saddle
Since I decided not to use a full suspension frame, but still wanted a comfortable ride, I bought a Cane Creek Thudbuster seatpost. This would help absorb the bumps along the way, but with a smaller chance of problems compared to full suspension.

I’ve used a Terry touring saddle for years on my road touring bike, so it was an easy choice to get one for this bike. Terry says their saddles are “for real men who want to stay that way." I’m not convinced that the small space in the saddle makes a big difference in blood flow, but it couldn’t hurt. My only saddle-related complaints were a sore tailbone for the first several weeks of the trip, and an occasionally numb big toe on my left foot.

Brakes
I wanted disc brakes for their stopping power and ability to work well in wet and muddy conditions. I also wanted to avoid the problems others have had with mud getting jammed up in their rim brakes and making pedaling difficult or impossible. This turned out to be a good choice since others in the group with rim breaks had a lot of trouble when we hit mud.

I also didn’t want to deal with the maintenance required by hydraulic breaks. The clear choice was Avid’s disc breaks with 160mm rotors and Flak Jacket cables. I have to say, these breaks are awesome. They could stop the bike on a dime even while going downhill with a fully loaded mountain bike.

Drive Train
I went with Shimano products for the drive train. This included XT components all around for their reputation and small price difference compared to the LX line. I didn’t see any reason to pay considerably more for XTR components. Some people in my group had a problem with Shimano’s front derailers where a small stone would get caught in the mechanism and prevent it from shifting, but I did not have this problem.

Wheels
I had my wheels custom built by Harris Cyclery, in Needham Massachusetts. I wanted to have Sun Rhyno Lite rims and XT hubs. Rhyno Lite rims are known for being very strong and they handled the abuse I gave them on the trip with absolutely no issues. I carried spare spokes and spoke nipples, but never had to use them.

Handlebars and Stem
I liked the idea of having multiple hand positions, similar to drop bars on a road bike, on a trip of this length. I had been interested in the handlebars on REI’s trekking bike and found out they could be ordered separately. I bought thick foam grips for the bars from an online vendor. The disadvantage to these types of bars is that a handlebar bag can not be mounted to them. Instead of a bar bag, I bought a small “bum bag” that would hold my camera, pocket radio, chap stick, gum and money.

I bought a Zoom adjustable handlebar stem to have the freedom to adjust the height of the handlebar throughout the trip. I ended up leaving the stem set to 15 degrees for the entire trip, but I think they were worth having in case I had any neck or shoulder problems along the way. I did not really like the design of this stem, and have since purchased a Richey Pro Adjustable Stem to replace it.

Tires
I bought three Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1 tires for this trip. These tires have great traction, a “tough” looking knobby tread and a Kevlar bead which allows one to be rolled up and hidden in the bottom of a pannier for emergencies. I got one flat after 1700 miles and decided to replace my rear tire along with the tube at that point. I thought the tread would make them very inefficient on pavement, but this didn’t turn out to be a big problem and I was glad I had the traction on loose gravel and sand.

Pedals
I wanted to have SPD pedals, but also wanted to have the option to ride wearing Tevas on our rest days. Shimano’s PDM 342 Multi-Purpose Pedals were perfect. They have a standard pedal cage on one side and SPD on the other. The cages were great on fast downhills when I didn't want to be clipped in, and were also great when my cleats became packed with mud. It took a while to get used to only being able to clip into one side, but after a while you don’t need to think about it and clip in to the right side naturally. A few other riders had these pedals on the trip.

Racks
I used Old Man Mountain’s Cold Mountain racks. These are very strong, light and do not require brazons and eyelets for mounting. After I finished the trip I noticed one side of the rear racks had bent. Old Man Mountain replaced the rack free of charge. There was also some excessive wear on my racks and on the racks of another rider. These wear points were caused by the panniers rubbing against the racks over such a long period of time. Old Man Mountain will be producing stainless steal sleeves that can be clipped onto the racks to prevent this wear from happening.

Panniers
I have always used water resistant Cordura panniers on my road touring trips, but covering them in the rain was a hassle and the covers make accessing their contents difficult. I also did not think they would keep their contents dry when fording a stream or riding all day in the rain. I decided to get Vaude’s World Tramp II Plus (rear), and World Cycle II (front) waterproof panniers. These worked well except for some small tearing at wear points. The outer pocket on my right rear pannier had to be cut off after a bottle of DEET opened up and literally melted through the pocket.



Overall I was very happy with this bike. I don’t by any means consider myself a bike-building expert, but I managed to build a bike that avoided many common problems that people face along the Great Divide. For Adventure Cycling’s recommendations, see “Choosing a Bike for the Great Divide” in their HOW-TO Department.