My tourer: Specialized Tricross
Well here’s my new touring bike! Have only about 100 miles on her so far and its been all smiles so far. Specced out with beautifully comfortable Panaracer Pasela TourGuard 700×35 folding tires, Shimano SLX 44/32/22 with a 9spd 11-34 cassette, Tubus Logo rear rack, Vetta front rack (vintage! this will likely be taken off), LX rear derailleur, XT front derailleur, super stubby 70mm stem, Brooks B17 and Planet Bike fenders.
I chose a 52cm frame, slightly smaller than what I should probably have gotten, so that I could get a slightly shorter top tube to suit my fairly upright riding style. I could actually do with a tad more height on the bars :-
Next month I’m headed to Southeast Asia where she’ll get her first touring experience. Fingers crossed
15.Dec.08 
Pictures, South East Asia 2009, Touring
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The bike looks great! I like the color. Where in Southeast Asia are you starting?
Hey thanks
I’m flying into Bangkok and plan to to head to Cambodia, north into Laos then back into Thailand. No specific plan, just giving myself 3 months to explore
Have fun in SE Asia. The wife and I did Saigon to Bangkok this summer on a bike tour. Ankor Wat is awesome to ride through. With a bike you can check out a lot of areas most ppl will not walk to.
Excellent selection. On your comment about bar height; I generally put about 5 – 10 deg tilt on mine, and have read that the max is considered to be when the brops are in line with the rear drop outs – a lot. Getting a nice flat top to the bar, and minimal reach is also a help. Question; did you use a drop line on your knee to the pedal spindle to adjust your saddle fore/aft position? Maybe a good professional bike fit would be a good investment – you might find one for about $100. Good luck.
PS: Looks like the saddle is tilted back – just a tiny bit; level is usually best.
By the time I write this post, you might be somewhere in Loa and might be coming back to Tailand. I hope you have fun riding in Thailand. Warm welcome to Thailand!
I was wanting to put fenders on my Tricross. What size and item number did you install on your’s.
Thanks.
[...] was fairly happy with my last touring bike, a 2008 Specialized Tricross with short stem. My only complaint, one which the bike could not help, was that it proved too large getting for on [...]
How did you get 700c wheels on a 52cm LHT?
How do you like the handling of the short stem?
@Jaw: The fenders are an older version of Planet Bike’s. The front fender broke in air transit and the rear broke a couple hundred k in; ended up going without them.
@Deepak: The bike is a Specialized Tricross, not a Surly Long Haul Trucker (although that is a very nice bike). Tricross comes with 700C wheels in all sizes.
The short stem felt nice and I had no problems, felt very stable.
Thanks Dan. Is it a 35 degree stem?
It’s a 30 degree made by Kalloy
Hi there. I have a Tricross Sport, 3 yrs old +/-, and I’m looking to get into a bit of touring. Curious to know how your experience is. I keep hearing that the Tricross isn’t a good choice because it isn’t steel, so hard to fix and isn’t as durable especially when fully loaded; and the carbon fork makes front paniers a bad idea. Thoughts?
Hi Dee, Well, I’m no longer riding a TriCross, switched in favor of a Bike Friday NWT, but while it was my tourer is was great, I loved it. I wouldn’t worry about the comfort of the frame because it felt great on all day rides but frame repairability is a valid concern and aluminum will not be repairable like steel is. Worst damage I had on tour was a broken derailleur hanger which I luckily had fixed at a bike shop in Thailand (they custom made me a new hanger!!). I didn’t ride with front panniers so I can’t comment on that but given that the fork has lowrider mounts, I would venture a guess to say that its been tested and works well; that’s my thinking at least.
Its a great bike, I wouldn’t doubt it for a second. Best of luck
Hello! I also have Tricross. Can you help me?
I can not understand how can I mount a crank 22 32 44.
To what extent did you use for the bracket?
Help me!
Hi Antonio
Hmm, I don’t recall exactly the spindle length I used but it was a stock Shimano SLX bottom bracket for mountain bikes
How have people got on with front mounted paniers? and using the Fact forks underload?
I have had mine for a year now. I think it’s a good bike and very versatile, I have done about 4000-6000km om on it. In that time I have only had 2 punctures and the carbon forks are as good as new. I ride without panniers and often only carry small loads on the back. I have recently serviced the bike,(had to replace the chain and chainsett due to wear) otherwise there was very little that needed doing the bottom bracket and rear hub are holding out well.
Like previous posters I would say it represents good value zips past mountain bikes and doesn’t really keep up with other road bikes but that could just be my riding!