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My tourer: Specialized Tricross

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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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Reader's Comments

  1. Darren Alff - Bicycle Touring Pro | December 16th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    The bike looks great! I like the color. Where in Southeast Asia are you starting?

  2. Dan | December 16th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    Hey thanks :D
    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

  3. velocycling | December 23rd, 2008 at 9:09 am

    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.

  4. rhodesian | December 31st, 2008 at 4:03 am

    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.

  5. Jaw | January 9th, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    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!

  6. MINI Monkey | January 28th, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    I was wanting to put fenders on my Tricross. What size and item number did you install on your’s.
    Thanks.

  7. Dan’s Review: Bike Friday New World Tourist | Bike Man Dan | September 5th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

    [...] 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 [...]

  8. Deepak | November 16th, 2009 at 11:07 pm

    How did you get 700c wheels on a 52cm LHT?

    How do you like the handling of the short stem?

  9. Dan | November 16th, 2009 at 11:16 pm

    @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.

  10. Deepak | November 17th, 2009 at 6:36 am

    Thanks Dan. Is it a 35 degree stem?

  11. Dan | November 17th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    It’s a 30 degree made by Kalloy

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