Since the last few posts have been mainly news and politics oriented, I thought I’d throw in a lighter offering during this holiday season. Hopefully this will swing the balance of topics back towards cycling for a little while.
Over the last several months from my desk at Tour d’Afrique I often fielded the one question that always comes up with riders preparing for our company’s namesake African cycling expedition… What is the best bike for the Tour d’Afrique?
The answer is not a simple one. The terrain over the 12,000 km of our tour varies greatly as one could imagine. From the smoothest tarmac spread like chamois cream across the Nubian Desert to the harshest jagged lava rock roads of Northern Kenya; this tour sees it all.
Two words sum up the ideal bike for this tour: versatile and durable.
So as I spent some time this past week reviewing some of my favourite choices, I came across these two great options: the Salsa La Cruz* and the Soma Double Cross DC (pictured above).
In the age of aluminum and carbon fibre frame technology, these two are made of good ol’ fashioned steel – the material that all bikes used to be made of is now giving way to lighter alternatives.
Key Features of the Salsa and Soma bikes, explained:
- Equipped with cable disc brakes – these provide strong breaking power in any terrain or weather.
- Made with a steel frame – heavier than other aluminum, and carbon fibre equivalents, this bike’s frame will stand up to the harshest abuse, day-in day-out on the tour. Dropped the bike off the support truck? Frame cracked? No problem, any local welder will be able to repair a steel frame.
- Has good tire clearance – both these bikes can accomodate tires more than twice the width of a typical road racing tire. That means whether you are on the smooth roads or the rough roads you can choose a tire that best suits the terrain.
- Built with durable wheels – An important feature of any bike is the wheels. If built properly with good hubs and strong rims, your wheels will be able to put up with the daily pounding.
- Comes with straightforward components – there is nothing overly fancy about this bike. The parts work, and can be easily serviced with relitively simple tools.
A couple other notable bikes along the same line:
For anyone considering taking part in the Tour d’Afrique or similar long cycling expeditions, my bicycle choices above are all within a similar style – the style I am confortable with. There are many other styles of bikes that will suit different riders just as well. Front suspension mountain bikes, and hybrid bikes being the two other major choices for participatns in our tours.
So this wasn’t really a showdown – more of a show-and-tell excercise. I hope you found it useful, and dont hesitate to send through your questions or leave me a comment.
*for 2010 the Salsa La Cruz will be discontinued and replaced with a new model, which I have heard will be called the Vaya.
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This version of “La Cruz” is no longer available, but another Salsa model the “Fargo” is an even better option for this kind of touring. Unlike the “La Cruz,” it includes brazed-on rack mounts.