DirtBentTour

Aw c'mon.....you don't have to get the bike loaded to mount it, just talk sweet to it! In any case, I just put up a couple of picks of the bike with the gear on it. I only needed to put about 150 miles behind me with full pack on the last couple days of a trip I took this summer. The rest of the trip it was hauled for us. I still carry too much STUFF on my trips, but this time I just had to pick up an unused Brooks Colt saddle for less than and a motorized bike sculpture from the BUYcentennial year....1976! I picked those up after I stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall bike shop out of Elk Rapids. And a bunch of smaller bike hardware that I got for almost nothing at the bike shop in Grayling. Michigan that is. I did the Michigander tour. I had to rebuild one of my Trek R-200s for the dirt after I broke my collarbone in early June this summer after hitting the tarmac from connecting with my riding buddy's rear wheel. Before the break I was building a cyclo-cross bike for the trip, but I came to the realization that I wouldn't get too far on an upright at that point in the healing process. Not if I expected to ride 65+ miles/day. The trip began less than 6 weeks after I broke it, but I managed to redo the 'bent and had a great trip. Held around 16mph on the dirt railtrails with spurts over 20, and the max on the downhills on pave' was just 43.6 mph, but it just felt like a Lazyboy lounger mounted to an Electra-glide. Rode well, I'm pleased. Did well with all the gear on it too.