Steeling Away On A Light Tourer: Some Great Steel Bikes For Touring Taiwan

This weekend Chris B (pictured below) toured around on his brand new Surly Cross Check. The Cross Check is one of my most recommended bikes when riders or prospective riders email me to find out what kind of bike they should ride in Taiwan for a little of this and a little of that.

Although carbon fiber race bikes are all the rage, the aggressive geometry and lack of expansion is really limiting to most riders who are not interested in racing.

A better choice for a multipurpose bike for Taiwan's roads is the Cross Check or other similar bikes. Unfortunately, the margins on steel are lower than carbon or aluminum, and thus the big retailer/manufacturers really don't want to put their customers on a great steel bike, and would rather offer race bikes or flatbar aluminum XC bikes.

The Surly Cross Check is technically a bike designed for cyclocross racing, but its designers understand that racers are in the minority and keep the design to the loosest affiliation with the muddy sport.

What the engineers have done a great job of, is isolating the aspects of cyclocross racing that enter our daily lives, and concentrated on putting those qualities into a frame that can be the jack-of-all-trades.

The Cross Check can be a commuter, a light tourer, cyclocross racer, drop-bar, flat-bar, city, country beast of burden.... You can beat it all to hell and the 4130 CroMo steel frame will buck up and take the abuse.

Chris was looking for a bike to do it all from a loaded commuter to weekend recreation... from sunny day touring to muddy day single track.

Also, Chris is a really big guy.

The frame is 4130 CroMo steel. It is not a featherlight bike and comes in at about 5lbs heaver than my titanium Seven. Still, it is better to take the weight off the ass, than pay out the ass for just a few grams. As a non professional racer Chris could care less.

The steel frame with long chainstays gives a stable, supple ride to take the bite out of the asphalt. The bike is a bit of a truck, but it can easily crank up to speed. I found the handling to be very stable and forgiving. You can look away to chat with friends without worrying about rocketing into a ditch.

The relaxed geometry suits Chris very well. He has some weight to lose and it puts less pull on his lower back to stay in position. He can also be more upright to enjoy the views or keep an eye on traffic and not just the wheel in front of him.

The Cross Check, like other cyclocross or touring bikes, comes with cantilever brakes to accommodate fatter tires (up to 45mm), which means Chris can switch out tires from skinny road slicks for asphalt, to fat, knobbies for the dirt. The Cross Check comes with Ritchey Speedmax tires that are ok for the road, but wear out after a couple months. They stick well on hardpack or sandy roadways.

One downside about the cantilever brakes is that they don't have the stopping power of a good set of discs or caliper brakes. A change to Swiss Stop or Kool Stop pads will get them a bit closer.

The cable routing along the top of the top tube allows for shouldering the bike up stairs or over obstacles. When I was riding my old Salsa around Taiwan I found this cable routing to be optimal.

The bottom bracket is finely TIG welded and felt stiff enough. The ride was compliant more like a tourer, but over rough terrain it will save your ass.

The stock Cross Check comes with a wide array of Shimano and Tektro parts to bring the cost down. These can all be upgraded or changed out if the rider feels they can do better. The important factor here is that the bike can be adapted to grow with the rider.

Another feature that is lacking on so many other road bikes in Taiwan, is the use of both rack and fender mounts. You can throw a rack on the back, add a pannier and load up on supplies for work or a camping trip.

The rear cog is a 9spd 11-32 cassette that, when combined with the 48/36 tooth chainrings, should be perfect for most rides and climbs, as long as you are willing to train for it. This avoids the need for a road triple.

The front derailleur is Shimano Sora and the rear uses Deore... again... it can always be changed and should be fine for Chris... for the moment.

One thing that is a bit different about the Cross Check is the bar-end shifters. These are often preferred for touring rather than racing. The Bar-end shifters are great when you are in a more upright position, hands on the bar-tops and you want to shift as opposed to the more aggressive road positions optimal for speed. Personally, I like STI shifters, but I think this is great for where Chris is now, and I don't see anything wrong with them.

The fork is an all steel fork, so it should be strong and also soak up the road chatter.

This is really a bike that can be configured to do it all and last a long time. With a little frame saver sprayed inside the tubes this bike should last Chris as long as he wants the bike.

This is really the bike so many people are asking for, but not enough people know they want it or that it exists.

Chris paid NT34600 at:

Famous Bikes

Manager: Tom Jian

No.5 Xitun Rd. Sec.2

Taichung City, Taiwan

Tel: 0933239055

email: famous.bikes@msa.hinet.net

Famous also carries other brands of similar, steel-framed light tourers.

Dom A. bought a nice Louis Garneau steel touring bike from Famous with a similar configuration of Shimano and Tektro. Dom has taken his bike around Taiwan and abused it very well over the past year and a half.

Famous Bikes is a Salsa dealer as well. Salsa sells several great light and heavy steel and titanium touring frames that are well speced and don't cost a fortune.

If you are seriously considering a frame like these, go contact Tom at Famous and be prepared to wait. Many of the frames over 54cm have to be imported back to Taiwan and it can take a couple months to receive a shipment.

Taiwan in Cycles Shill policy: HERE

Feeling Like A Kid Again: Chris Enjoys First Adult Ride Through Gaomei Wetlands

Saving A Fallen Comrade

This Sunday I had the pleasure of taking a friend out for his first real ride since childhood.

What is really special with this ride, is that it marks a new stage of his commitment to himself, his family and his life.

When I first met Chris last year he was-- well-- shall we say... fat. He was 6'1" and 348lbs (158kg). The only numbers he was putting up were some pretty scary ones at the doctor's office.

What it all really boiled down to was that he had to make some radical changes in his life if we wanted to have any chance at enjoying a long, healthy future. Moreover, he felt the need to better educate his little boy on the lessons of leading a healthy lifestyle. Chris saw no other way than leading by example.

Chris has since become a strict vegetarian. He made the time in his schedule to start running and swimming.

Then, about 6 months ago, he approached me for advice on buying a bicycle for commuting, exercise and general transportation. He was looking for every possible way to get and keep fit.

After 6 long months the bicycle arrived, and it is a beauty. He bought a Surly Cross-Check (detailed in another post) to suit all his needs, and he has been gradually building up his strength.

With the bike as a carrot, he dropped to 242lbs. (110kg) and has strengthened his cardiovascular system to better support harder efforts.

By Sunday he seemed about ready for a group ride.

Chris

We met with Dom, Jeff, and the indomitable Michael Turton for a morning of pedaling through the flats around the Gaomei Wetlands and back to Taichung. It was steel bike day, so I brought out my La Cruz for a lazy spin to join the theme of the day.

Jeff and Michael

It is always great riding with these guys. The atmosphere is always friendly and the saddle talk is laddishly jovial, but also slyly intelligent.

The first part of the ride was "the hook", where we roll very fast down a hill to introduced Chris to the addictive sensation of velocity before an easy roll through the flats to the Taichung Harbor Port.

Chris and Dom

Wolfman Jack

We hit one of the local bike trails and rumbled up toward the Gaomei Wetlands.

Just as we coasted through the narrow lanes of Gaomei, we ran smack into the blue smoke and commotion of a religious procession.

The wetlands were filled with people wading out onto the mud flats and scouting wildlife through expensive optics. Some of the local ragamuffins showed up to flip a little sass our way before we cruised up the sea wall in search of food.

The trails back to the Highway 1 are quiet and, if you look closely, you can spot some rare vegetation, mud skippers and swarms of crabs.

Just at the Dajia end of the Dajia Bridge (by the Bridgestone Tire Center), there is a lane that goes wending off into the fields. If you have the time for a little adventure, the roads play out like a child's maze. Michael knows the route better than anyone, so we followed his guidance past the burning stalks of rice, up to Houli.

With only one minor hill, we all charged up above Taichung and happily spun into town.

Chris was full of energy and managed to keep up without any problems. It was awesome to see him out there with a smile on his face astride his first new bike since childhood.

There is just something about riding bikes with your friends that brings back the joys of childhood and makes a person wonder why they ever stopped.

I am looking forward to more rides with Chris and the rest of the guys. I will probably be taking a few weeks off, but I will be back... and in greater numbers.

Well done Chris, and thanks!

Cycling Culture Is Something Shared: Mingde Reservoir Reprise

Gone Fishin'

Although it seems I just got back from a long ride from Taichung to the Mingde Reservoir and back, I really wanted to share this route with my good friend and riding buddy, Michael Turton from The View From Taiwan. This is not a short ride on the bike, but, for me, 186km.

One of the regular themes of this blog is the subject of "culture", and I hope to use this blog space as a journal or record of Taiwanese culture as it unfolds. Cycling is a great example of one of Taiwan's cultures or one aspect of Taiwanese culture and I think, in some way, it highlights the importance of viewing Taiwanese cultures in terms of their particularity rather than through the warped lens of a grand narrative.

The topic of the meaning of "culture" has had very little respite from decades of academic assault and there has yet to be any unified, applicable meaning to the term "culture". About the only thing anyone can seem to agree upon is that "culture" is something shared. This is the focus of my post. The variety of people I meet on the road adds so much depth and vibrancy to the scenery, I return home full of excitement to discuss the people I met and what they were about.

Jimmy Neihu

On the way out of Zhuolan, I passed a young loner (on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless... in a world of criminals who operate... above the law), who was out on a sleek looking steel bike. I was really amazed that he had such a "different" bike and so well outfitted.

I turned around to discover the bike was a Surly Cross Check CX bike. This is one of those great "Taiwan Bikes" I love to recommend to people who want a great bike for just about every type of Taiwan riding-- The elusive all-rounder.

The rider's name was Jimmy, and he was on his "Round Island Tour" starting in the Neihu suburb of Taipei.

The bike was perfect. It was all Shimano 105, light racks, steel, 28c touring tires. I wanted to high-five him for making a great choice. The only things I would change are the Alex rims and lose the kickstand.

Jimmy mentioned that he also had a Kuota racing bike at home, but that was the wrong bike for the task.

Over The Water

After leaving Jimmy, we wrapped around Miaoli's Liyu Reservoir and into the rolling hills of Miaoli County.

Strawberry Fields Forever

The strawberry farmers were busy preparing the fields and the deep rows of earth make for fantastic pictures for contrast.

Sunshine On Dahu

The weather was as perfect as you could get for riding. Not too sunny, with a breeze. The northerly wind was a little annoying at times, but the dividends would be paid on the return trip.

Ex Shrine

We passed the town of Dahu, where I spotted a pair of lanterns from the old Shinto shrine at the gate of a more modern buddhist monastery.

Michael At Mingde

Michael plugged along up the hill to the Mingde Reservoir.

King Of The Road

The roads are so perfect they could just about make a cyclist weepy. There is some cycling infrastructure in place, but it appears to be substandard or someone's brother-in-law made a fortune from a government contract to produce bike racks.

Maybe Nots

Scenery

There is lots to take in during the ride through the reservoir, and the wetlands are an invaluable natural resource for wildlife.

Birdland

Looking Back

Serious Riders

At our pitstop in Shitan we met a group of boisterous riders with some of the heaviest, shock-absorber-est, fat-tire-est mountain bikes I have ever seen. They looked like they were training to win Leadville. We chatted them up for a while and they were at first full of bravado, but when Michael tried to sell them on road bikes, they became a little less sure of themselves. We had a lot of fun bumping into them at several points along the ride and we just couldn't figure out how they were catching up with us. Then we remembered the hour lunch and snack stops we had since first running into them. They ended up being just a goofy bunch of guys out on their bikes to get away, goof off and maybe smoke some cigarettes with friends.

Along The 119

We then climbed out of Miaoli on the Highway 13, only to turn onto the Miaoli Local 119. I was eager to show Michael this little road and scenic detour. I figured the tailwind on the Highway 1 would be a blast on the way back.

Michael Tries To Enjoy The Road

We hammered home. My legs were still feeling fresh. I was keeping my speed up... way up. Things were just clicking. We then cut back to the Highway 13 on the miserably straight 140. It is a demoralizingly straight road that makes no forward progress.

The New Newlywed Game

Just before our climb back into Houli, we passed some riders with some interesting gear. The woman had on a white veil and I had to turn around to chat. It turned out they were newlyweds from Tamshui, who were on the second day of their honeymoon. Their plan was to take a cycling trip around Taiwan as their first act of their new life together. They were being followed by a friend who was also the cameraman for this adventure. It was one of those wonderful little stories that makes cycling so interesting. I was glad to have met all these people and glad I can share.

It Will All Be So Easy Until Clipless Pedals Are Introduced Into The Relationship

Please see Michael's Post on the ride at his blog.