Scott Tourer

This is a Scott Hybrid we made up as a tourer for Jim Osborne.

Jim wanted a bike for hill track access, that would also be reasonablely good on road. We choose this fairly recent Scott hybrid frame as a basis.

With a touring bike, the important things are stiffness, durability and comfort. The bike has to be stiff, as with four panniers some frames can twist un-nervingly, and in some cases steering can be unpredictable. The very large (for steel) downtube of this bike makes it very stiff.

For durability, the next most important parts are the wheels. We used brand new Shimano Deore XT hubs, Alpina stainless steel double butted spokes and Mavic A319 rims. It is possible to spend more money on wheels, but there is no point. XT hubs are very well sealed and will last for years.

The tyres are Schwalbe Marathon Cross, chosen as they offer the desired compromise between loose surface grip and speed on road.

This front rack arrangement is unusual. We have fitted an old fashioned high level rack, and a low rider rack. For normal roads, the panniers are fitted to the lower rack, giving good handling as the weight is low down, but panniers in this position are no good when you get to an narrow track with heather on each side, so then the panniers can be moved up to the higher rack. This makes the handling worse, but it's better than constantly catching the bags on vegitation.

The brakes are fairly ordinary V type, which are more than powerful enough to stop a loaded touring bike. There is no need for disc brakes on a touring bike.

Touring bikes need handlebars that offer more than one position. For a semi offroad bike like this, the wider and more upright multibars are the best option. Gear levers are some vintage Shimano Deore, set to friction. Friction gears are better for touring bikes, as there is one less thing to go wrong, and thumbshifters are far more reliable than clicky clicky rapidfire or twistgrip.

The chainset is a recycled Shimano, with new Stronglight chainrings. The gear mechanisms are reused low end Shimano steel items, which work perfectly well, and will bend rather than break. This is important if you are miles from the paved road.

The dealer sticker on the wide down tube. Mudguards are SKS, the only kind worth having.

Total cost of all this? A bit under £800. A lot of money for a recycled bike, but very good value for the specification.

This isn't the first bike we have made for Jim. The one in the pictures below was stolen in Manchester.

Picture taken in Bowling basin, at the west end of the Forth and Clyde canal.

The bike at the summit of the Tak' ma doon road, which goes from Kilsyth to Carron Bridge.

Looking across Loch Lomond from Balloch.