How To Choose The Right Bicycle For Your Long Trip ?
I. classification and use scenarios of traveling vehicles
One interesting phenomenon is that some young riders say they don't consider the touring car because it looks ugly, like an old man's car, while some young riders who use the touring car to ride a long distance say it looks beautiful. Is it really the opposite of each other's aesthetic values, or is it because what we call the traveling car is not the same thing at all? Let's take a look at some common types of travel vehicles first (in fact, there is no strict classification. For the convenience of identification, let's do this for the moment).
Steel frame hard fork traveling car
▲KLM cheerful 318 Series Touring Car, which is one of the common shapes of steel frame hard fork touring car (photo source: official photo provided by KLM).
In ultra long-distance riding, this type of car is the most commonly used in the world. Although the design of each brand is slightly different, there are some common points in common: using bent handle, simple and solid steel frame, long rear lower fork, wider tire, complete front, and rear shelf mounting holes, etc. The overall appearance of this kind of traveling car is close to the road car, but the design pays more attention to comfort, stability, reliability, durability and easy maintenance. The weight will be "considerable", and 15kg is also a normal thing.
This kind of touring vehicle is suitable for most single vehicle travel. Its pavement efficiency is between highway vehicle and mountain vehicle, and it can easily cope with ordinary rural gravel road. It is the first choice in ultra long distance riding.
2. Aluminum frame soft fork traveling car
▲MERIDAMelida wolf 8 is a familiar aluminum frame soft fork station wagon
The overall appearance of this type of touring vehicle is close to that of mountain bike, most of which are 26 inches. They use swallow handle or butterfly handle, equipped with mudguard, foot support, etc. the cushion is generally wider and thicker than mountain bike, with good comfort.
This kind of traveling vehicle is mainly used for long-distance riding with more bad roads, such as the Sichuan Tibet line in the early years. The soft fork can make the rider ride faster, more stable and easier on the bad roads, and slow down the numbness of the wrist and arm caused by excessive turbulence.
3. Adventure wagon
▲Adventure bikes, still have to choose Salsa
Adventure vehicles are rare in China, and there are few brands producing this kind of vehicles in the world, among which American salsa is a well-known brand. This kind of traveling vehicle is similar to the steel frame hard fork traveling vehicle in terms of shape and structure. The biggest difference is that the tires are generally very wide or even fat.
This kind of traveling vehicle is more suitable for riding in the wilderness / mountain, or the route will pass through the sand, Gobi, snow and other terrain, and the wide tire can more easily cope with various roads. However, few people in China play like this. If they don't have friends to buy together, they are afraid that they will be lonely playing alone.
4. Electric power station wagon
▲DARKROCK electricity bike
Before, we had discussions about electric mopeds on meiqi.com and Meiqi forum. Naturally, the views of our riders are different, so we will not discuss them here. Most of the electric powered traveling vehicles are based on the steel frame hard fork traveling vehicles. The electric motor is arranged at the position of the back flower drum or the central axis. It is a common practice to install the battery in the standpipe (the water bottle battery used in the above figure "hides" on the water bottle rack of the lower pipe). Therefore, the weight is usually heavier.
Due to the need of charging, the electric booster traveling car has certain requirements for accommodation along the way, which is more suitable for riding in places with more houses along the line. It is no different from the first type of traveling car in terms of adaptability to road conditions.
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