That would be a great choice. I used to have one and the founder of TDA is riding one now too.

It could be a good option. I would suggest checking with your bike shop about the lefty fork, as from what I remember they tend to require frequent service that could be difficult or impossible during the tour. Also take a look and make sure that you can find good touring tires for the paved road sections of the tour.

Sometimes the parts and materials needed for a repair will not be available in the field. However, many bikes now come with hydraulic brakes, and they usually do not need any major service during a tour. But if they do it can sometimes be an issue.

I notice that this model comes with hydraulic brakes – which you caution against. If the bikes are new/well serviced and lines run internally as on this model, how big a concern is this really?

Hi,

That bike would do fine. You may want to get bigger and more robust tires – most riders use 700x40c Schwalbe Marathon for the dirt road sections.

Probably we will need different wheels (more robust). What do you think of this advice?

The Rohloff’s reputation for reliability and durability is well deserved, however certainly far from necessary. 99.9% of our cyclists do just fine with a standard drivetrain. On a longer tour, I believe it would exceed the oil change interval of the Rohloff, and so an oil change may need to be done halfway through.

What is your opinion on the Rohloff hub for the World Traveller?

Hi Patrick,

The World Traveller is a seriously capable bike, and would be a great fit on any of our tours, or for that matter, pretty much any bike tour short of mountain biking.

What do you think about a Koga? I’ve been looking at the World Traveller for a long time now, but my trips have always been on relatively civilized road/trail conditions. The Koga has an aluminum frame.

Thanks.

Patrick

This is one of the biggest bike shops in JHB, good mix of bikes – http://cyclelab.com/

Hi Anton,
I recommend you read this blog as well on choosing a bike.

We prefer if our cyclists do not bring carbon bikes, and a full suspension bike is probably more than you need. The most common style on the Tour d’Afrique is a touring or cyclocross bike that is more efficient than full suspension on the paved roads (80 % of the route is paved). Obviously, we do not restrict people and the decision in the end is yours, but an expensive bike like a Storck would tend to get bumped and bruised alot over the course of 4 months in Africa – so its not ideal. Carbon bikes tend to show their scraps and scratches very well 🙂

That blog was essentially geared towards the African trip. This one offers more general advice – https://tdaglobalcycling.com/2014/05/choosing-a-bicycle-for-long-distance-touring/