Quoted post said:Originally Posted by vspa [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]
No experience with the Rohloff gear system myself but from your builders list,
Koga Miyata must be doing things right: just checked a tour report from their website with 0 punctures and no mechanicals on a 1200 kms gravel up-and-down route. I have done half of that route with 2 broken rear racks, several spokes broken and a handfull of punctures ...
Regarding punctures: I have ridden Schwalbe Marathons and other "hardened" tires for 10 years now on my to-and-from-work (10km each way) bicycle, passing over a lot of glass from broken bottles and car-windows, without a single puncture.
Regarding the rest: it sounds incredible, on the other hand the Koga Miyata touring/trekking specimens I have seen were clearly overbuilt. That will of course give you a heavier bicycle, but you will also ride longer between breakdowns. Some prefer that. I see that they offer hydraulic disc brake for the front wheel with their touring bicycles. I also see that a lot of other builders refuse to offer that configuration because it forces the builder to either make the left fork blade from heavier gauge, or make the whole fork from heavier gauge. Either solution will remove the finished result from what the builder promises otherwise. I suspect that Koga Miyata simply makes their fork from gauge that is heavy enough to make sure that it can take the breaking forces of bicycle with rider and full luggage load. That will enevitably make the fork heavier and remove some, if not all, of the small amount of spring you normally have in rake blades.
One notable exception: one of the builders I have recieved an offer from, offered hydraulic disc brake front with a carbon fork. I wonder if any of their customes have ever chosen that and used the bicycle for real touring.
