help!-raleigh tourers -how many gears??

[madison]

hey, I'm in desperate need of some help, Iv got my heart set on the raleigh venture gt touring bike 2007 ,but I'm having some serious problems working out how many gears they have as I'v seen them advertised with 21,24 and 27 gears, I eventually had to phone raleigh who clarified that the 2007 did have 27 gears but amazingly he had no info on the 2006 but he said it probably also had 27 gears. I have seen this bike advertised on the web for such a variety of prices between £389-£800 and so I dont want to do myself out of money as Im happy to buy the 2006 or older version if the specs still good with 27 gears,Iv seen the 2006 version advertised with all of the above gears and I'm so confused ,does anyone know for certain how many gears the 2006 version has?any tips on other tourers greatly appreciated too!thanks!;)

[Zen]

Does this (http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?deptid=6&itemid=305) help?

[madison]

not sure whether your joking with me or not?!-but its the touring bike I'm interested in -unfortunately not listed on that website but thanks anyway:D

[Torrilin]

The number of gears isn't really meaningful. A well thought out 8 speed can work for heavy loads, the main thing is to have a low enough low gear. A poorly thought out 27 speed can be dreadful for heavy loads.

What you probably really need to know is the range on the cassette in back, and how small the smallest front chainring is. Since Raleigh UK doesn't list the bike on their website, we probably can't help much. If you have a local shop that carries it, there's always the solution of go, look at it, and find out for yourself. Even if your local shop doesn't have it in stock, they should have catalogues from Raleigh UK that list it so they can order it. The catalogue should include basic data on the gearing. Then you can use Harris Cyclry's online gearing tools to compare the Raleigh tourer to a bike you're familiar with.

If Raleigh UK is so uninterested in selling the bike that they don't include it in their catalogues, you might want to consider a different bike.

[Bad JuJu]

Adventure Cycling has done some good articles about gearing for touring bikes. I'm not sure whether any of these articles is available online, but you might check out their website:
Adventure Cycling (http://www.adventurecycling.org/library/index.cfm)

[Zen]

[QUOTE=Torrilin;236670Since Raleigh UK doesn't list the bike on their website, we probably can't help much.[/QUOTE]

That's why I directed her to the U.S. site, I don't understand the confusion.

[Torrilin]

That's why I directed her to the U.S. site, I don't understand the confusion.

Well, the bike you linked is a 7 speed flat bar bike, with an aluminum frame and no front rack mounts, with a price estimate of $200-$400. That doesn't mean you can't possibly tour on it, but it's not what is typically called a touring bike (steel frame, front and rear rack mounts, extra low gearing, drop bars). Plus, Madison said that in the UK the Venture touring bike she's interested in is advertised as having 27 speeds, not 7, and runs just shy of 400 GBP at the lowest. Huge price difference :o since the dollar is so weak against the pound right now.

Seems to me that the bike she's looking for and the US bike are not the same.

[madison]

yeah thats a good point-if its not on the website then maybe its not that great,I checked out the stuff on touring so thanks for link. I really not too sure what to do-I need a bike by a week and half!hehe typical of me to make decisions at the last minute,maybe I should just go for a dawes or claude butler to be safe? I just can't decide whether its worth buying a £700 bike or a £400 bike-Im just not knowledgeable enough to spot whats a good deal between all the bikes.there is another bike I stumbled across although Im not familiar with the make at all-its a bronx rx1000 heres the link:
http://www.mailordercycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s21p1450
if you could let me know what you think then that would great fully appreciated-any comments at all .cheers :D