New bike advice needed

[Page64]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum, but have been reading your interesting and knowledgeable posts for weeks.
I started biking a few months ago after a long hiatus, and I've fallen in love with it. I'm commuting to work several days a week, and have dreams of starting to do some serious touring. I'm on a mountain bike now, and it's so slow it's killing me.
I'm looking for a steel commuter/touring bike with disc brakes (I'm in Seattle and planning on riding year-round). I'm only 5'3", and almost everything I try has too long a top tube. The longest I seem to be able to handle is about 500 mm. The Salsa Vaya is the only bike I've found that fits these criteria, but I just don't love the way it looks, and it feels a little too much like a mountain bike.
Do you guys have any ideas? Do I need to go custom?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[roguedog]

For bikes available from an LBS, I'd look at Jamis Aurora, Co-motion Americano (I think that's their touring model).

Also are you looking at full on touring with the full camping gear everything or more like credit card touring? Might want to think about that too.

Not sure if he has any left but check out this Bruce Gordon special.. Bruce specializes (specialized?) in custom touring bikes but he had a production bike made to his specs as an affordable alternative. He's closing out that biz and only focusing on custom.

http://brucegordoncycles.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

If you go custom you have a lot of great builders up there too. Hear lots of great things bout Davidson...

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The Bruce Gordon's look great, as do the Surly's, but none of these allow for disc brakes. I know there's a lot of debate as to the need for disc brakes, but my ride is super hilly, and with all the rain we get up here, I think they'd be a wise choice. Besides, I can't help it, but I really like the way they look.

The Co-Motion Americano does allow for disc brakes, and is quite a beauty. They're so darned expensive, but maybe I just need to suck it up.

You guys are great. Thank you so much for your help.

[ultraviolet]

Your desire for disc brakes probably makes the Vaya the most obvious (non-custom/really expensive) choice, though technically speaking, it's meant for off-road touring...hence the reason why it feels a lot like a mountain bike. The only other bike that comes to mind is the Kona Sutra, but I think it has a longer top tube than you're looking for.