Originally Posted by
Triskeliongirl
Thnaks these are all great suggestions. What I have been struggling with is that I want a bike that does it all since this will be my only travel bike. Sure, most of the time I just wanna go somewhere, and do loops of fast riding from a central location, but other times I may want to tour. What I still don't understand, is how I might expect these 2 frames to handle with a load, given that one bike was built for touring (classic) and one for racing (isis). My 19" terry isis has a 73 degree STA, 72 degree HTA, 16.7" chainstay and 38.2" wheelbase while my 17.5" terry classic has a 73 degree STA, 71.5 degree HTA, 16.9" chainstay and 38.2" wheelbase. Both bakes have the same trail, cuz while Isis has a fork rake of 1.9" Classic has a fork rake of 2). The other big difference is the classic has cantilver brakes so accepts fenders and wider tires. What I don't get is whether Classic is more suitable for touring becasue of the cantilver brakes, fenders and wider tire features, or the subtle difference in frame geomety. What I know from riding the 2 bikes I have (I already have a ti isis with carbon fork, and I just bought a steel isis frame to build as a travel bike) is that the classic feels more sluggish than the isis, even when outfitted with identical wheels/tires. Is that cuz it weighs more (my classic is much heavier than the new steel isis or old ti isis by several 3-4 lb) or the frame geometry. Cuz if its just the weight, then I really like the idea of having the new fork built to accept a front rack an cantilever brakes, obviously with the 1.9" right rake to give the right trail for the 72 degree STA. If I think this bike could REPLACE my classic which is rusting, I could just transfer the cantilever brakes from her as well as all the other parts). But if I am still gonna need a real touring bike, I don't wanna do that. I did check and could fit a wheel with a 32 wide touring tire in the new isis frame, but there wouldn't be much room to mount side pull brakes but my cantis would fit.