Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
I built a custom ti road bike with couplers that will be used for travel and touring where I do not carry my gear... although I can put 2 panniers on this bike. I've ridden it with one pannier for shopping and it would do fine for a credit card tour.
I am 5' 1" and I also have a carbon road bike. Both bikes are awesome, but the ti feels very smooth and plush. The bike is almost as light as my carbon bike. I don't have super light wheels and they are 700s, not 650s. I've been riding this bike quite a bit, so I am used to it for my trip in August. Anything I haven't liked about this bike was more related to things I chose myself, i.e. the bars, pedals.
I looked at real touring bikes and it didn't take long for me to figure out that I could never use bar end shifters. The bikes were heavy and kind of ugly to me. I'm never going to do loaded touring, and since I'm used to riding a very light bike, this was a great compromise. I use the bike for regular riding and, it can be broken down for travel.
That, and the fact that when I went to Harris Cycles, of Sheldon Brown fame, they were kind of condescending and were back in the Dark Ages, when it came to fit. I left there rather quickly.
Besides the looks and weight of touring bikes I too was concerned about the fit. I don't know how Surly's fit but at one time I looked at the geometry of touring bikes and realized that because of my size I'd never get the fit I need.

If you need to take weight off a bike the recommendation is to lighten your rotating weight with a lighter wheelset. Plus, a wheelset built for a 180lb rider will feel stiffer to a lighter weight rider.

I had my bike built for 650's because I didn't want any compromises on the fit of the frame. My fitter said he would not have put 700c's on that small of a frame. Besides, the 650's look proportionally nicer on the small frame.

People ride all kinds of bikes on the tours I do. My best advice is to buy a bike you can afford and be sure it fits very well. A good fitter will help you with this. If your bike doesn't fit well you will feel it on back to back days.