DebW in the 21st century?

[Triskeliongirl]

I went through a similar thing with fenders. On the phone he thought he could make it accomodate 32c tires and fenders, but when he saw my frame the bridge got in the way. So, I sat down and compared my terry 'sport bike' (isis) to my terry 'touring bike' (classic) by looking at them and the biggest difference I noticed was not that the geometry in terms of frame angles and tube lengths, but the distance between the 2 seat stays and the 2 fork blades was wider on the touring bike, and the bridges were set higher, to allow clearance for wider tires and fenders. What I am now starting to wonder, is if that is also a big part of the 'touring geometry' that is just not obvious from looking at a geometry table. I sacrificed fenders cuz I don't use them where I live and I worried about moving the bridge, but if I were building from scratch like you, I might rethink it. Maybe what will help is to start imagining what you will do with this bike when you retire. Do you anticipate wanting to tour in a place where it does rain, and having mudguards would be helpful. This will be your only 'travel bike' so what will do it with it when you travel? Do you want to land somewhere and go for a fast club ride, or tour? You have your old bike for fast riding, so if you were thinking you just wanted the new one to do fast riding at home and tour when traveling, then maybe you do want a full blown tourer. Another thing I will warn you, is that while I thought I would use my new S/S coupled bike for traveling and commuting, I realized locking it is a major hassle (requires a front skewer lock avail from peter white AND 2 other locks), so keeping your old bike for everyday use and the new bike for touring and travel may help you narrow down your choices. BUT, if you go the touring route don't let him overbuild it. Be honest with him on the rider plus luggage weights you want it to support, and stress you still want to keep it as light but functional as possible.