Touring Bike Recommendation

[Skierchickie]

There's certainly never any shortage of ways to spend money, is there? lol!

You ain't kiddin'! (Apologies to any Grammar Grinches). When I got my 520 last September, the fun had only just begun! I still need fenders to replace the crummy ones the LBS threw in (DH knows what I want, and our anniversary is next Monday), rain covers, hmmm, I'm sure there is more.

Let's see, there was the pump, the side-access bottle cages, the headlight, the mount for the headlight, the rear panniers (Christmas), the front panniers, the handlebar bag, the seat bag/tool kit that is too big for the space between the saddle & the rack, the front rack (a hand-me-down), ...

Then I got sick and couldn't go on my first real tour.

Anyway, I LOVE my 520. I have used the rear panniers for commuting to work, but have yet to fully load it down. It rides really nice under no load/light load. I hope to find out soon about how it handles with everything piled on. It feels really smooth (even though it is an absolute tank to lift, compared with my road bike) and stable. It is really comfortable.

Have fun on your search!

[KatfromCal]

You are all awesome!!! Thanks for all of the valuable information. What a great forum. I have learned so much.

[ilima]

Another option is Terry's Isis Sport, which comes with a road triple up front and a mountain cassette and derailleur in the back. I believe there are rack mounts, which you'd need for commuting.

[withm]

There is a very good article in Adventure Cycling Magazine on touring bikes and covers a listing from 20 or more manufacturers, and describes some of the more desirable features to look for in a touring bike. Either the May or June issue. They also have quite a few articles archived on their website, but nothing has been added since Dec 07, so this particular article is not yet online. However if you search for touring bikes you get a list of probably 30 or so articles in prior years that you might find helpful.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/index.cfm

CORRECTION: It is the APRIL issue of Adventure Cycling that has this article.

[twin]

I ride my LHT all over the place and just put racks on the front and rear. i am sure that it would do anything that i could put it through. It is not as light as my carbon fiber and I second that the LHT is very comfortable. I am amazed what this bike can do. I am very found of this bike.

[MuttNut]

Sorry I'm jumping into this discussion a bit late, but if you're still looking for opinions I just got back from a month-long tour of Nova Scotia on a Trek 520. Overall I LOVE the bike, but I do have 2 complaints. One is that the top tube on that bike is pretty long. I had to swap out to a shorter/higher stem to bring my handlebars closer. That might just be me, but I have the typical female build of short torso/long leg. The second thing is the gearing. I had heard before going on the tour that the stock gearing on the Trek 520 was pretty high for loaded touring, but opted not to pay for lower gearing. That was a mistake- I had to walk up a few hills b/c the gearing was just too high.
Besides those things though- both of them fixable- I think the Trek 520 is an awesome bike. Good luck!

[JaneE]

We've had our LHTs for a little while now and love them.

We took to heart what we had read somewhere: on a touring bike you will rarely or never wish you had higher gears but you'll frequently find yourself wishing you had lower gears. We had the Surly stock rings (48-36-26) swapped out for 46-34-24 (which our LBS did for free during the build and set-up).

We love our bikes! The ride is very smooth and solid. Won't be breaking any land-speed records, though.

I don't think you can go wrong with this bike.

[tulip]

I really like Jamis bikes. I don't have the Aurora, but I do have the Coda and would love to put drop bars on it and make it into a touring bike. But that's not going to happen.

I've done light touring on my Bike Friday and it's been great. They make models specifically for loaded touring (mine is not but it's wonderful for light touring). It's also very handy to be able to put it in a suitcase for traveling.

You might also want to consider getting a frame with couplers to facilitate traveling to touring places. Waterford and many other framebuilders will do this.

CA- I had trouble with my Dahon Matrix (sold it) that had disk brakes. It was a commuting bike and getting a rack on was not easy. I ended up using alot of duct tape.

[mtkitchn]

Sorry I'm jumping into this discussion a bit late, but if you're still looking for opinions I just got back from a month-long tour of Nova Scotia on a Trek 520. Overall I LOVE the bike, but I do have 2 complaints. One is that the top tube on that bike is pretty long. I had to swap out to a shorter/higher stem to bring my handlebars closer. That might just be me, but I have the typical female build of short torso/long leg. The second thing is the gearing. I had heard before going on the tour that the stock gearing on the Trek 520 was pretty high for loaded touring, but opted not to pay for lower gearing. That was a mistake- I had to walk up a few hills b/c the gearing was just too high.
Besides those things though- both of them fixable- I think the Trek 520 is an awesome bike. Good luck!

I'm looking for a touring bike and the long top tube thing concerns me. Are there touring bikes made specifically for women that aren't too spendy? Or is it easy enough to find a stem to fix the problem on most bikes?

[NadiaMac]

Old Man Mountain and Axiom make racks for mounting to bike lacking eyelets and other mounting hardware. For my recent loaded tour on a road bike with no mounting hardware (no eyelets, etc.), I put an OMM front rack on my carbon fork -- in mounted onto the quickrelease and braced onto the carbon form. Used an axiom rear rack that mounted through the quick release and caliper brake mount. For folks with disc brakes, OMM has quite a few racks for mounting onto bikes with disc brakes. The mounting systems are very clever, and OMM was very helpful through email in helping me select and mount the proper rack.

[mudmucker]

none of our LBSs actually stock any touring bikes, unfortunately.

I am finding this too. Especially for LHT.

our favorite bike tech helped us immeasurably in determining what size we needed, etc.

I am interested in what went in to determining size. Did they take specific measurements? If so, which ones? Or did you/they take the general specs off of a bike that already fit you, and made the translation to what fit within the Surly dimensions...

I might be interested in getting a frame.

What rims, hubs, and tires do you have on it?

[Dog]

Hi KatCal,
I too have a road bike and love riding. I'm also to the point where I think I want to do some light touring. I get jealous everytime I see a bike loaded with panniers or a trailer - I always where they are riding from and where they are riding to? I love road trips and would love to try it on my bike. I'm trying to figure out if I can set up my Bianchi (road bike) to handle some light touring. I'm getting some great advice from this forum (check under touring).
Anyway, let us know if you decided on a touring bike. Good luck!

[Dog]

Oops...these posts are under touring. Sorry!