These are not "touring" bikes, per se. I don't want bar end shifters, different brakes, etc. Basically it's a road bike with a gearing a little lower, 25 cm tires instead of 23 cm, and the ability to be broken down for travel. While I have been happy with actual touring part of the supported bike tours I have taken, the rental bikes never fit me, with the exception of Trek Travel, where I rented the same bike I had at the time. It sucked not being able to reach the brakes in the drops when I was in Spain, as well as having one less lower gear than my road bike. Since i am short, this bike will be built to take a rack, where no stock bikes with road geometry in my size can do this. I may put on a pannier and do short credit card type tours once we fly places, but the main reason we are doing this is to be able to have our own bikes when we travel.