Choosing a touring bike

[Tassiecelt]

Just come back from a few weeks touring in Brittany with Breton Bikes. Got a taste for touring now and am choosing a bike.
This is not serious, around the world stuff, just a few days he and there. Maybe a week.
I'm thinking Apollo Trace 30, straight bars, alloy frame, disk brakes, larger wheels.
Or, Fuji Tourer. Steel frame, no disk brakes, drop bars and more expensive.

Any advice appreciated.


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[RonK]

Just come back from a few weeks touring in Brittany with Breton Bikes. Got a taste for touring now and am choosing a bike.
This is not serious, around the world stuff, just a few days he and there. Maybe a week.
I'm thinking Apollo Trace 30, straight bars, alloy frame, disk brakes, larger wheels.
Or, Fuji Tourer. Steel frame, no disk brakes, drop bars and more expensive.

Any advice appreciated.

As I posted on your other thread, the Vivente World Randonneur offers the best value in a tourer.

It may be more expensive initially, but it is equipped ready to tour with features most tourists want/need. The other bikes won't be any cheaper once you upgrade them to a similar spec.

[GregLR]

Some other touring bikes available in Australia are:

- Surly 'Long Haul Trucker'
- Salsa 'Vaya2' & 'Vaya3'
- Salsa 'Fargo 3'
- Jamis 'Aurora Elite'
- Kona 'Sutra'

A search will bring up threads where the attributes of some of these have been debated along with the Vivente 'World Randonneur'.

Also, as I mentioned on another thread, this useful page lists the touring bikes available in Australia as at the end of 2011: http://cyclingabout.com/index.php/2011/ ... bike-list/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Some of those listed, such as the Cannondale models, would no longer be offered in Australia.

A poster on another thread also mentioned this piece comparing the Salsa 'Vaya' and the Surly 'LHT': http://pathlesspedaled.com/2012/12/sals ... surly-lht/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greg

[Konatourer]

One comment I would make is that the gearing on most off the shelf bikes tends to be too high. Looking at the specs of the Fuji especially I suspect that you would soon finding yourself wanting some lower gears. I bought a 2012 Kona Sutra last year and it wasn't long before I pulled off the Shimano Sora crankset and installed a Deore with 42/32/22 rings. That gave me a bottom gear of 18.5 inches. If you are going to use front and rear panniers you will appreciate the lower gears. The bottom gear ratio on the Vivente World Randonneur has been dropped to a lower several times since it was released.

Another option to consider is, depending on whether you want to use front panniers is to convert a 29er mountain bike into a tourer. I have an Avanti with rack mounts and have installed a Racktime alloy rack (made by Tubus), changed the stem to shorten the reach and fitted 700x47 Continental Contact tyres. It has given me a smooth rolling get-about tourer with low gearing (17.5 inch bottom gear) and hydraulic disc brakes.

[il padrone]

For most of us mere mortals, when touring with a full load, a bottom gear of something in the range 17"-19" is really valuable. That is the experience of the many people touring in my touring club. Road triple cranks just don't cut it. Swap them off for a MTB triple.

Just heard a whisper last night - VWR will be coming out with a Rohloff model in the near future. Varying your gear range is much simpler with the Rohloff - just change your chain-ring or sprocket.

http://www.viventebikes.com/main/page_a ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One area we have worked on for a few years is a Rohloff 14sp model. This is due in 2014.

[rifraf]

+1
another rider here who likes a low gear of 17 inches.