How to Buy aTouring Bike Picking the perfect touring bike for you shouldn’t keep you up at night our decision has been made. The Transamerica Bicycle of finding that model at any one dealership are small, and the odds Route can’t live another year without you, and you need a of finding it in your size are even smaller. Ynew touring bike. It’s not possible to cover all good touring bike options in one Your objective in buying a new touring bike is to drastically issue of a magazine. Our listings remain focused on the tradition- reduce the time spent thinking about it (and its limitations) when al upright touring bike with dropped handlebars. That said, we you’re on your adventure. You want a bike that easily carries your heartily endorse several “ nontraditional” bike choices. A few load, has appropriate gearing for the steepest hills on your route, comments on each: and fits your body dimensions like a well-worn pair of slippers. Tandems. These goals are also compatible with the way most of us use Regular readers of this space know we are big tandem fans at our bikes the other ninety percent of our lives: weekend rides car- Adventure Cycling. Touring on a tandem has interpersonal bene- rying no more than a patch kit, slogging to work on a misty fits you can’t get on a single bike. The short version on picking a November morning, and, if the spirit moves you, training in a tandem for touring: think wide, in both gearing range and tire size. peloton with the really fast guys. (I point this out to ridicule the Recumbents. myth that a touring bike is “ only” good for touring. As if those Some recumbents are made for touring, equipped with nice cutie carbon-fiber weekend bikes were somehow versatile!) wide tires and sold with optional pannier sets. Others are pure go- In 2005, you are the beneficiary of a competitive marketplace fast machines with skinny tires. It should be obvious which of that has made buying decisions relatively easy. You can pick a those kinds you want. One standout example of a touring recum- value brand and get bang for the buck by buying Jamis or Fuji bent is the Tour-Easy. They have a fiercely loyal owner’s club, or go for style and heritage with Bianchi. You can decide on touring events for members, and the option of streamlining your American tradition with Trek or alumninum innovation ride with both a big fairing and a body stocking. with Cannondale. Or you can go for high-end, superb Hardtail mountain bikes. craftsmanship by choosing Bruce Gordon, Independent Two decades ago, when the mountain bike was in its infan- Fabrication, Co-Motion, or a variety of other quality cy, most mountain bikes doubled as terrific touring bikes for peo- bicycle builders. The selection isn’t huge but it is ade- ple who wanted upright handlebars and go-anywhere knobby quate. And none of these bikes are turkeys with hid- tires. den traps. But mountain bikes evolved away from a touring-friendly What you probably will have to do is hunt for design. Many have a lean-forward rider position better suited to the bike you want. Some touring bike models are racing, and many frames lack eyelets for racks and fenders. Front made in small quantities (in the hundreds) for a suspension is now the norm, and it adds complications that road- brand that may have 2,000 dealers. So the odds riding tourists may not find worthwhile. At the high end, compo- By John Schubert MARK GORSETH nents can have complex maintenance Full-suspension mountain bikes. Specialized Stumpjumper, costs well over requirements best left to a pro cycling team I wouldn’t bother with one of these $2,000. mechanic. for road touring. But for the Continental Folding and collapsing bikes. All that said, a mid-priced mountain Divide Mountain Bike Route or other sim- These are the vehicles of choice for bike is still a viable option. You can ignore ilar tours, a state-of-the-art full-suspension people who think out of the box, and don’t the lack of eyelets by buying racks from mountain bike pulling a cargo trailer such just tour from Point A to Point B. Old Man Mountain or by putting your as a BOB would be my choice. I’d accept A series of two-day loops or day trips gear in a cargo trailer. the greater maintenance requirements in interspersed with train rides is a great way European-style “ trekking” bikes. return for less fatigue provided by full sus- to see the world, and the logistics get much Take a rigid mountain bike with pension. easier if you have a bike that folds up quick- upright handlebars, add racks, fenders and The best full-suspension designs ly to fit in a bag or suitcase. The best- lights, install street-tread tires, and you make ruts in the trail disappear in a man- known of these is probably the Bike have a trekking bike. If you want to go ner so seamless you’ll forget you’re riding a Friday, and a little web crawling will show touring with upright bars, this is a good suspension bike. The unwanted “ boing” you some incredible adventures by Bike package for you. Some companies sell these of early suspension designs is gone. Friday owners (who rival Tour-Easy own- in Europe, but not in the United States, If this is what you want, don’t buy an ers for rabid loyalty). England’s Moulton is assuming there’s no demand here. One “ economy” full suspension bike, and don’t another viable choice, and its space-frame company that does offer them here is Koga buy a me-too brand with a lesser design. design will be endlessly fascinating to the Miyata. The one I’m most familiar with, the engineer in you. The full-suspension Birdy is a very sophisticated folder with excellent riding qualities. Montague, DaHon, and Ritchey all TOM BOL make full-size diamond frame bikes that Loyal steeds. Two touring machines await the bidding of their masters at a store on the Southern Tier Route. hinge around the seat tube to fit in a suit- case or small car trunk. tourists ignore changing fashions. (That for touring, for numerous reasons. They lighter touring needs. The well-known S&S Couplers can said, I thought the paint job on the new aren’t made for on-the-road adjustments; So what about that fitting session? sometimes be added to an existing bike, or Jamis Aurora was inspired. Go check it their failure mode isn’t something you Some bike shops and many frame builders built into your new custom bike, and they out!) want to experience; and they are compara- offer customized fit sessions — use the make your bike easy to toss into a suitcase Touring frames haven’t changed tively delicate items for use in more con- Yellow Pages, your local bike club newslet- or travel bag. much in the past decade. Components trolled circumstances. Adjusting spoke ter, or the internet to find one. It’ll cost you So what’s new for 2005, and what is have evolved, mostly in positive directions: tension requires use of a spoke tensiome- somewhere around $200, and deliver a the first thing you should do to make a splined cranks are much nicer than the old ter, a $200 tool that is slow and cumber- better return on your investment than buying decision? The answers are “ not square taper design, nine-speed cogsets some to use. When you evaluate a bike, almost any other way of spending money. much,” and “ have a fit.” sure are convenient, and the threadless count the spokes, and if there are fewer It may reaffirm the position on your exist- Why isn’t much new in 2005? headset is far easier to adjust than old-style than thirty-six per wheel, move on to the ing bike, it may convince you to make Planned obsolescence simply hasn’t made headsets. next bike. some adjustments, and it just might get rid it to touring bike designs. Manufacturers One component trend you should You won’t find low-spoke-count of a whole lot of pain and frustration you have wearily resigned themselves to the avoid is low-spoke-count wheels. Despite wheels on stout touring bikes, but you will didn’t know you could get rid of. fact that touring bikes last many years in whatever reliability claims you may hear see them on some in-between bikes which The odds are that a fit session will not the hands of thrifty owners. We cycle- about these wheels, they are not suitable would otherwise be viable choices for tell you you “ need” a custom frame. More 12 ADVENTURECYCLISTMARCH 2005 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURECYCLISTMARCH 2005 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 13 likely, it will direct you to adjustments sorry substitute for that fit session. Go get that can be made on a stock bike. It may the fit session. also direct you to improvements that have What’s next? nothing to do with spending money. For Pick your maximum tire width. It will example, I believe that if I were to get a fit- rule out bikes that don’t accommodate ting session, I’d be told that my position tires that wide. would improve, and I’d ride better, if I How wide should your tires be? Any would stretch my hamstrings. (Another rule of thumb is the writer’s own person- new year’s resolution for a future new al preference.