Touring Bike Buyers’ Guide by John Schubert What to Look for in a Touring Bike

High Handlebars Handlebars should be level or up to two inches higher or most of us on our daily rides, than the saddle. High Spoke Count the bike is a flamboyant compan- Conventionally-spoked ion. You stand on the pedals and wheels with a high spoke feel it sprint underneath you. You count are more forgiving leanF into a corner and feel its reassuring and easier to repair. steering geometry. You surge up a hill, and the bike is an eager partner. You see a pot- Frame Construction hole, you jump the bike over the pothole, A touring frame should be all and all is well. metal with a thick top tube. When you add a sizable amount of tour- ing gear, the relationship changes. The bike is still there, but it’s less flamboyant. Loaded with panniers, it’s more like a slow-moving workhorse. It corners a bit more slowly (but still with that reassuring Tire Clearance feeling) because you’re riding more slowly. Ample room for mounting It laughs if you try to sprint or climb fenders make rainy days quickly. And you can forget about jumping more pleasant. potholes. But the bike stays with you for thousands of miles. The same bike can have both those personalities. A good touring Front Mounts bike will be your spry fun-rid- for racks and fenders. ing around-home bike and your Rear Mounts uncomplaining pack mule on an for racks and fenders. extended adventure. If you decide you want to purchase a touring bike, you’ll probably have to order it because most shops keep zero to one touring bikes in stock, and Murphy’s Law dictates that they will not stock one in your size. Now here’s the big secret, and Longer the reason why I’m comfortable telling you to not sweat the lack Chainstays of a test ride: they all ride very Provide better weight similarly to one another. distribution and heel That’s right! No caster-angle under- clearance. steer, no divergent negative instability, no trail-braking induced instability in hard cornering, no self-energizing wheel flop, Low Gearing no way for jargon writers to make you For long climbs, you’ll want a low gear worry about your purchase. Touring bikes between 20 and 25 inches. don’t have quirky handling. I’ve been road- testing touring bikes for 31 years and I’m telling you, they don’t have that. They all Kona, Rocky Mountain, , Raleigh, worrying about phrases like failure mode, have top tubes of 1 and 1/8 inch, which is have neutral handling. and Jamis, among others. More expen- crack propagation, and stress analysis. almost always fine. If you ride a pre-1990 So how do you pick a touring bike that sive brands with fancier features include Someday, someone will design a carbon- steel frame, its top tube may only be 1 inch. will do that job optimally? And why will Co-Motion, Independent Fabrications, fiber bike optimized for touring. But I At that point, shimmy may be a problem, that bike feel spry the other 340 or so days Bruce Gordon, Waterford, and many more haven’t seen it yet. depending on numerous other factors. of the year when you don’t have it packed (see table on page 14). If it makes you feel better, the weight But again, new bikes have this question savings of carbon are often overstated. A figured out. good steel touring frame, depending on If you want to purchase a touring bike, you’ll size and other factors, will weigh about 4 Spokes. Lots of spokes to 4 and 1/2 pounds. An aluminum tour- Fancy racing wheels with goofball spok- probably have to order it because most shops ing frame will be maybe a half pound ing are a fashion necessity on some club lighter. A carbon frame, if you could find rides. They are also a perilous maintenance keep zero to one touring bikes in stock. one made to resist the stresses of touring, headache on tour. If you break a spoke, would be about another half pound lighter. the bike becomes unrideable. Replacement up for that long trip? But people who want technical detail The difference — that of emptying out a spokes are proprietary to that brand of For people impatient with technical should keep reading. We’re going to walk water bottle or boycotting French Fries for wheel, expensive, sometimes hard to find, detail, here’s the short answer: Go into a around the bike, look at the various fea- a couple weeks merits a yawn. and require far more expertise to install.

shop where the sales folks like meeting cus- tures, and tell you what to look for in each Every touring bike in our Buyers’ Guide Russ Roca By contrast, conventionally-spoked tomer needs and buy a real touring bike. feature. has a metal frame, so I won’t bother with The long haul. A good touring bike can last for a lifetime of riding. wheels are more forgiving. Lose one of your All of them will do the job, and all of them specific examples. But if a salesman tries spokes and the wheel goes slightly out of feel quite spry when the gear is off. Put on What a touring bike should have to sell you a hybrid or with the loads placed upon it. And some of the frame’s dynamic oscillation frequency gets true. If you didn’t bring a replacement, the skinny tires if you’re inclined, and the bike We’ll start with all-metal construction. carbon components or frame tubes, just loads that you put on your touring frame excited. bike shop will have one for cheap. will handle and ride quite similarly to a Your friends who don’t actually go any- say no. are much greater than the loads top athletes The most important thing that chases Today’s touring wheels usually have 32 racing bike. (People in bike shops generally where on their bikes will buy carbon fiber, Next we want great torsional rigidity. put on their racing frames. Specifically, away shimmy is a big, stiff top tube. or 36 spokes arranged in a conventional don’t believe that, but they haven’t done as but not you. Again, this is a factor that is built into the weight in your panniers tries to twist The oversized aluminum top tubes on tangential laced pattern. Accept no less. much measuring, weighing, and side-by- Your bike might get scratched by a bag- name-brand touring bikes, but if you’ve the frame. Racing frames shouldn’t have Cannondale frames are as stiff as it gets, Avoid the “paired spoke” and other cute side road testing as I have.) gage handler or have a minor fall in the out- read this far, you clearly want to know the panniers attached, so they need less tor- and are excellent for this. The Co-Motion variations. Mass produced (i.e., less-expensive) back. If the bike is steel, aluminum, or tita- details. sional rigidity. But if you do put panniers Americano has a steel frame with a 1-and- I’ve never seen a bike sold for touring bikes include offerings from many of the nium, you don’t care about the scratch. If Torsional rigidity means the frame on a light racing frame, you may find that 1/4-inch top tube, and that will clearly do that has goofball spoking, but plenty of major brands: Surly, Salsa, Cannondale, Fuji, the bike is carbon, you do care, so you’ll be doesn’t much like to twist in response to it likes to shimmy, as the more flexible the job. Most other steel frames now sold people have taken quasi-racing bikes on

Name ______

Address ______

City ______St ____ Z ______email? So we can email your $100 credit (read the ad):

Our own fine investment-cast steel fittings and a Sams metal Rivendell Works butted CrMo frame make the Sam Hillborne tough and . Box 5289 • Walnut Creek, CA94596 safe for decades of riding. Rivendells Sam Hillborne Worth a serious look before you buy your next bike. It might be just right for you. The typical modern road bike is de- The Sam Hillborne is the antithesis of The Sam Hillborne frame costs $1,000, signed like a racing bike. It must be. It that bike. It fits tires up to 38mm, even with fork. A complete bike runs about wont fit tires larger than 28mm, so its with fenders, so you can ride comfort- $2,250 or so, and thats with good parts good only for light riders on smooth ably — and swiftly too — on surfaces on it. Not a bunch of third choices. roads.It wont fit fenders, so its bad in rough or smooth, wet or dry. You can Nothing youll want to upgrade. rain. It wont fit racks, so it wont carry raise the bar an inch or more higher Visit our site (www.rivbike.com) and gear. It puts the handlebar low, so you than the saddle, so you ride relaxed, read more about the Sam.Or snip this have more weight on your arms and with little weight on your arms. Its ad, fill in the blanks & mail it to us. If hands, and more strain on your back. frame is steel, a material known for its you do, well send you more information And most of all, its made of carbon, a toughness & safety, so the Sam you and give you $100 off a Sam or any of material known for catastrophic failures. buy today will grow old with you. If you our other bikes. And we havent padded When the typical modern road bike wreck it in a crash, its not junk, its re- the price to cover that. Its just yours, fails, youll be riding it. And then the ru- pairable.If it a car kills the steel frame, right off the top, until September 2010. ined frame is not recyclable. its recyclable — over and over again.

10 adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org 11 where between level with the saddle and 2 inches higher than the saddle. Which company pays most atten- tion to handlebar height? No contest: it’s Rivendell, the mostly-mail-order purveyor of classic old-school bikes and accoutre- ments. Rivendell founder Grant Petersen has written many articles about the ben- efits of sensible handlebar height — and he walks the walk. If you buy a Rivendell, the bars will be plenty high enough. So how do you shop for fit? You find a dealer who will take the appropriate time to make sure the bike will fit well. Many retailers do this (of course, a fit session can be a very time consuming service, so don’t balk at the cost). Co-Motion is one of several companies that do a stunning job of fit by long distance. They take your home- measured numbers and make fit prescrip- tions from those numbers.

The right handlebars for you

b u r den The bike industry, and therefore this

dan Buyer‘s Guide, focuses on the traditional Bikecentennial 76. On the historic ride, people rode whatever bikes were in their garage, and they all worked pretty well as “touring bikes.“ touring bike with dropped handlebars, largely out of institutional inertia. But tour and discovered the hard way that and bikes that can be adjusted to fit my stem, and higher handlebars, and we never what’s right for tradition may or may not goofball spokes can ruin a bike trip. leg length (32-inch inseam) have effective did find that bike on the used market. For be right for you. top-tube lengths ranging from about 21 to her, or any other short-armed woman, the This question ignites a holy war among The frame should fit you 22 and 1/2 inches. It so happens that I can touring options include the Terry Valkyrie many Adventure Cycling members. I have There is more to frame fit than I can ride any of these top tube lengths, but if Tour, the British Thorn Audax or Club received many an impassioned email, elo- cover in this space, but there are a few my arms were unusually short or unusually (discussed in these pages last month), or the quently argued, about how the other guy’s things to emphasize for the touring cyclist. long, I’d be more picky. luxury of an all-custom frame. way of doing it is wrong. Both upright and You already know that the seat needs Women have it tougher. On average, Even after you’ve gotten a good fit, I dropped handlebars have strong adherents. to be the correct distance from the pedals, women have shorter arms for a given over- have an additional strong suggestion: high- Dropped bars are more aerodynamic and and the top tube needs to be low enough all height than men, and sometimes their er handlebars. Bars that are comfy in your have more hand positions; upright bars

for you to straddle with both feet on the arms are quite a bit shorter. I was reminded day-to-day routine will be too low for an C ass Gil b e rt are more comfortable for many people and ground. The handlebars need to be an of this recently, when I attempted to help extended tour and will invite a sore neck. place the hands farther apart for easier The places you’ll go. You’re more likely to see a camel than another cyclist in Tunisia. appropriate distance away, so you‘re nei- a woman find an inexpensive used bike. We tourists want our handlebars 1 to 3 control. Neither is inevitably better than ther too far nor too close. She was two inches taller than I, and her inches higher than you’ll see on a racing the other. I personally prefer dropped bars. an upright-handlebar bike designed for attributes you want. In particular, look Most men (but not all) have body pro- legs were 1 and 1/2 inches longer than bike. On a racing bike, the handlebars are It doesn’t matter which style you choose — touring, so upright bar riders are forced to suspiciously for traditionally-laced steel portions similar enough to each other that mine, but her arms were about four inches typically an inch or more below the saddle. as long as you make an informed decision. pick among mountain bikes and hybrids, spokes, all-metal construction, and rack/ this is not an issue. For example, I’m 5’8” shorter. She needed a short top tube, short Most touring cyclists want the bars some- The bike industry has seldom offered some of which don’t have all the touring fender mounts.

12 adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org 13 Rack and fender mounts These useful features cost pennies to add TOURING BIKES FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION at the time of manufacture and are visually unobtrusive, and yet millions of otherwise- All prices and specifications may vary to some degree. Please check with the manufacturers before making any decisions. attractive bikes don’t have them. There’s not much to them: tiny threaded eyelets offers Rocky Mountain Waterford Cycles offers cus- near each wheel axle, on the seat stays, and the light-touring Tourlite ($2,895 offers the Independence frame offers two steel tourers, the tom-built touring bikes, the new on the fork blades. Many otherwise-good and up); the traditional, steel set ($2,310 steel; $3,820 tita- Sherpa 10 ($1,199) and the T-22 and 1900 Adventure Cycle Midlands ($2,520 and up); and nium) for long-distance touring, Sherpa 30 ($1,599): www.bikes. (frame: $1,800) and the TIG T-14 bikes lack front eyelets in particular, and the coupling-equipped Travel and the light-touring Club Racer com, 604-527-9993. (frame: $1,400): www.waterford some brands of racks have clamps that go Tour Special ($2,650): www. frame set ($2,200 steel; $3,820 bikes.com, 262-534-4190. on the fork blades to atone for this lack. bilenky.com, 215-329-4744. titanium): www.ifbikes.com, 617- Salsa offers the new Vaya road A minor industry has grown up around 666-3609. adventure bike (frame: $540; Windsor Bicycles offers the Bruce Gordon offers the hand- complete bike: $1,549) and the steel touring bike, the Tourist fitting racks to bikes without eyelets, but built Deore XT Rock ‘n Road offers the clas- adventure touring Fargo ($1,495): www.windsorbicycles. getting eyelets in the first place is my pre- ($2,999; $3,349 with racks) and sic Aurora ($1,025), and the (frame: $500; complete bike SLX: com. ferred choice, although Old Man Mountain the factory-made Deore LX BLT chromoly-equipped Aurora Elite $1,399; XT: $1,675): www.salsa and Tubus provide good options. ($2,349; $2,699 with racks): ($1,650): www.jamisbikes.com. cycles.com, 877-668-6223. CUSTOM TOURING-FRAME www.bgcycles.com, 707-762- BUILDERS: 5601. Koga offers the Santana offers a wide array Tire and fender clearance Curt Goodrich Bicycles www. Worldtraveller ($2,700), and the of tandems suitable for touring These days it seems you must have to Cannondale offers the rack- Traveller ($2,300), all with front (starting at $3,295): www.santa curtgoodrich.com, 612-788- equipped, aluminum Touring and rear racks and many acces- natandem.com, 800-334-6136. 6812. C ass Gil b e rt have an eagle’s eyesight plus an obsession 1 ($2,029) and the Touring 2 sories: www.kogausa.com, 805- with racing chic to be a bicycle product Out there. Exploring the low-traffic byways of Dongeal County, Ireland. Ira Ryan Cycles www.iraryan ($1,449): www.cannondale.com, 569-5381. offers the steel cycles.com/bikes-tour.html, 503- manager because almost all bikes not mar- 800-245-3872. Halcyon (frame: $1,995; com- Kona offers the Sutra ($1,199), a plete bike: $3,395 and up); the 810-2504. keted specifically for touring have an odd agers cares. But again, this is how millions of a long trip without them. Rainy days can Co-Motion Cycles offers the steel tourer with mechanical disc Halcyon S (frame: $2,695; com- fashion attribute: minimal tire clearance. of bikes are built. be reasonably pleasant with them. J. Peter Weigle www.classic light-touring Nor’Wester (frame: brakes: www.konaworld.com, plete bike: $4,095 and up); and rendezvous.com/USA/weigle_ Bikes that the companies know will go to Want lots of tire clearance? Touring $1,695; complete bike: $3,376), 360-366-0951. the expedition Expat S (frame: jp.htm, 860-434-0700. 60-year-olds doing charity rides have just bikes have it, none more than the Bruce Longer chainstays the around-the-world Americano $2,695; complete bike: $4,195 Masi Bikes offers the Speciale enough clearance for skinny racing tires. Gordon BLT, which has space for 700 x 45C Often you’ll read that long chainstays (frame: $1,850; complete bike: complete bike): www.seven Mariposa www.mariposa Randonneur ($1,145): www. $3,565), and the Pangea (frame: cycles.com, 617-923-7774. bicycles.com, 416-423-0456. No one can see this from more than a few tires (almost two inches wide). Get fenders are desirable for weight distribution. That $1,850; complete bike: $3,631): masibikes.com/steel/speciale- feet away, and no one but the product man- before, not after, you experience the misery assertion begets footnotes. What you’ll read www.co-motion.com, 866-282- randonneur. Soma Fabrications offers Peacock Groove www.pea 6336. the light-touring frames the cockgroove.com, 651-269-5295. Nashbar offers bikes and frames DoubleCross ($399), the offers a line of up to 70 percent off: www.nash Smoothie ES ($399), and the Pereira Cycles www.pereira nine Touring Bikes (£499/$740 bar.com, 877-688-8600. Saga Touring ($499): www. cycles.com, 503-333-5043. to £2,699/$4,000): www.dawes somafab.com. Raleigh Bicycles offers the cycles.com/c-81-touring-bikes. Peter Mooney Cycles www. Sojourn ($1,200): www.raleigh aspx, +44 (0) 121-748-8050. Surly offers the steel Long-Haul peter-mooney.com, 617-489- usa.com, 253-395-1100. Trucker (frame: $430; complete 3577. Fuji Bicycles offers the tradition- bike: $1,095), the Karate Monkey REI offers the Novara Safari al steel Touring model ($1,089): (frame: $465; complete bike: Rex Cycles www.rexcycles.com, ($849) and the Novara www.fujibikes.com. $1,175), and the Cross-Check 916-446-5706. Randonee 2010 ($999): www. (frame: $420; complete bike: rei.com, 800-426-4840. Spectrum www.spectrum- Gilles Berthoud offers highly- $1,050): www.surlybikes.com, customizable steel touring bikes cycles.com, 610-398-1986. Bikes offers the 877-743-3191. from France ( 2,550/$3,400 € Panorama (£1,199/$1785): Steelman Cycles www.steel and up): www.gillesberthoud.fr, Terry Bicycles offers the www.ridgeback.co.uk. mancycles.com, 650-364-3939. +33 03-85-51-46-51. Valkyrie Tour ($3,025) and the offers Isis Sport ($3,214) for light tour- True North Cycles www.true Gunnar Bikes offers the Rock custom touring frames ($3,000 ing: www.terrybicycles.com, 800- northcycles.com, 519-585-0600. Tour, a mountain bike designed to $3,300). They also offer the 289-8379. for loaded touring ($975 stock Atlantis (frame, fork, and headset: Vanilla Bicycles www.vanilla design frame, $1,250 custom/ Thorn Cycles Ltd. Offers the $2,000): www.rivbike.com, 800- bicycles.com, 503-233-2453. made to measure frame): www. Club and Audax (check for pric- Don’t miss some of the most beautiful 345-3918. gunnarbikes.com, 262-534-4190. ing and availability) www.thorn Velosmith www.velosmith.com. scenery in America. A Black Hills bike Rodriguez Bicycles offers the cycles.co.uk. au, +61 (0)3 6266-4582. tour is truly paradise found! Handsome Cycle Company PARADISE Adventure ($1,799 and up); offers the Devil ($379 frame): Tout Terrain offers the Willits Brand Bicycles www. Book now for the Early Bird discount. S&S-equipped ($2,599 and Must book by April 1st. www.handsomecycles.com. Panamericana (frame with shock: willitsbikes.com, 877-558-4446. up), co-designed by Willie Weir: FOUND! $2,695): www.tout-terrain.de/2, www.rodcycle.com, 206-527- SPECIAL idworx Bikes offers trekking +49 (761)-58997-44. Note: The June issue of bikes with Rohloff hubs (prices 4822. Adventure Cyclist will cover non- 10 % unavailable at press time): www. Trek offers the venerable steel standard bicycles and will contain EARLY BIRD idworx-bikes.de/de/bikes/trek- 520 ($1,319): www.trekbikes. a table of tandems, recumbents, DISCOUNT kingbikes.php, +49 228-184700. com. folding bikes, and more. SITE IN GERMAN. bike tours The Relaxed Call (605) 359-5672 Adventure Company For More Information & Tour Schedules For More Information Dakota Bike Tours operates under special use permit of the Black Hills National Forest dakotabiketours.com

14 adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org 15 10 cogs. But you’ll still want to buy a chain tool and learn how to use it before, not after, you go on the road. GOODBYE DESK. HELLO PATAGONIA. Every stock bike whose specifications I reviewed while researching this article had 9 cogs. If you get an inexpensive hybrid or mountain bike for touring, you may find fewer — in which case, I say bravo.

Reasonable steering geometry This is an area where myth abounds. It’s also undoubtedly not a real-world con- cern. You’ll hear buzzwords like “relaxed angles,” “slower, more stable steering,” and

so on. These words are exaggerated to the Bleakney Photography by Gregg point of almost total inaccuracy. The bike’s head-tube angle is picked to 2010 Pangea serve a number of functions. Among them Whether exploring Argentina, the Great Lakes, are steering stability, front/rear weight dis- or Zanzibar, the Pangea will take you there with unmatched ruggedness, stability tribution, and to keep the front wheel out and capacity. With the right bike, of the way of your feet. There isn’t a lot of your horizons are limitless. wiggle room in the design. Toll Free (866) 282-6336 [email protected] Because of the need for weight distribu- www.co-motion.com tion, the head-tube angle gets steeper with g il b e rt larger frames. I compared the head-tube

cass angles of Fuji, Cannondale, Trek, and Jamis Canal cruising. Pedaling the bucolic track alongside the Canal du Midi in southern France. touring bikes. At their smallest frame sizes, Eugene Oregon, USA the head-tube angles vary from 69 to 70.5 We’ll build one for you! is that longer chainstays allow the rear pan- able. So if you have size 13 clodhoppers, For example, Cannondale puts a 25-inch degrees. At their largest frame sizes, the niers to be placed more in front of the rear Cannondale rises to your short list. By low gear on its less expensive touring bike, range is from 71.8 to 72.5 degrees. wheel axle, for improved weight distribu- contrast, Fuji’s touring bike has 17.3-inch and a 21-inch low gear on its more expen- By contrast, I would expect road racing tion. But there’s more to it than that. chainstays. They’re fine for me and my size sive touring bike. Bruce Gordon’s BLT has a bikes in these sizes to have head angles 1 Yes, weight belongs between the axles 9s, but on that bike, the bigger your feet, 19-inch low gear. to 2 degrees steeper. And I wouldn’t care whenever possible, and the results are very the smaller your rear panniers should be. if I had a touring bike with that slightly good when it is. Example: the excellent Only 9 rear cogs steeper head angle. handling I have experienced riding a tan- Low gears In my youth, derailer-geared bikes had If these one-degree differences sound dem with a 200-pound stoker. The stoker’s At some point on a long tour, you’ll 4 rear cogs. When I got my first derailer tiny, it’s because they are. There was a time weight is between the axles. But look at encounter the perfectly bad confluence of bike, it had 5. One by one, the cogs have when overly-steep head angles were a fash- a side-view picture of a touring bike: the events: a steep hill, a sore butt, and low piled on, and now you can get 11 (in a ion among racers who wanted something rear panniers are almost entirely behind blood sugar. Campagnolo racing component group). Far silly to brag about. But that won’t affect the rear axle. The inch or so by which you That moment, and not the test ride at more common are 10-cog systems from you here. we believe in the can increase the chainstay length doesn’t the bike shop, is when you discover the and SRAM, found on most of Note that we haven’t talked about wheel- power of the bicycle change that position very much. utility of low gears. today’s good weekend-fun bikes. So what’s base, but we have talked about the pieces to get you where you need to For this reason, we repeatedly tell peo- Gearing can be a lengthy discussion by not to love about more cogs? that add up to wheelbase: chainstay length, go. Whether you’re out for a ple that touring bikes need front and rear itself, and if you’re unfamiliar with the ter- There are several factors, but the one top-tube length, and steering geometry. casual ride or going for the long panniers to distribute the load. If your rear minology and want a full primer, I urge you I’ll focus on here is the chain that works Wheelbase is an outcome, not a starting haul, our line of bicycle accessories help you expand your panniers are lightly loaded, it matters less to go to my website, Limeport.org, and read with these cogs. The cogs get narrower and point. If these other dimensions are correct horizons by keeping you safe, dry, that they’re mostly behind the rear axle. the gearing article in the right column blog. narrower, and so does the chain. As the for your needs, the wheelbase will be fine. comfortable, and prepared. Long chainstays remain desirable, You can also check out Sheldon Brown’s site chain gets narrower, it gets more and more For the record, touring bikes typically have though, for two other reasons: 1) The effect (sheldonbrown.com/gearing). fragile. a wheelbase between 40 and 42 inches. they have on weight distribution, and 2) Here’s the short version: Gearing is In the days of fewer cogs, chains almost Lastly, don’t neglect the recumbent better bicycle products heel clearance. Riders with large feet have expressed as a single number called “gear never broke. Now chain breakage is com- option. Touring on a recumbent is low- for a better world™. written me many times over the decades inches.” A 100-inch gear is a high gear monplace. I would have liked to have seen stress, fun, and quite comfortable. We’ve clamoring for more heel clearance, and the for riding downhills. A 70-inch gear is for touring bikes settle on seven or eight cogs written extensively about recumbents only way I know to get it is with a combi- cruising on the flats. A 40-inch gear is for for this reason. But my fellow retrogrouches before and we’ll cover them more fully in nation of longer chainstays and smaller rear medium hills, and it feels ridiculously easy and I have lost that war. We have regrouped the June issue. panniers. during that test ride at the local shop. You behind our makeshift bunker, shouting, Since day one, Cannondale has made need a gear between 20 and 25 inches for “We accept nine, but please, no more!” John Schubert awaits your pleas for further clarification its touring bikes with 18-inch chainstays, that moment on tour when the hill is two There is something of a step function in at his website, limeport.org or by email at schubley@ aol.com. the longest dimension commonly avail- miles long and you’re already tired. chain width, and durability, between 9 and

16 adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org adventure cyclist april 2010 adventurecycling.org 17