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 Flean 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, Novara, 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 mountain bike 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. next 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 Sams metal Rivendell Bicycle Works butted CrMo frame make the Sam Hillborne tough and head badge. Box 5289 • Walnut Creek, CA94596 safe for decades of riding. Rivendells 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 wont fit tires larger than 28mm, so its with fenders, so you can ride comfort- $2,250 or so, and thats 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 wont fit fenders, so its bad in rough or smooth, wet or dry. You can Nothing youll want to upgrade. rain. It wont fit racks, so it wont 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. Its 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, well send you more information And most of all, its 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.