THE TOURING CORNER: What kind of bike do I need to do touring?

Today's title raises a great question!  And the answer is, “It depends…”

It depends on you.  What’s your cycling background?  What are your capabilities?  What fit and comfort issues do you have on the bike?  What kind of touring do you intend to do?

At one level, bicycles are tools.  Yes, there is a lot of emotion that can be attached to them, but basically, they are tools.  Tools are defined by the job they are intended to perform.  Tools fall into some broad general categories.  Some are very specific. A Park Tool Co. MLP 1.2, for example, does exactly one thing, disconnect SRAM type master links.  A hammer, on the other hand is fairly general.  It’s made to hit things.  It can be used to hit a large variety of things..

Until very recently, most road bikes where strongly influenced by racing.  These are the Park Tool MLP 1.2 of the bicycle world.  They are pretty specific.  They mimic professional racing forms.  Want to put a basket on one?  Where?  How?  Fenders?  You’ve got to be kidding!  Positions were aggressive, stretched out, deep.  Handlebars were well below the saddle height.  Top tubes were relatively long.  Wheel base was short.  These things work for racing, but not so much for hauling a lot of stuff.  Further, most people are not comfortable spending a lot of time in that extended aggressive posture.  So let’s look at several types of bikes that are intended to be used for Touring.

Interestingly, there are bikes that are built for “light touring,” and others for “loaded touring.”  These machines are extremely versatile.  Pack your gear and go.  Don’t pack the bike and it’s still a great grocery-getter, or commuter, or just a good fun comfortable ride.  Or a great rainy day “training” bike

Loaded:  These are the Winnebago RVs of the cycling world.  Bikes designed for “loaded” touring are built with heavier, reinforced frames.  They are designed to haul the tourist, and 50 to 100 pounds of gear, over good roads and bad, and to keep doing it.  They tend to have longer wheel base, long chain stays, a heavier frame, slacker angles, and a more relaxed posture.  (Relaxed posture = more upright.)  Usually the top tube will be relatively shorter, and the drop from the saddle to the height of the handlebar will be significantly less.  They have more clearance between the stays and forks, to allow room for wider tires and fenders.  They will have a generous number of threaded eyelets to allow mounting accessories.  They will be heavier than their racing oriented counterparts.  Another important point; the Loaded Tourist will have a lot of gears, with special attention paid to very low gears for climbing and pushing heavy loads into the wind.

If you want to see one example of the type, look at the title block of my Audax Ride blog at http://audaxriders.blogspot.com  There you will see my trusty tourist.  For another example check out the Long Haul Trucker™ on the Surly website at http://surlybikes.com/bikes/disc_trucker

Light Touring:  A light tourist shares a lot of traits with it’s “heavy” cousin.  The difference will be that a light tourer will usually be a lighter bike.  It won’t be as strong as a Loaded rig.  Possible the geometry will lean a little more in the direction of “sportiness,” quick handling, sometimes with a bit more in the way of high gears for faster cruising.  These bikes are designed with a sort of sual purpose.  They work well for more casual touring, shorter distances with lighter loads, usually over shorter times.  Their other excellent function is as a utility bike.  Light tourists make great commuters and errand runners!  One outstanding example of the type si the Surly Cross-Check.  While not specifically designed for touring, their design parameters match up almost exactly with most light tourist needs.  To see look at the Surly website http://surlybikes.com/bikes/cross_check

Additionally, most of the major bike manufacturers now have offerings that are called “endurance bikes.  Some of these are suitable to the light tourist’s purposes.  However, it should be noted that many are lacking in eyelets for accessories such as racks and fenders, and most do not have ample clearance for wider tires.

CAUTION!  If you are new to the touring world, do not start looking for a touring bike yet.  This article is mean as a starting point.  We hope it will get you thinking.  Keep reading as we continue the series.  There’s lots more to come.