Good touring bike?

phelixoflaherty

Looking for a good make with dropped handlebars. Living in Galway. Would I have to go to Dublin?

blorg

Would need to know budget, intended use (presuming touring, what sort of tour, what sort of road surfaces and how much stuff), your priorities in a bike (light and fast important or not?)...

My own tourer is a Van Nicholas Amazon but I have also done short tours on my racing bike (Litespeed Archon.) An Audax bike could be more suitable if you were looking to do short-ish tours on good roads and like a bit of speed.

tomasrojo

I had a similar question a few months back and got some very good advice.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055607315

I ended up with a Dawes Horizon in the end, and I'm very happy with it. My needs were very modest though, as I really wanted it as a runabout, rather than a hardcore touring bike.

The biggest problem I ran into it was that no-one had a tourer in stock in my size. I was lucky to get the one I did get in the end, apparently.

phelixoflaherty

Thanks for the replys. Would even go second hand for a decent bike ( short tours). Don't want to spend a packet on it but want quality and a light bike. Am 6 foot

tomasrojo

I'm about that height. I got a 58cm frame. Seems to be a good fit.

Trojan

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

Thanks for the replys. Would even go second hand for a decent bike ( short tours). Don't want to spend a packet on it but want quality and a light bike.

What's your approximate budget?

blorg

How short (a weekend? a week?) - and what sort of daily distance. All on road? Or some rough surfaces?

Also how much money! You could spend anything between €500 and €5000 so need a figure. What is entry level to one person could be very expensive to another.

To give you an idea here are two bikes of mine- ranging from very light to reasonably loaded touring. The latter bike has wide stays so it will accept wide tyres for use on unsurfaced roads or light off-road- I did a bit of off road before in Spain and on that trip in Sardinia I really would have preferred to have wider than the 700x25 I had on, we ended up on some "white roads" which are unsurfaced.

phelixoflaherty

499

DualFrontDiscs

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

Looking for a good make with dropped handlebars.

Check out The Fully Loaded Touring Bike gallery. It shows you can tour on anything!

I tour on a Litespeed Blueridge now. Previously on a Dawes Super Galaxy. A friend has a Specialized Tricross Triple which he really likes.

You won't go wrong with a Dawes.

Presumably you know all this but your bike will want a more 'relaxed' geometry than a racing bike (regardless of the drop bars), you'll want clearance for bigger tyres/ mudguards, eyelets for mudguards and a rear rack, possible a front rack if you do some longer tours.

Of course it depends on whether you're doing self supported tours or 'credit card' tours. Also, will you want to bring 'going out' gear aswell.

Lots of variables, but as the website above shows, you can tour on anything.

DFD.

blorg

499 is very low- your best bet at that price range if you only want to do short distances (weekend type thing) and you want "light" is I reckon an entry level road bike which you could stick a rack on the back of. Even then you are probably looking at second-hand.

For an bike actually designed as a tourer the likes of this from Edinburgh Bicycle is probably going to be closest- £499 sterling. Or maybe this Kona from Wiggle that you would need to add rack and mudguards to.

DualFrontDiscs

blorg wrote: »

Or maybe this Kona from Wiggle that you would need to add rack and mudguards to.

According to the Q&A it won't take a rack or (full)mudguards.

DFD.

Planet X

Seems to be the ultimate tourer, even better than Thorn,


http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/touring/product/travelmaster-26-alu-32828



....wouldn't mind a slice of that.

blorg

DualFrontDiscs wrote: »

According to the Q&A it won't take a rack or (full)mudguards.

DFD.

Someone else in the Q&A seems to have stuck a disc-specific rack and mudguards onto it (there is a photo.) I did notice all right that Wiggle insist it won't take one. To be honest for 499 the OP is not exactly going to be overflowing in options for a quality drop bar tourer so it is worth considering!

tomasrojo

The cheapest tourer I came across in my search was the Claude Butler Regent, and that was 799 (but it was too small for me; and I never found another one, despite looking in many bike shops). The Dawes Horizon I got in the end was 999. All the others I saw were a good bit above a grand, or too small for me.

I think the Raleigh Royale would be about 700, but if things are the way they were a few months ago, you'd be very lucky to find one.

Maybe with the 2010 models coming out it'll be easier.

phelixoflaherty

Thanks for all the info lads. I remember a friend ranting about how good dawes are. Any dealer in ireland, preferably 2nd hand,

bopbuddy

Just came across this thread... did you ever find a second hand dealer for Touring bikes or what did you end up going for and did it work out?