Deciding which touring bike to buy

Antipathetic

Hi everyone hope you are all looking forward to a good weekend and if I'm not mistaken the bank holiday this Monday

I may have already asked about touring bikes on here before but this time I am serious. I really do want to go out and explore the world, or at least some of this beautiful country.

I've finally narrowed down my two choices. I think both are excellent value. Unfortunately, I won't be able to test ride either as they are not available in this country so will have to be ordered online and at the moment Decathlon Riverside touring 900 is listed in stock and available to order online for home delivery. It appears to be really well-respected for the price. Does anyone here have a long-term review of the bike and can share their thoughts?

Two things I like about the Fuji, though, are it has a steel frame and drop bars, depending on where I look it seems to be priced around the same as the touring 900 or slightly higher Although it doesn't have a front rack or what it is worth a USB charger built into the stem, unlike the touring 900 also this year in my opinion, the colour is ugly, I'm not a big fan of the brown same is also true of the Kona Sutra SE, which for some reason this year is in a shade of pink. So from purely a looks perspective, the Riverside touring 900 definitely edges out some of the competition.

Here are links to both bikes.

Decathlon on Riverside touring 900

https://www.decathlon.ie/p/332461-102039-touring-bike-riverside-touring-900.html

Fuji touring disc

https://fujibikes.eu/products/touring-disc-ltd

nilhg

I'm no expert on touring bikes but just a general comment, both look like the type of machine you'd use heading off on a long cross continent tour, the decathlon especially so. It seems to have everything you'd need with front racks included but it's 17kg which wouldn't make it the nicest bike to use for non touring duties, the Fuji is probably more adaptable but not quite as well setup for long distances out of the box.

If you're really intent on exploring the world by bike either should be a good place to start but if you're just going to stick to Ireland and shorter tours then loads of people (myself included) tour quite nicely with an alu gravel bike, just make sure it has the necessary frame mounting points.

cyfac

First of all welcome to the world of touring heading off on your bike touring is just magical. The type of touring you intend to do and more importantly the distance per day should really be factored into your decision. Also do you plan to go full touring mode ie sleep in tent cook for yourself eetc as opposed to something like credit card touring where you will stay in hotel eat out etc.

From a touring perspective the decathlon is streets ahead the mounting options, the dynamo the brooks saddle are very nice to have also 36 spoke double walled rims are ideal the gearing too is way more superior having the 26-36 option is streets ahead of the fuji's 30-34 option. To be honest in my opinion the fuji triple is not much good for touring.

The only thing I don't like are the handlebars on the decathlon them I would change just so you can have more options for positioning your hands during long days in the saddle but that's an easy fix.

Antipathetic

Thank you everyone for our help in the end I decided to go for the Decathlon riverside touring 900 because in the end, it does have some superior features for the type of touring. I am planning on doing, which involves quite a lot of camping, because as I am sure you all know accommodation in this country at the moment can be a bit pricey, so the integrated USB charger will prove handy for topping up a battery bank to keep all of my electronics charged and the wider wheels open up options for more off-road adventures in the future if I choose to go down that road.

The only bad thing about ordering off Decathlon is I had to order the bike for home delivery as it is not available to be picked up in store and their home delivery service is a bit slow so I will have the bike at the end of month.

cyfac

Best of luck with the bike and your adventures.

When you get a chance check out the touring and expedition section of cycling UK lots of useful info there. I Have quite a bit of touring done so PM me if you have any queries

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=d17be8b4fac156a285a63e28d995ce48