View Single Post
Old 08-13-12, 03:09 PM
  #2  
seeker333
-
 
seeker333's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,865

Bikes: yes!

Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 282 Post(s)
Liked 38 Times in 36 Posts
Touring bikes tend to look like something leftover from 1980, and are frequently designed around frames designed with some consideration to loaded bicycling over long periods of time each day. Thus the characteristic long chainstays and long head tubes, and drop bar. They can have 26" or 700c wheels.

Trekking bikes tend to be simply re-badged MTB frames with cheap 36h wheels no one else will buy, "trekking" butterfly style bar, and the suspension fork may be deleted for a cheaper rigid fork. They almost always have 26" wheels since it's based on a 1990s-era hardtail mtb frame. Some are nice, Koga comes to mind as a good example, some not so much.

If you intend to do loaded touring, you need long chainstays so your heels don't hit the rear bags as you pedal, and substantial frame and fork mounts for racks to support 20-80 lbs of gear.

Or you can simply use any bike and a good cargo trailer.
seeker333 is offline