djb

I would agree that a more nimble bike will be more fun all around for your commutes and such. Mind you, you do have a road bike so perhaps the difference between the two (road bike and a light tourer) would not be that much. Guess it depends on how much you will use the "tourer".

I personally replaced my 1990 or 91 tourer with a "light tourer", a Specialized Tricross, going the route of a light tourer vs a dedicated full on tourer like a LHT. I knew that the majority of its life would be used with rear panniers only, and I liked the idea of having sti shifters, "brifters" (as opposed to bar end shifters like on a Trek 520 or Surly LHT) for faster riding (plus I ride in the city a lot, so appreciated shifting without moving hands from brake hoods)

Most bikes will handle well with rear panniers only, and you seem to indicate that you would most likely be using rear only.

Gearing--for me this should be your biggest concern, that whatever bike you look at has a triple crankset, and a rear derailleur (long cage) that can handle larger cassettes like a 32 tooth or more. Even with rear panniers only, its easy to have 20lbs on your bike, and with long, steep hills, or short steep hills, having lower gearing will always make your riding more enjoyable.

In my experience, store employees are chronically optimistic about saying "oh the gearing on this bike is really low, it will be fine for touring"--either they havent toured, full of malarky, are 22 yrs old and full of piss and vinegar, or just dont give a hoot and want to sell the bike....often, a combination of all of these!

What I have noticed is that a lot of bikes nowadays come only with double cranks up front, but throw 20-25lbs on a bike and a triple will get you lower gearing (especially if you change out the small chainring to a smaller one, easily done usually) and in any case, the vast majority of riding on the flats will be in the middle chainring, so better for not having to shift back and forth between a double cranks 50t and the 34t, and not "cross chaining" a lot.

Visits to various bike stores and test riding bikes is always the best so you can actually feel how a bike feels for you.

ps, the Crossrip two base models appear to come with 8 speed, triple 50/39/30 and a 11-28 rear cassette, not low enough gearing in my opinion. Dont know if a larger cassette can be put on, but I suspect the largest "might" be a 32, tops. Even then, the gearing isnt that low. My experience is that a 30 front , 32 rear isnt low enough for touring. Other young or just full of p+v will disagree. Unless you have taken an interest in gearing and know what your bike in the past has had when you toured with your husband, you won't know for yourself until you experience it yourself.

Re actual "touring" bikes, off the shelf they will tend to have lower gearing than most of the "cross bikes" , but I could be wrong. I bought the Tricross specifically because it had the 50/39/30 and a 11-32 (and then changed the 30 front small chainring to a 26t for touring with 40lbs of load as I knew from experience I needed that as a minimun)

good searching.

throw out other bike models if you hear of others or see them in stores in your area.