Hello everyone! I'm a first time reader of these forums, and I happened to stumble on this thread while doing some research on bike touring. I've only had very limited experience doing it but since I was little I had a powerful wanderlust. In college I bought a 50 dollar k-mart bike and rode from NYC to Philidelphia on a dare. Ever since that trip I've really wanted to try doing this a little more seriously. As much fun as I had on the trip, I made it a lot harder on myself then it had to be. I carried everything on my back, and had just a giant flashlight duct taped to the handlebars of my bike. The bike I was riding was way too small (I realized at the border of NJ and Pennsylvania that I could raise my seat - made the second half of my trip so much better when I wasn't kneeing my chest with every stroke). I carried with me like 6 ft of giant gauge chain to lock my bike (which never happened since I slept next to/on it the whole trip.) I was (and still am in many respects) totally naive when it comes to biking, especially biking for any sort of distance.
A lot of what you guys say here makes no sense to me *blush*. You have a lot of acronyms and phrases and make points about things I don't understand at all. The only bike brands I know are like ... huffy. I know it's embarassing but since this is for newbies... how about lowering the bar a little for me ^_^?
I'm trying to look stuff up but i really don't know what's important and what isn't. Or some place where it's laid out there for guys like me? Sometimes it's hard to tell when someone is saying something important, or showing off how knowledgeable they are about bikes =(
I just finished school and moved out to the south west and I would love to get out and tour around. Where do guys like me start learning about what these terms mean, how do I pick a bike that works for me? What are the tradeoffs, what are the options?
Sorry for the long question! I really appreciate all your input and all the advice that was given in this thread, it's great to have so many knowledgeable people in one place!