Touring - The "Ideal" Touring Bike

It seems like we often base our threads and responses around what "is available" and combinations or variations there of. What if we let our imaginations some freedom and, each of us, try to describe our "ideal touring bicycle"? What would your "ideal" touring bike look like?

Building my ideal loaded tourer right now, but I'll start in on a different one in a year or two:

-Mercian custom King of Mercia frame with Rohloff-specific dropouts, 531-ST steel tubing, specific touring geometry, and Tubus-specific braze-ons & eyelets galore
-Rohloff OEM-XC speedhub (point of contention for many, but I dig the things)
-Campag Chorus crank, circa 1989 (42t chainring, with 16t cog on the Rohloff)
-Rohloff chain
-Good bear-trap pedals and toeclips, undecided brand - probably MKS
-Phil Wood bottom bracket and front hub
-Good canti brakes (many to choose from, still undecided)
-Aero brake levers, Modolo, c. 1993
-Brooks Professional saddle
-Seatpost, undecided brand - probably Nitto 'frog'
-Chris King headset
-Nitto Technomic Deluxe stem
-Nitto Randonneur drop bars
-Mavic A719 rims or Velocity Dyads (32-hole for the rear/Rohloff, 36-hole for front)
-Schwalbe Marathon tires, 700c x 32
-Tubus Tara & Tubus Cargo racks
-Ortlieb or Arkel panniers, probably the former
-3 water bottle cages on frame (2 x under/over downtube, 1 x seattube)
-Fenders, undecided brand, probably MKS.

The A719 are good rims but I'd go 36 hole front and rear (from what I remember, speed hubs come in 36 hole as well)

Nice bike Alekhine

I am going to be a bit more general and say
steel frame, rigid enough that it won't flex when fully loaded, long chainstays and slack angles. Good clearance so you can mount large tires and fenders. Braze-ons for racks.
Stem that is adjustable so you can fine tune handlebar height
A high gear of 100 and a low gear of 20
Phil Wood hubs and BB
Handlebar with multiple hand positions, shifters on the handlebar.
Leather saddle.

The A719 are good rims but I'd go 36 hole front and rear (from what I remember, speed hubs come in 36 hole as well)

Unfortunately, the Rohloffs only come in 32-hole, but the lack of dish makes them less of a liability. They claim that their wheels can be actually stronger than a comparable 48-spoke wheel with cassette. I'm not sure I believe that fully, but I'm going to find out!

Bottle holder under downtube with enough clearance for liter sized cycling bottles.
Bottle mount in rear triangle to accomodate Sigg fuel bottle under the seatstays.
Kickstand compatibility. Room for big tires and fenders. AXA-BASTA frame lock for quick lockups.

i would love a tightly spaced gear range from 15 gear inches to 120+.

I'm in the processes of specing out my dream bike as well, so here in general terms is what I'm doing:

Independent Fabrications custom steel tourer
Peter White wheelset with XTR and A719
Ultegra Front drivetrain
XTR Rear drivertrain
Paul Canti brakes or XTR V Brakes
Brooks Sadle
Thompson seat post
FSA stem and Carbon Handle bars

I might just keep what I've been riding for the past 22 years (With a few upgrades and changes). No OCP points at all, but I wouldn't hesitate to take this bike anywhere anytime. Current specs:

Trek 720 touring bike
Bullet proof 48 spoke touring wheels with Phil hubs
Performance Campus pedals (good for either sneakers or SPD shoes or sandals)
Sugino XD600 full-sized Triple Crank Sets 46-36-26
13-34 Shimano Mega-Range freewheel
Front: Rivendell Rolly Poly tire
Rear: Rivendell Roughy Toughy tire
Planet Bike fenders

On the other hand, it wouldn't bother me one bit if a Rivendell Atlantis, a Peter White custom, a Mercian King of Mercia, or a Bruce Gordon custom fell into my lap.

I've been working on a biking RV idea. Where rather than pulling camping gear around, you pull around a trailer. I started with an idea to modify our kid's trailer.
The benefit would be that you could doss out in plain site just about anywhere, at least for a few hours at a time. You could duck in for a massive shower, pick up that book you were reading, and wait out the cloudburst. Maybe you could even set up in a Walmart for free overnights.

I realize this isn't a bike, but the biking part is usually the easy part. I think it is very doable. If one considers the weight of a trailer, tent, sleeping bag mat, and so forth, this could probably make that kind of weight and drag budget. Imagine a bike towing a thing like the slipstream cowling for a HPV. The one I started, would have been half coverage to about the level of the upper thighs, with waterproof canopy covering the legs.

Atomic zombie had a great concept drawing of a two seater "car" with a trailer. However, the picture isn't on their site, though they are going ahead with the build.

I've been working on a biking RV idea. Where rather than pulling camping gear around, you pull around a trailer. I started with an idea to modify our kid's trailer.

Once upon a time, there was the pac-a-saurus. Unfortunately, they no longer exist, but the wayback machine still has their website http://web.archive.org/web/20020804062111/http://pacasaurus.com/index.html

I like the idea where a shelter/tent pulls out of your trunk rack and over your bicycle like a large umbrella. Your bike acts as the main 'tent pole'.

Schwalbe is coming out with a marathon X?, with aramid for maximum puncture protection.

It will look a lot like this one.
Specs
Custom built frame with Henry James lugs, True Temper Oxi platinum main tubes, British racing green paint with black lugs. Fork two plate custom made. S and S Machine Bicycle Torque Couplings (BTCs)
Rohloff speed hub
Dt Swiss 240 front disc hub
Dt Swiss TK7.1 rims
Dt Swiss super comp spokes
Juicy 7 brakes
Tubus Logo rear rack, Tara front
Brooks b17 saddle
Race Face deus crank with 1 ring 46 tooth
Rohloff 8 speed chain
Look Ergo stem
Butterfly bars
Tires Marathon XR
Bags undecided
USE Alien seat post
Crank Bro pedals
Chris King headset


The picture is of the prototype of the one I am working on now.

That is cool, but it is too much like a tent. I want to get as close as possible to trailer living, but with a bike pulling it.

Today we had a tornado come through, and torential rains. Any poor schmuck caught out in that would be soaked before he got shelter. My thing aims to deal with that problem. However, I may be asking too much. I think it is possible with foam composites, but that doesn't make cheap for the masses. Perfect!