Touring - Little Things you can't do without

I am considering buying a touring bike for my commutes and to hopefully get in some week-long rides in for the future. I have been reading some of the older threads on bike selection, and now I have a much better understanding on what is important on the bike.

Where I still feel a bit lost is on the little things about the bike. These being things like shifter position. In my visits to the bike shops, it seems like most of the touring bikes have bar-end shifters. What are the advantages/disadvantages for this on a touring bike. Why would I not want shifters on the hoods?

Tire variability. What is a good size range to expect to be able to swap out depending on the destination? Will I have to make a decision about the entire range of rides I may be doing at purchase time?

I also saw a few frames that have coupling devices on them so the frame can be broken in half. This was on the higher-end bikes at the shop I was at. I am having a hard time believing that these are of any benefit on a single-rider touring bike. (I thought you were supposed to ride the bike and not transport it ;))

Any insight would be of great help. Thanks!

Bar-end shifters have a friction over-ride, so if you lose the indexing system for any reason, you can still change gear. Reasons may be, a non-compatable replacement derailleur, a bent gear hanger. Integrated brake/gear levers have no fall-back option.
Touring tyres on 700c wheels range from 25mm for fast summer day tours, to about 37mm for heavily laden rough roads. Most club riders use a 28mm for fast general purpose riding, a 32mm for laden riding on good roads, and for unladen riding on tracks and trails.

I also like touring bikes to have horizontal rear dropouts, so if your gear system really goes up the spout, you can revert to a singlespeed, and tension the chain in the most suitable single gear.

There are always times you need to transport your bike, and the coupling system gives you a useful option, but few people use it on solo bikes.
A more pertinant choice may be which wheel size to use. Many tourists are starting to use 26"MTB size on touring bikes. They are fast and comfortable on the road, and give more options for riding on poor surfaces.
From the sound of it, you are looking at Bruce Gorden Cycles. The BLT range is really the definitive touring bike, and you would have to spend a lot of money to get anything better.

Michael covered many good points, I may add a few. Combined shifters by Shimano, or STI are made of many little pieces and are not reparable. If you tour, and especially if you tour away from large cities, you might need to order a replacement part via courrier... which makes the expensive STI even more expensive. This is why some long-distance tourers carry a set of downtube levers in their repair kit: backup.

Another aspect is personal preference. I like my bars high, and I like to ride on the hoods 90% of the time; I find the hand position and the fact my hands are further apart to be good factors. Bar ends are really close to my normal hand position, and I don't have wiggling brake levers like those STI ones. I also have a visual clue of the gear I'm in by looking or feeling my shifters (try to look at cogs at 11:00 pm), and it's easy to shift 5 to 10 gears at once, a nice feature in rolling terrain.

Regards

Originally posted by MichaelW

From the sound of it, you are looking at Bruce Gorden Cycles. The BLT range is really the definitive touring bike, and you would have to spend a lot of money to get anything better.

I haven't actually seen any Bruce Gordon Bikes anywhere, but I was checking out their website. The bikes look good, and the information they have on their website does inspire confidence in the brand. However I would feel odd making a purchase without seeing, and riding the bike first-hand.

I'll probably call them (no email address on their site), but do you know if they have any way to test-ride a bike?

Being in the Bay Area, I may just take a day off from work and drive up there if they have some around for test-riding.


Thanks all for the information, it helped quite a bit!