Touring - new and confused..any advice

Can anybody give me some beginners advice. I really want to buy a touring bike and dont know where to start. Can anyone suggest any websites which will point me in the right direction. I dont really want to start going to bike shops before I have a basic idea of what I am looking for as I have a feeling this will make me an easy target to sell any old stock to. I want to commute to work (which is at the top of what seems like a very big hill) most days, however I am more interested in being able to go camping and touring at weekends etc around Britain.

This is a nice touring bike. http://www.trekbikes.com/bikes/2003/road/520.jsp

Kirsty,

Welcome to the forum. Try to look under touring bikes at the following:

edinburgh-bicycle coop (http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk)

orSt John Street Cycles (http://www.sjscycles.co.uk)

Edinburgh bike do a variety of woman specific bikes and all of their bikes have a good reputation.

SJS have some nicely equipped tourers.

Also look in C+ for articles. Read Josie Dew's books to see what sort of equipment she uses (she uses a custom built Roberts bike)as she lists her equipment in an appendix.

I have never been happier than when i owned my Fuji s-12-s back in the 1980s when i toured around the USA and Europe; and when I again bought a fuji, Touring, last year. I was besieged on websites by millions of Trekkies but I have always found Trek bikes hopelessly over priced and hung up on their "american made" labels. I did my world tour on a cannondale, but would not do so again (the cannondale...that is..i do have plans for a 2nd world tour.

roughstuff

Try http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/

See the sections on Commuting and Camping.

In the UK, there are plenty of good touring bike manufacturers, you dont need to go to the US or Japan for a great bike.
Dawes, Orbit ,Thorn (sjscycles) make excellent production bikes, and there are scores of small workshops making touring bikes, mostly up North.
In Leeds you have the legendary Bob Jackson Cycles (got one of those :)
http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/default.php
http://www.orbit-cycles.co.uk/

Prices start from around £600. Last years models can be very good value, as long as they fit you properly. When it comes to fit, most of us recon that as long as you can straddle the bike with adaquate clearance, the most important factor is the length of the bike. Too long, and you will feel stretched out. Smaller sized bikes are notorious for being too long, but orbit and thorn are more advanced in their sizing than most.
Find the local brach of the Cyclists Touring Club. They have regular weekend rides, and you can learn a lot by riding with them and their magazine is a useful source of suppliers and adverts.

Gee, these days so few treks are american made. I'm sure roughstuff will agree-you can't go wrong with a good old cannondale touring bike!

Originally posted by D*Alex
Gee, these days so few treks are american made. I'm sure roughstuff will agree-you can't go wrong with a good old cannondale touring bike!

Not so sure. In smaller frame sizes the ali frames are a bit harsh, and might not stand up to rough handling by airport staff.

My wife looked at a T2000, but got a custom built Chas Roberts for just slightly more, with Harry Rowland built wheels, her own paintjob, tubus racks. It's steel, and weighs roughly the same as the T 2000

Kirsty

In the UK once you start looking into the subject my guess it will come down to the Dawes Galaxy range, the Orbit Harrier range or the Thorn Nomad range.

Your only limitations will be the pounds you want to loose

The Galaxys's will be the cheapest and the easiest to pick up 2nd hand, Oribit's are very good, Thorn even better and all have a price to match.

Take a long browse through the websites (all above) and don't be put off by the fact that Orbits and Thorns are only available by mail order.

If in doubt, buy a 2nd hand Galaxy and spend the first half of the summer working out what you really want, 200 miles and a few days on the bike touring will tell you more than you can ever find out by looking at web sites and takeing the odd new bike for a test run. They get the one you really want (and sell the Galaxy and your body to pay for it).

You can then start up an entire new thread for suggestions on frame type, wheel type, tyre type, flats or drops, Blackburn or Thorn racks, dynamo or battrey lights, Ortalieb or Carradice panniers and so on.

Where to get a Galaxy 2nd hand ? Loot, E-Bay, LBS, Cycle Plus or CTC magzines.

Brooky where did you get yours last summer ?

Pretty new to this myself.............Sound advice from Brains though.
Pounds, shillings & ..........Euros don't always get you there any faster. So price isn't always the best guide.

wow...what a lot of advice, I have taken note of all the advice and have checked out the websites. I also went to an outdoor show in Birmingham last week and picked up some catalogues...the plan of action is now to sit down and sort through all the info. Then I think I am ready to hit the shops to have a look at some reall bikes. Once I get it down to a short list I will post it here for some more advice...THANKS

Can anyone suggest any websites which will point me in the right direction. Welcome.
There is a good organization (and magazine) dedicated to cycle touring called Adventure Cycling. An archive of their magazine articles can be found here. (http://www.adv-cycling.org/library/index.cfm) Among the articles are many unbiased product reviews.