Touring - 1988 Shogun Alpine GT vintage bike OK for touring?

I just spotted this bike on eBay, and it seems like a pretty nice (but old) touring bike in decent shape.

Here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=180544026145&Category=98084&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2#ht_1890wt_1139

I'm trying to find a cheap touring bike and tune it up to take on a trans America bike ride. Would this Shogun Alpine GT be suitable for a long tour like this? I understand I will have to replace the tires and maybe the saddle, but other than that, will the 18 gears be OK? I also see that the wheel size is 27". I'm really used to 700cc so will there be a major difference?

27" wheels are fine for touring and plenty of people have gone across the US and other cross country tours on bikes similar to this. if you're looking for something reasonable / inexpensive - it should work fine. my wife tours on a model very similar only a 48cm:

http://flic.kr/p/7CPYzs

It looks like a very nice touring bicycle, and if the photographs are to be believed, it is in decent shape. Although there are "only" 18 gear combinations, it should work fine. After all, 18 gears was state-of-the-art 25 years ago. The smallest cog appears to have 28 or 30 teeth, so your lowest gears are not going to be as low as if you were buying a new bicycle. Many tourists opt for 22 or 24 teeth on the low end. Granny gears are awfully nice to have for climbing steep hills; you may be working hard in mountainous regions. You might want to check whether it's possible to swap out the lowest cog for something even smaller.

But I have a question. How do you know that this bicycle fits your body? If the frame is the wrong size, it is unlikely that you will ever be comfortable riding it, especially day after day.

I think that you're making a big mistake. Now you're going to have 18 people from the touring forum competing with you for that bike on eBay.

The main issue would be that it's harder to locate replacement parts for bikes such as this, but it can be done. I don't see a huge amount of wear on the chainset or cogs, so it doesn't look like you'll have to replace very much right away.

Good luck.

It is not hard to find replacement parts for mid-80s Japanese bikes. Your biggest problem is that you're more limited with tire choices than with 700c, but luckily, that problem is illusory. There might not be as many choices, but that doesn't mean there aren't good tires. Just fewer tread designs to choose from.

It's not a top-of-the-line touring bike, but it certainly looks capable. If you could snag it for the $200 it's going for, you'd have a great deal. $300 is about right. Much higher and you could probably do better for the price.d

Looks like an awsome tour bike to me. Better design than 95% of the new bikes.
It says standover is 32 1/2" , so you need to be 5'9 to 5' 11 likely.
Go for it.