Hello everyone ,
I am currently planning a cycle journey from Alaska to Argentina. The hardest thing to do is get a good solid bike, ive been looking but it just seems that they are so expensive.
Does anyone know of a place to get a good bike from i havent got one yet and can buy one in Canada if that is better but i dont want to go there bikeless and leave bikeless.
The bike that i ve seen , that looks like it would do the job is A Koga \Miyata, the one draw back is the price about 1500 pounds, surely there are other people that make good tourers without the price tag, at that rate ill need to work for about a decade to save up for the bike alone then there would be the airfare (Joke). The thing is that i would like the ability to take off the racks and off road ie into some parks in Canada on some hard trails.
Those any one have veiws on mountain bike over tourer, ie is the aluminium of a good enough standard these days to make the need for steel unneccesary, and is there any problem trying to fit standard forks onto a mountain bike that comes with sus forks, as im thinking of buying asecond hand good mtb.
I know the geometry issue but lets be honest illhave the time to get used to it, after all knowing what i know now the bike i had in SE Asia was far from perfect for touring but it managed very well.
Cheers for the time it has taken you to read this i hope to hear from you with any help at all, thanks
Rich

If you're in Wales check out Thorn-they have 26inch wheeled tourers and come in a large variety of prices... the least expensive is a Sherpa(600 pounds I believe)all the way up to the eXp 1500 pounds).

Also, there is Dawes, Roberts, Orange, Longstaff in your country. All worthy of a look.

Thorn and Orbit make the best 26" tourers in your price range.