PaddyBeer

If this is a duplicate thread please forgive me. Since I am lookimg at using a bike to commute and also for camping trips of perhaps one week long, the local shop told me that I would be better with a comfort road bike than I would with a touring bike, which are heaver and the like. THe sales person recommended the Lemond Big Sky SLT or a Trek, but I cannot recall the model. While I do not want to go broke, I would prefer to spend the money now on a bike that I will not want to replace in a short while. The price for the LeMond is $1300, then I have to add racks, a fender, etc.

Is this a smart buy or should I consider something else?

Thanks,
Kevin
Buffalo, NY

mrjon

That sounds like the sales pitch I got from my LBS when I bought my '03 Lemond Nevada City. I have had nothing but aggravation trying to use it for touring. Discomfort over long distances and poor options for rack mounting (because of eyelet geometry.. and only one set of threaded eyelets) have made it thoroughly unusable.

I went in there wanting a hybrid bike, and came out with something totally different. Don't get me wrong.. the Lemond is nice for local "roadie" type riding but I haven't had any good experiences trying to tour with it. I did manage to do a group supported century with it, but it was still a rather uncomfortable ride.

Unfortunately I can't offer you any good suggestions right now, as I am still in the market for a real touring machine. I might go with a hardtail MTB (that would be easier to turn into a touring-worthy machine than a road bike it seems) if I can't get a decent hybrid. Both are generally cheaper and more robust than the overpriced "LeMond racing bicycles".

Two things I've learned from the experience:

1) When selecting a touring bike, comfort is more important than speed.
2) You want something durable enough to not strand you in the middle of nowhere. I've lost a lot of faith in my road bike about it necessarily getting me home.

bakhurts

I have a big sky SL with a generic rack that seems to fit just fine. The bike is ok, but i ha ve only used it for light touring (weekend stuff) and carry very little. Overall, I like my bike. I think I would prefer a custom built independant fabrications, Revendall or Litespeed, but that is just not going to happen.