Canadian Touring Bikes
 

Has anyone any thoughts on the Canadian made touring bicycles, DeVinci Destination, DeVinci Caribou, OPUS Legato or OPUS Largo.

Indeed, I plan to purchase a Canadian bike this year. I have looked at the above, and although have found them interesting, I am leaning towards the Rocky Mountain Sherpa 30. http://bikes.com/bikes/2007/TOURING/sherpa-30.aspx

My reasons are many, but a quality steel frame, touring geometry, Deore components, simple brakes were among my top priorites.

I bought a Devinci Destination last year. I went two months in asia this winter. Cambodia and vietnam. It was flawless. Geometry is perfect. It can be transformed to a mountain bike with dics quite easily. The fork is in steel and the rest in alu. I had some concern last year but I have no regret to have bought it in alu. I though that sherpa was looking too classic somehow.

Cactus
http://jimmycactus.blogspot.com

Devinci http://www.devinci.com/en/site.html is a very cool company and I believe all of their Aluminum frames are made in Quebec. Both my sons ride Devinci's and love them. Rockie's are nice but seem to have lost a bit after they where bought by Pro-Cycle (how many are still made here).
If you are thinking custom we seem to be very lucky in Canada to have several great builders. I am presently getting a True North www.truenorthcycles.com touring bike made and so far it has been a great experience. In fact with the exchange rate (not as high as it was, but still .85 cent dollars) I can't figure out why Americans are not buying up Canadian custom bikes, they seem like a good deal.

I'm Canadian, but I still decided to go with a Cannondale, I feel like such a traitor :(
On second thought, I really do like my Cannondale ;)

I bought a Marinoni Tourismo custom Zona frame with an aluminum touring fork for 875$ cdn. last year.

The Devinci bikes are great bikes, but I don't like their touring bike designs. They use the same frame design for touring, cyclocross and I think hybrid (commuting). So, compared to a touring-specific bike frame, there are some drawbacks and... a few advantages:
– Higher bottom bracket, which means you'll need to step off the saddle to put your feet on the ground.
– Small frame sizes with oblique top tube, which means less room for water bottles, longer seatpost (bad), but also easier to reach the ground (good).
– Shortish chainstays; if you have long feet, watch out.
– Braze-ons for cantilever and disc brakes, and the rear disc brake is attached to the chainstay, so there is little interference with any rack you choose... and you can have the brakes you want. A drawback is that the fork is beefier than it would need to be otherwise.
– Lots of room for wide tires (a good thing).

BTW, such a design is not the best for "traditional" bicycle touring (on asphalt), but it is great for off-the-beaten-track touring. And between their two or three models, it's basically a difference in components.


Marinoni officially has one touring model, the Turismo. However, I find it much more suited for sports touring or randonneuring. For instance, it is fairly short and doesn't have clearance for more than 700x32 with fenders.

Cycles Bertrand is well known in the Ottawa area. Frames are built by Marinoni according to Bertrand's specs and the rest is hand-built by one of the Bertrands. I have heard good news but never saw one.

And in Toronto, Urbane Cyclist has its own house brand. Their tourer is built in Toronto on a frame made in Asia, so you can have it the way you want. Bottom bracket a little bit higher than I'd like, but it is generally a well-designed touring frame.

I use the Marinoni Ciclo for touring ... and everything else ... and it has worked well for me. :)

I have a Gardin touring bike and love it. Great if you can find one. That reminds me. I saw a racy Gardin in St Catharines at Christmas. Lemme see if I can find a pic. . .

http://i9.tinypic.com/3ymuhkx.jpg

http://i1.tinypic.com/2jep99g.jpg

It was in the window at Cash Converters in the Glendale Plaza just off the 406.

Well, we should also add to this list the followng Canadian offerings:

Kona Sutra : Nice italian steel frame and disk brakes.

Norco VFR : Who supplied the bikes for Expidition Plant crew.

Eclipse Touring Bikes: These prices are hard to beat.

Louis Garneau Touring Bikes: This compares quite nicely to the offerings by DeVinci.

The Kona Sutra is made in Taiwan, and is not well suited for touring do to the rear rack braze-ons cracking. I use mine as a winter commuter. I wouldn't trust it as a tourer.

Hi Ziemas. My point is that these are sold by Canadian companies and Kona is from BC. As for Sutra's suitability for touring, this is a matter of opinion that may not be shared by others. I have read other posts in this forum from Surtra owners who have enjoyed their bikes. Its unfortunate that you have not had success with yours. Have you approached Kona regarding warranty?

Also available, Mariposa, Naked, and Stacey.

First off I'm not the only one who has had this problem.

When my very helpful local Kona dealer contacted Kona Europe they tried to tell us that I overloaded my rear rack and it was my fault that the braze-ons cracked. Mathieu at Kona Europe claimed that I should use rack clamps if I carry more than 20kg. It's a touring bike which should be designed for carrying heavy loads. Period. Kona Europe denied the claim. Both the local dealer and I were shocked by this.

Only after several calls to Kona in the States was I able to get a replacement frame. I was sent the wrong size, and my old fork wouldn't fit. As I use my bike to commute to work I really didn't feel I had the time to screw around with trying to get a replacement fork or the correct size frame from Kona. (So far it had been several months of hassle with Kona.) I ended up buying a fork out of pocket to save the massive hassle and wait that I saw ahead.

All in all Kona's customer service on this was horrible.