benbaconlewis

I am stuck between the two bikes listed above. Does anyone have any helpful input please?

The new addition to the family would be used for a little commuting, the odd weekend tour and a lengthy tour I have planned.

Thanks in advance.

Nigeyy

Well sorry, this is a totally uninformed (and probably) useless response, but......

I have to say, I lusted after the Trek Portland, it looks such a nice bike. If I was independently wealthy I'd have bought one by now. So, my vote is for the Portland.

Just keep in mind that I've never ridden one, nor the Specialized, don't know what I'm talking (can you tour on a Portland? Is is suitable?) about and am posting merely based on the extreme shallowness of how the Portland looked in my LBS.

bwgride

Will this bike carry much weight on any of these rides? Those bikes may be fine for lightweight touring (staying in motels, having a van carry your bags). For riding with much weight (rider + racks, panniers, etc.), those bikes may be poorly designed. I'd be hesitant with low spoke counts, radial lacing, and carbon forks (and other frame parts).

benbaconlewis

This is exactly the sort of advice I need to have, thanks. Basically, the bike would not carry much more weight than myself for most of the rides. However, when I am touring it would be fully loaded, so the concerns you voiced re the appropriateness of the design would potentially be very relevant.

Given the info above what would you guys recommend I go for? Budget is around 2k.

Thanks in advance.

bwgride

Do a search here in the touring forums for recommended bikes. Some things I would look for in a touring bike are strong wheels (36 spokes or more), long wheelbase, longer chain stay (~45+ cm), eyelets for front and rear racks, three water bottle mounts, canti- (or v-) or disc brakes, crank with low chain ring of 22 to 26 (road triples often are not low enough to make for a comfortable climb in the mountains with a load).

There are so many good touring bikes available. One of the more commonly recommended on this forum, because it is a good value, is the Surly Long Haul Trucker for about $1,000. Two other good value bikes are the REI Novara Randonee or Safari, which are also under $1,000. Some others, just to name a few, include the Trek 520, Rocky Mountain Sherpa, Jamis Aurora, Fuji Touring (or Windsor touring), and many others.

To see a good variety of touring bikes (and other equipment), look here:

https://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/fullyloaded

You can also see a brief review of some models here:

https://www.roadbikereview.com/latest...S_5675crx.aspx

ub3rnoid

I got the Tricross Sport two weeks ago and love it for riding. I mounted a rear rack on it and am working on the front.

Reason I went for the Tricross is that its good at everything but master of none. You can tour,Road bike, or mountain bike with it. Its built for everything and I trust specialized as far as bikes go. I use an enduro for my mountain biking and its held up great. So far the Tricross is working out just the same. But I am bias since I have not tried the Trek.

get on both and see what you like.

BlueDevil

Tricross Sport here as well. I put about 120 miles on it this weekend, loaded (~35lbs on a rear rack). The bike performed great! Other than being much more difficult to climb due to the extra weight, and a bit harder to get moving after a stop, I didn't notice the load, even at highish (30mph+) speeds down some pretty good hills. The bike seemed very stable.

That being said, I'd say that the wheels on the Tricross sport (32 spoke front and rear, 3-cross lacing pattern) are more suited to touring, though not ideal. We ended up with the sports, as my wife had her road bike totaled, and was looking for something that would do some tours up to 2 weeks, but mostly be ridden as a road bike. And my LeMond was just plain not cut out for touring at all. She tried a TriCross sport with lighter/thinner road wheels/tires, and said it felt "great!"

As ub3rnoid said, it seems to be the jack of all trades- will work for a tour (though depending on your size, you may need to upgrade at least the rear wheel), will work on the road, will do gravel/dirt trails (we've been riding a lot on these since my wife's accident, for her to get comfortable on the bike again), etc..