Windsor Tourist
04-15-10, 05:41 PM
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Windsor Tourist
I might be buying a touring bike in the next month or two. Bikes Direct features a Windsor Tourist for only $599. Seems cheap. anyone know anything about this bicycle? I'm not interested in spending thousands, or even one thousand if I can help it.
04-15-10, 05:50 PM
#2
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Lot of bike for the $. Ugly but probably functional welds. Might be geared a little high for some. Consider looking at REI Randonee if 20% off coupon still available, not much more. Do a search and you should find a bunch of info. Very similar or the same as the Fuji Tourer.
04-15-10, 07:01 PM
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I rock one, sturdy and fun.
A dad and his two daughters crossed the US on a set of Windsor Tourist, you can find it on crazyguyonabike.com, do not remember their names.
A dad and his two daughters crossed the US on a set of Windsor Tourist, you can find it on crazyguyonabike.com, do not remember their names.
04-15-10, 07:08 PM
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ah.... sure.
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Don't have one.. have seen one in person. Nice bike for the money IF you know the size you need. You're handy with putting it together or willing to pay someone to do it for you.
If you don't mind the above.. the one I saw looked pretty nice for the money. Performance sells for the most part the same bike as the Fuji Tourist. With discount and such It's in the ballpark in price also.. but with a much better return policy, fully assembled and you might get the chance to test ride one. That would be my suggestion if you don't feel comfortable with the above mentioned.
If you don't mind the above.. the one I saw looked pretty nice for the money. Performance sells for the most part the same bike as the Fuji Tourist. With discount and such It's in the ballpark in price also.. but with a much better return policy, fully assembled and you might get the chance to test ride one. That would be my suggestion if you don't feel comfortable with the above mentioned.
04-16-10, 04:33 AM
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Bikes: Specialized Tarmac Expert, 2002 TREK 520, Schwinn Mesa WINTER BIKE, Huffy Rock Creek 29er, 1970s-era Ross ten speed. All my bikes are highly modified(except the Tarmac) yet functional, and generally look beat to ****. .
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Staehpj1 should be chiming in here any time...
04-16-10, 04:59 AM
#7
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Yep. We like our Windsor Tourists and found them to be a good value. We did feel the need to replace the crank to get adequate gearing for mountainous touring. We used a Sugino XD 600 and eventually swapped the 26 for a 24. The WT is a good value if you don't feel the need for much local dealer support.
I am the dad accordianfolder mentioned. Actually it was one daughter and a friend of hers from college though. Our journal from the Trans America is at:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/staehling2007
I rode mine on a Santa Fe Trail tour last year and we are planning to use them to do the Sierra Cascades route this year. See those journals at:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/MountainMan
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/StaehlingSantaFe2009
The first link has a good bit of info about how the bikes worked out the other two, not as much.
I am the dad accordianfolder mentioned. Actually it was one daughter and a friend of hers from college though. Our journal from the Trans America is at:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/staehling2007
I rode mine on a Santa Fe Trail tour last year and we are planning to use them to do the Sierra Cascades route this year. See those journals at:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/MountainMan
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/StaehlingSantaFe2009
The first link has a good bit of info about how the bikes worked out the other two, not as much.
04-17-10, 01:59 PM
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Myself and a friend each bought one for our upcoming tour. We haven't done any really long distances on them yet, but we did do a couple of 60km rides.
They definitely seem good, but the wheel issues are definitely there. My friend's bike wasn't too bad, I just had to correct the tension a bit. Same for my front wheel. But the rear wheel seemed to have been built with insanely uneven tension to compensate for a bent rim, and I confirmed this by disassembling it. I contacted BD and being that I am in Canada and they couldn't ship a replacement, they gave me a $50 refund that I put towards a much better wheel.
I'd recommend the bike if you are a somewhat capable bike mechanic. We had ours powder-coated white, and upon re-assembling them we pre-emptively replaced the bottom brackets, since it is a very cheap part and easy to do. Recently the chain broke on mine, pulling the front derailleur out of alignment with it. And on that note, the front derailleur was actually incorrectly mounted in the first place.
All in, I'd say these are small issues, but the costs would quickly add up if you need to pay someone to take care of them for you.
It's also definitely true, here in Canada at least, that any comparable bike would cost at least twice as much.
They definitely seem good, but the wheel issues are definitely there. My friend's bike wasn't too bad, I just had to correct the tension a bit. Same for my front wheel. But the rear wheel seemed to have been built with insanely uneven tension to compensate for a bent rim, and I confirmed this by disassembling it. I contacted BD and being that I am in Canada and they couldn't ship a replacement, they gave me a $50 refund that I put towards a much better wheel.
I'd recommend the bike if you are a somewhat capable bike mechanic. We had ours powder-coated white, and upon re-assembling them we pre-emptively replaced the bottom brackets, since it is a very cheap part and easy to do. Recently the chain broke on mine, pulling the front derailleur out of alignment with it. And on that note, the front derailleur was actually incorrectly mounted in the first place.
All in, I'd say these are small issues, but the costs would quickly add up if you need to pay someone to take care of them for you.
It's also definitely true, here in Canada at least, that any comparable bike would cost at least twice as much.
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