thereseryley

I am planning a bicycle tour across Southeast Asia, and I need a touring bicycle that is durable enough to withstand some rough surfaces. Buying a brand new bicycle of this caliber is way out of my budget, so I am in the market for a used frame. It really doesn't need to be pretty, i.e. stickers are fine, but no rust.

I'm 5'2'' so I'm looking for something around a 48cm.

Hope someone has what I'm looking for!

valygrl

I saw this : https://www.adventurecycling.org/foru...p?topic=9528.0

I'm 5'2 and ride the 17" trek 520. I don't know any thing more about this particular bike, and you might not want the 700c wheels for an Asia tour.

Happy shopping!

fietsbob

a small sized hardtail rigid fork mountain bike is a good basis for a touring bike
with travel ambitions that take you to where you say you want to go.

change bars stem and seat to get the fit right., replace anything worn
or that you wish to not have it go out on you in a remote area.

MichaelW

+1 on the MTB.
People use Aluminium for touring these days, it seems to be reliable enough and steel is almost impossible for find. Any respected brand will do the job. The suitable grade, midrange models come with suspension forks. If you want, you can upgrade to a Chromoly ridgid fork with pannier bosses. The latest Kona P2 also has disk mounts.
You can use trekking style butterfly bars, these provide plenty of handhold options but permit use of MTB controls, simplifying the build.

At 5'2" you are too small for 700c. 26" is the standard tyre for asia and the fat tyre options are better on rough roads,

Gus Riley

+1 on 26" wheels

LeeG

what is your budget and where are you?

OldZephyr

See if you can find a used Surly LHT. My wife is around 5'2" (her inseam is around 28.5 inches) and she fits a 42 cm LHT perfectly -- and it is durable and has 26" wheels.

maxine

I'm 5'1" (if I take a big deep breath and hold it in ) and I have toured comfortably (using front and rear panniers) on a Trek 520 with 700c wheels.

But I would agree that for this particular tour, 26" tires are probably a much better bet.

eofelis 

I'm 5'2" tall and I had a 17" Trek 520 as my first touring bike. It was a nice bike and I rode it for a few years.

But I wanted to go to 26" wheels and a 42cm LHT fit me a bit better than the 520.