jhawk

Right, having gone to my LBS and been sized, I'm looking for either a 48cm, 50cm, or 52cm frame for my first touring bike.

Now, the hunt begins!

Where does/did everyone look for their first touring bike? What was your first proper touring bike? Did you make-do with a hybrid, or adapt a road bike for touring?

How easy is it to adapt a Hybrid, if I were to purchase one of those instead of a used touring bike (mainly due to the fact that I'm on a low budget and they're not exactly popping out of thin air) I live in rural New Brunswick, Canada and being car-less is a challenge. But, I'm hoping to live car-free, if that's even possible in today's world.

Anyway, getting back to my original point...

Where do I find one?! Does anyone know of good websites (aside from Kijiji/Ebay/CL) to keep an eye on for used touring bikes in the region of $300-$500 CAD? Does anyone from the Great White North have one for sale, perhaps?

Thanks,

jhawk.

hybridbkrdr

If you're looking for something new, $300 to $500 will only get you something like a GT Traffic 4.0, Jamis Coda Comp, Giant Escape City or a Trek 7.2 FX on sale, Marin Larkspur CS3...

bradtx

jhawk, No reason at all to not consider a hybrid and to add another style, a cycle cross bike. Just be sure it fits and has eyelets for mounting racks and if desired, fenders.

Brad

professorbob

I have a 48 cm Jamis Ventura Comp that I'm selling. It's in very nice shape. My son used it for a light tour, using a seatpost mounted rack. However, you can attach a proper rack with P clips. It has a carbon fork, so I don't think you'd have the option for a front rack. PM me if you're interested.

valygrl

www.crazyguyonabike.com or www.adventurecycling.org classifieds

But yeah, good luck, small bikes are hard to find. And i don't think you can shop for a 4cm range, one of those sizes will fit you, the other two will probably not.

I found my 17" Trek 520 on the floor of a bike shop, it was new but a 3-year-old model, and I got it for half price. Maybe you will be lucky like that too.

Machka 

First of all, I've been riding road bicycles since I was about 6 years old.

My first "touring" bicycle was a steel department store Venture (acquired from Zellers, in Canada). It was too big for me, but it was all I had at the time. It had a rack, so I picked up panniers from Canadian Tire, and off I went.

Several years passed, I bought other bicycles, and finally decided I wanted a custom-built bicycle for Randonneuring and other long distance events, with the ability to do some touring. So I bought a custom Marinoni Ciclo ... a Canadian brand. The Marinoni Ciclo was a sport-touring bicycle designed for light touring, but I did some fairly lengthy tours on him.

My Marinoni Ciclo was stolen in 2010, and so Rowan and I bought matching Thorn touring bicycles for our recent RTW tour. They are full-fledged touring bicycles.

Happily ... 3 years and 4 months after my Marinoni Ciclo was stolen, we found him and retrieved him.


[HR][/HR]

As for where you might be able to look for a touring bicycle, check your local bicycles shops and bicycle clubs. Many of the clubs I've been associated with in other parts of Canada have a "buy and sell" section.

nun

Keep an eye on eBay and if you can stretch your budget a bit the Bianchi Volpe is an excellent bike to start touring.

My first touring bike was a 1977 Claud Butler Majestic

https://homepage.ntlworld.com/nkilgar...7/Majestic.jpg

I rode with friends around Northern England and took it to London to ride to college. It's still in my mum's attic.

it was 25 years until I bought another touring bike and that was a Bianchi Volpe closely followed by a Rivendell Rambouillet because I was still in steel mode



Then I discovered carbon and now usually tour on this

3speed

I think in that price range your best bets will be to just keep a Close eye on CL, etc, every day until something finally pops up that fits you well and has decent parts, or to find a 90s MTB with the proper mounts for fenders and racks. If you search, you can find some that even have the mid-fork rack mounts. I know the Diamond Back Ascent does. The MTBs from that time period sell for a Lot less than a touring bike, and you can just swap to drop handlebars, shifters, etc, and you've got a budget touring bike. If you find a higher end one, you'll even have some nice sturdy, mtb shifters and crank, which is what most people use for touring anyway.

My first touring bike is a build I'm doing myself from a 1990 Trek 750, which has the same tubing and geometry of the touring specific Trek 520 from the early 90s. The 750/790 originally had flat bars and was sold as a hybrid, but just swap a couple parts and you've got a purpose built touring bike. Keep an eye out for those. I think the 750/790 was the same in 90, 91, and maybe 92. Same as the 520, sells for a Lot less on the used market.

boomhauer

You don't need to "adapt" a Hybrid. A Hybrid is just fine. Just add racks.
I bought a Trek 7200 multitrack hybrid in 2000 and rode it from El Paso to Alberta. It only cost $400 new. I can imagine that a used hybrid is very afordable. Just add racks, or in my case, only a back rack. This model even had front fork mid bosses for a sturdy front rack I have since added but that is a luxury. In the last 13 years I've had to replace parts but that is to be expected.
Do not listen to the over hyped advise on this forum. You don't need to buy a lot of extra crap to tour.
Try to avoid knobby tires.

Notgrownup

You can tour on a Hybrid just fine...Most of them have the pre drilled holes on the seat stays for racks and have the rime size to where you can use a 700x28 or 700x32 tires that you can get that are good rollers....If you ask me, the most inportant thing is being comfortable....

wahoonc

You can also pick up late 80's early 90's vintage MTB's and do a light conversion for very little money.

Here is a couple that outfitted their world tour bikes for very little money.

Aaron

lanahk

Use an site like ifttt.com to send a Craigslist alert when anyone lists a bike in your size. It may take a few months, but you'll find something eventually, even with the small frame size. You can do this for Ebay and other sites, too.

Cyclebum

That^^^^

Fit is First, no matter what bike. Saddle sweet spot(where your sit bones should land) to bar in the most frequently used riding position. If you can find a used hybrid with no shocks and in sound mechanical condition, that will likely be your most inexpensive entry to the world of cycle touring. Check this link for ideas of how to reduce gear weight and bulk to a minimum.