Originally Posted by
heyisforhumans
I would, and do, touring on aluminum. I
wouldn't tour on a cross bike. A cross bike is, essentially, a long road race bike made for playing in the mud. The frame isn't beefed up to carry a load so it's more likely to develop death wobbles due to the lighter frame and fitting panniers on it is likely to be problematic if you have anything larger than small to normal feet. You can cantilever the load off the back to get more foot room but moving the load back with a shorter wheelbase and more responsive steering will create other problems. You end up with a tail wagging the dog.
If you are going to go the Bikesdirect route, why not go with the Windsor for just a little more.
Originally Posted by
tmac100
A leading question
That said, if touring in the USA/Canada/Western Europe then Al would be easy to repair - or if there is a catastrophic failure public transpo and replacement bikes/frames are available. OTOH,
IF travelling outside those places - say Cuba, Namibia, Vietnam - the best approach IMHO is to use steel. I could not imagine repairing my expedition grade Arvon-built in outback Australia if it was aluminium (!). OTOH, for that repair all that was needed was a bead of SS to stabilize a BB lockring that was the wrong one (and put on by a LBS in Canada - and they were reputable and supposedly knowledgeable). The trip would have ended there IF the frame was Al. Locktite and duct-tape were not solutions
Steel is what my Greenspeed GTO is made of, and I don't own any bike with carbon/aluminium frames/forks.
YMMV
Bicycle steel and bicycle aluminum really aren't all that easy to repair in the field no matter where you are. Both require some skill to work on and repair. People have a fantasy that a steel bike can be repaired by the local smithy but that's only true if you happen to be riding a Flying Pigeon. The local smithy or car mechanic is just a likely to burn a hole through a steel frame as fix it.