Originally Posted by
tjspiel
Touring bikes ARE road bikes. I've never heard anything different. You can make the argument that CX bikes are their own beasts but I contend they're just specialized road bikes. I think a lot of early cyclocross bikes were nothing more than modified road bikes. Put cyclocross tires on a touring bike and BAM, instant cyclocross bike.
You could argue the reverse. Put touring tires on a CX bike, and you have a nice bike for touring, if it has braze-ons for racks and such.