I went to 4 bike stores today. Not one of the stores I went to knew a whole lot about bike touring = loading down with panniers and riding off for a few days. They were all swimming in bike specs and attachment points, without much working knowledge. It seems of the bike crowd the true touring group is a thin fragment of a percent of the general biking community Though, a couple of the stores I went to zeroed in on the Surley lineup, namely the LHT and Crosscheck. I had one store point me towards a Trek 520, then back off saying it isn't going to handle some rougher terrain (dirt and/or gravel roads).

I rode 2 56cm frames and a 54cm frame. If I can dial in the seat height to match my body/leg length to the petals and adjust the handlebars for the right posture I can make either one work. I don't see any preference between the two developing.

Something that I did look in to a little was handlebar designs. The first store was showing me some cycle-cross bikes that had straight bars - specialized Sirrus lineup and tricross lineup. The sirrus elite disk is what caught my attention there. I like the set up. Having no option of drop style bars though I think is a drawback, but they can be changed later. The Tricross Comp Disk is another option.

I did get a chance to ride a Surley Crosscheck in 56mm. This style bike I can work with too. However, I am a little unsure about the stock gearing. When I was test riding I only rode on flat parking lots unloaded. The bikes all seemed to have way too many low-range gears. The Crosscheck was the only one I felt was in tune better with my natural petal stroke on that surface/terrain. I felt like I had a surplus of low range gears, still, but I had room to get up and go. None of the other gear sets let me feel like I was in-range. Again, this is all on flat asphalt so my perspective is surely not what it should be loaded on the open trail/road.