Originally Posted by mnmkpedals

As the OP, all the advice has been a huge help. Think I have actually got my tourer, and was interesting to see the Raleigh tourer (portage v alyeska) debate. Was sitting on my hands since I'd been hoping to finalize a deal on a Alyeska I stumbled across in my size. So got it done and have the base for my tourer for next year. Even as is, rides great, though can see from pic someone changed out the downtube shifters to stem shifters (will change back) and missing a front gear. Plenty of time to tune her, replace the shifters, and track down nice saddle, new bars, etc... over the winter. Definitely as much of a touring bike as I need for right now. I've got a price-question on a couple bikes I plan to liquidate to help keep the peace at home after another bike, and I plan to post a question in the CV Appraisal section later tonight. (in trying to figure out what to pay, went back over all the old Alyeska price posts and was a huge range!) So here she is..... search went faster than I thought.