Yes! Absolutely replace it. It's not any more of a boat anchor than a newer touring bike would be but if everyone of us rode around on 30 year old touring bikes, bicycle companies wouldn't make any more touring bike. Wait! We do and they don't. If we tourists replaced our touring bikes with a bit more regularity, we might be looking at more and better offerings. Put a damned crowbar in your wallet and buy a new bike!*
Originally Posted by
tarwheel
The thing is most of us have shopped for new touring bikes and the pickings are slim. The bike industry has pretty much abandoned touring, or perhaps it's the cyclists.
It's not cyclists but the industry...and for good reason. The bikes are too well built and too rugged and we hang on to our touring bikes like a dog with a bone.
There are thousands of mountain bikes sold for each touring bike. Do you ever wonder why? It's because the technology changes quickly and the bike improve constantly. While a 32 year old touring bike is still considered "cutting" technology and a worthwhile investment, a 30 year old mountain bike is (justifiably) considered to be a out of date, mostly worthless hunk of junk. Heck, a 2 year old mountain bike is (almost justifiably) considered an out of date hunk of junk.
Touring bike, on the other hand, are Buicks. Very ho hum. The Trek 520 touring bike isn't that different for the early 80's 720 that bikemig owns. There have been a few upgrades but it's still a Buick.
*In the interest of full disclosure, it took me 20 years to replace my touring bike
