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Old 11-22-15 | 08:57 AM
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Tourist in MSN
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From: Madison, WI

Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

Originally Posted by Squeezebox
I've been here a few days. I'm a crossover from the hiker forum.
I'm an ex-road racer. I've done some road touring in the past. I've never ridden a mountain bike. But from hiking want to explore that option.
So my big question is why is there only 1 bicycle touring forum , instead of dirt touring, gravel touring, road touring separate?
Just asking.
I agree with the others, my gravel tours and road tours differed by using different tires. Otherwise, not much different.

If you are credit card touring, that is essentially road riding with a rack top bag or maybe a pair of light panniers, to many of us that is not really the same as the kind of loaded touring most of us do, thus it gets little mention here. There are occasional threads on credit card touring or fully supported touring or vehicle supported touring, but such information is clearly in the minority and a separate forum for that might be pretty lonesome.

I think it would make sense to have a separate bikepacking forum since the equipment is so different for that, no panniers or racks but instead frame bag and some other things that I do not even know what they are called. Bikepacking is pretty new and rapidly evolving, I would not be surprised if a forum here for that gets added in a few years. Because those bikers travel so light, their camping gear differs from what you typically see most touring bikers use. Many of them use fat bikes or suspension bikes, so there is less common ground with conventional touring bikes. Most of the bike packers I have seen also wear a small backpack whereas the vast majority of conventional touring folks would never wear a backpack. It is a very different style of bike travel.

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