Curious about the Touring Store, went to the site to discover they are going out of business. Unfortunate.
In some respects Grant pioneered the whole idea (more like he reminded us) of road bikes being practical and all purpose. His concepts of wider tires, alternatives to F & R pannier touring, etc... are things that are much more common today. Trek, Specialized and others make all kinds or bikes now that kind of follow the Rivendell philosophy. REI as well is very much oriented towards this "style" and certainly Soma and Surly are decent alternatives. Grant was very instrumental in all this and I hope he can retire comfortably when he chooses and can find somebody of a similar mindset to keep the company in business.