The Golden Boy 

I guess "light touring" means different things to different people. To me, that means 'not having to take a tent and sleeping bag and several days of clothes, food and water' which kind of equates to 'spirited touring.'

I currently have a 1986 Trek 400 Elance, a 1984 Schwinn Voyageur SP and a 1990 Miyata 1000LT.

Out of the choices- the Miyata 610 is a Grand Touring bike, however the stays and fork are Mangalight. Good for a stable ride, but it's extra weight and mass. My M1000 is not a light bike, and it's CrMo with CrMo stays and fork.

I don't know why people always run away from Voyageurs... The 1984 Voyageur is a great bike- Champion #2 and Champion fork... so that's CrMo/CrMo. You have the added benefit of all the tour-y braze ons. This year's model of the Voyageur and Voyageur SP are very similar- the frames are mostly the same geometries- and Champion #2 is good tubing- probably even a little bit light for touring purposes. What I don't like about my VSP is that the seat tube is VERY vertical. It's something you get used to within the first mile or 2, but it's a change.

The Trek 400- it's a 531 main frame with CrMo fork and stays. It's a good bike all around. I have a Blackburn 'city' rack on mine- I've loaded that more than I probably should have and the bike still handles fine. The angles on my 400 make it the most "aggressively" angled bike I have, but it's not fatiguing and it's a pleasure to ride over distances. Again- if you're talking "light" touring- you don't have the option for a front rack or lowriders (maybe you could mount a rack- recessed bolt... never tried)- so you do need to be judicious about how much weight you're throwing back there. The drawback to me is having side pulls vs cantis. HOWEVER... that also means it's probably (not that I've done it) a good candidate for a 650B conversion- which then gives you poofy tires and fenders instead of 32s and fenders.


I would choose the Trek 400.