greatbasin

I agree it's interesting. What is it like touring pavement on MTB tires? I think it would be cushy, but wonder about the rolling resistance. I put Big Ben balloon tires on my wife's bike and my kids' mountain bikes (which they outgrew and sold). Those promised little rolling resistance and seemed to deliver on that point. I know I don't want racing tires, but I don't think I'd want knobbies either.

I have my doubts about drop bars for touring. My idea of touring isn't eating up miles or reaching ambitious destinations before a certain time. I don't have any experience sitting on a bicycle for eight hours straight, so I can't say whether I'd rather sit upright or in the drops, but I'd like to have a look around and I suspect I'd rather be upright. My Schwinn is two or three sizes too big for me and it originally had drop bars. I'd have back pain after riding a few hours. I swapped them out for some VO Tourist bars. I can ride it longer now without pain, but I might like even more sweep in the bars like porteur or Left Bank bars. Drop bars might not be bad if the reach was correct. I can see getting in the drops to power up steep hills or for descents, but most of the time I'd probably want to be upright.