Originally Posted by MarkCoatsworth
What I'll probably do is head over to Urbane Cyclist and compare their touring frame to the Surly LHT. Both are in the $400-500 range and seem very popular. That leaves extra budget for some wicked rims
Very hard to beat the LHT and there's a million recommendations on this group to underscore that.
Originally Posted by MarkCoatsworth
And yeah, wheels are another important one -- I want to ride 700s, but everyone is suggesting 26". Here's my concern. The Trans-Lab (yup, i'm riding this early to avoid the bugs!), Klondike and Dempster highways are gravel, but this only makes up about 2,000 km of my route, compared to another 10,000 km of paved roads. Speed is ESSENTIAL. I want to cover a lot of ground in not much time, I want to do side journeys to Innu Labrador and the First Nations reserves in north Ontario, moreover, riding against the prevailing winds for 7000 km, and I want to reach Inuvik before the Mackenzie freezes so I can kayak to Tuk. Will a good set of 700s survive the gravel stretches?
My experience is that tires actually wear LESS on gravel than they do on pavement but I've never done a long offroad tour with a heavy load.