Originally Posted by Turd Ferguson
Hello,
I was at the bike store this weekend looking at the Surly LHT and Urbanite and the Bianchi Volpe caught my eye. While is specifically designed for Cyclocross it does have design feature to suit Touring ( rear eyelets etc). At first look it didn't seem to have front fork braze ons although the sales guys said it could accomodate a front rack.
Typically, my tours are 2 weeks ( summer ), using 2 36L rear pannies with a handlebar bag haas been sufficient therefore bike seems to appeal to me. If I needed a "loaded" touring bike I'd lean towards the more traditional touring bike.
What are you thoughts? Would the Volpe make a good touring bike?
http://www.bianchiusa.com/07_volpe.html
Thanks,
Jaret
Dude, definatly get the Volpe. Thats what I have and I have no problems what soever doing some fully loaded touring. I usually have 40lbs in the back and 25 or so lbs in the front + handle bar bag.
It is equiped with fork eyelets for a front rack. Although you would need to make sure that the rack will fit a volpe otherwise you will have to use the extra attachments, but it will fit any rack.
I think it makes an excellent touring bike. Of course it all depends on your preference and whether you think spending the extra $1000 or so dollars would be worth it for a LHT. For me, right now, it is not.