Originally Posted by meteparozzi

Geez man. That's the bike I recommended to you originally. It's the one I own. Only comes in two sizes though, from my understanding - 15" and 17" - but you may be able to find something better.

Now that you've come full circle, yes, it is a fantastic bike at a great price and completely intended for touring. The racks aren't bad, but I sold them to get some better stuff. I wanted to go with Ortlieb bags too, so I sold the bags with the racks. The components are good (Deore) but the fenders are plastic.

The fork is a bit low (for my taste) and I added a heads-up set to prop it up a bit. I also switched out for a touring bar, added toe clip pedals and got a Brooks B17 saddle.

The tires aren't bad, but I would go for some Continentals if you can. Also, I highly recommend you disassemble and reassemble the bike using some grease and frame saver, as it seems like they don't do that when it is assembled in the factory.

It's a stinking fantastic find - CrMo all the way and Reynolds 520 steel to boot.

The size may be an issue, I'm 5' 6" and the 17" frame fits me comfortably. Rides like a dream, great gearing for mountainous terrain. My main complaint would be rust. The weather here is terrible for it, and I found almost all of the fasteners and some of the braze-ons are showing rust already. And its a real pain when the paint scratches, as the paint job is beautiful.