Originally Posted by
Theodore
Do many use road bikes for touring? Seems the tour bikes are very heavy
and road bikes would be more responsive. I think of tour bikes struggling
to climb hills and by the time you arrive at your destination you are
worn out while the road bikes guys are chatting and enjoying themselves
doing jumping jacks!
ted
I think you are greatly overestimating the effect of bicycle weight on how fast you can go and how much energy it takes to ride a bike.
My "heavy" touring bike weighs less than 24lbs. After you load up 40lbs of gear and food and then get on the bike it makes up less than 10% of the total weight. Also, you wouldn't be able to load that much weight on a road bike that didn't have eyelets. Even if you could, I doubt you would still consider the ride "responsive".
Also, have you ever tried going down a dirt or gravle road on a "road" bike with 23mm tires. Have fun with that. I have 35mm tires on my bike and it can go anywhere.