Originally Posted by
tphelps
Fun thread! The three all-time 1980's classic standard bearers (for production touring bikes) have to be the
Miyata 1000, Specialized Expedition, and the Trek 720. These three land cruisers got the touring specs just right--awesome touring bikes, even by today's standards. Others that follow include the Nishiki Cresta and Nishiki Continental, Raleigh Alyeska, Univega Gran Turismo, Schwinn Voyager, Fuji America.....Trek 520. The Dawes Galaxy has been around forever and fits right in here too, as well as nice touring-specific models from Centurian and Panasonic (can't remember their names). In the early '90s the Bridgestone RB-T entered the picture carrying the lugged-steel production touring standard for awhile.
Here and
here are pics of my '83 Specialized Expedition--an awesome touring rig!
Ted Phelps
Central Valley, CA
Have to agree with this.
But Canadians (like me) never got much of a chance to buy a Nishiki Cresta (the Continental was the top of the line rig) or a Schwinn, Univega, Panasonic or Fuji.
At the time, the Trek touring bikes were popular along with the Nishiki Continental and International and the Raleigh Alyeska.
We did have Velo Sport, Apollo and Marinoni though. I am unsure ie Maronini was building a dedicated touring bike in the 80's though.
*0's touring rigs seemd to get it all right by 84'-85'. These were the glory years of touring on factory bikes even though they were not big sellers at the time.