Dougie D

Carbonfiberboy 

My touring fit is identical to my road bike fit. I don't see any reason to change it, every reason to use the same fit. My rules of thumb are probably different from yours. I use heel-on-pedal for first approximation of saddle height, knees in front of elbows with horizontal forearms for reach, hands light on bars for saddle fore-and-aft position. All my bikes have slammed -17° stems and I'm 73. OTOH I'm short-legged, so my saddle to bar drop is only ~3".

Classtime 

elcruxio

My touring bike is also my road bike and when I go on tour I always change the geometry a little. The reason for this is that my touring riding differs somewhat from my road riding. Mainly I use less power when I tour so I need a little more relaxed position to stay comfortable for hours of low intensity every day. When I'm at home and road ride I crank out more power so I can have my handlebar lower and further out since I'm holding myself up more with my legs.

It really depends on you and how you tour. There's so many ways to ride on the road and tour that it's impossible to say. try to find something that works for you

noglider 

That rule of thumb is a pretty bad one, actually.

My approach is to set saddle height first, which is fairly easy. Some people can put their arm pit on the center of the saddle and then the tip of the middle finger on the center of the crank spindle to get the right height. I might have long arms for my leg length, because I prefer my saddle to be at the height where the second joint of my middle finger is at the crank spindle. But the heel on pedal method works well, too.

Second, I do saddle fore-aft position, and this is based on the crank, not the handlebar. I'm not good at measuring this, so I won't give a method here, but the point I emphasize is to do this before you set your handlebars. Some use a plumb bob from the front tip of the saddle and measure from the string to the center of the crank spindle. But keep in mind that different saddles have different sit-bones-to-nose distances, so compensate for that if you're comparing fit with different saddles.

Third, I do handlebar height and fore-aft position. This can involve changing stems and even handlebars.

It's conceivable you'll want a different fit between road riding and touring. But what is road riding? Do you go as fast as you can for much of the ride? Is it recreational or racing? There are lots of possibilities, and the term is vague. If, when touring, you're going to go slowly and spend many hours a day on the bike, maybe you will want your handlebars higher or closer than on your road bike. But only you can decide that.

kingston 

As others have said, it depends. I have a lot of bikes that all fit a little bit differently and are all comfortable for what most people consider long distances. Compared to my dedicated road bikes, my touring bike handlebars are way higher with a little less reach, the saddle is a completely different style, a bit lower and tilted a bit further back with a little more setback.

fietsbob

Fit, If you are ok riding it all day long, for weeks on end, it's good.

McBTC

All of the old black and white photographs of TdF riders from the 40s up to the 50s and 60s when color photography became popular... those are all tour bikes like what you'd want if you had to put down e.g., 70 miles per day, fully loaded, every day for 10 days to 2-weeks.