Yes you can replace a double with a triple. But it does cost. You'll have to replace the crank, bottom bracket and, likely, the front derailer. If you are lucky you won't have to replace the shifter depending on whether or not the manufacture spec'd a double or triple. It adds up pretty quickly.

Edit: I'll take back the shifter comment. The Crosscheck uses barend shifters.

Well, since we are considering other options, how many of you think I could fit a back rack to this road bike and be able to tour on it with using a handlebar bag upfront??? I've heard there are racks that mount to the QR.

p.s. cyco- I went by REI tonight to check out the Randoneur and it was a little heavy and clumsy for my liking. Is that the case with all touring bikes?

I believe a true touring bike would be much more comfortable. Is that an aluminum frame? If it is, it wouldn't be nearly as smooth and you're very limited in going with bigger, more comfy tires. You'd have to change out the stem on that to get the handlebar higher or your back will be killing you. I don't see any rear eyelets for a rack. In other words, not a good touring bike, IMHO.

You're finding out what I did when I went shopping -- there is no one perfect bike for every condition. But bikes like the LHT, Trek 520, Cross Check, etc. are all bikes that do several things well. It sounds like your leaning toward a touring bike. Get on an LHT and see if it does anything for you. I have not scaled any mountains on my cross check, if you're thinking you will be, a triple is probably for you.

I was looking around for bikes much like you. I test rode a Kona Jake, Cross Check, Aurora, Volpe, then the Cross Check and Aurora again since those were the two I liked the best and were at the same shop. I settled on the Aurora. Partly the shop offered it for 50 bucks cheaper than the CC, including some upgrades, but mostly it felt better. A testament to the importance of test rides.

If you think of the CC as a cyclocross bike with touring bike tendencies, think of the Aurora as a touring bike with crossish tendencies. I don't know if they all come with them, but mine has interrupter levers like a lot of cross bikes, and for a touring bike the chainstays are relatively short, giving it a "racier" feel than most touring bikes but not really sacrificing load carrying capabilities unless you're doing super-loaded touring, which most people don't.

And as to tire width, I just ordered a set of 35 cross tires, so I sure hope they can fit I may have to remove the fenders to do it though. I've even done some muddy singletrack on the 28s it comes with. A little scary, but mostly because of the tires. The lower bottom bracket didn't really seem to sacrifice anything. The Aurora isn't a racer, but in a a pinch it can be a fun off and on road bike. In other words, just as good (if not better) of a "do it all" machine than the cross check.

Do you know the max tire size the Aurora can handle? The CC can take 45s without fenders and with fenders anything below that, I believe.

There is a fellow here on craigslist selling a crosscheck that I am going to go test out. Is $700 too much for a used crosscheck? It has flat bars and campy components. I'm asking that he put on the drops. We'll see!

If I was forced down to one bike the crosscheck would be it. Don't know about the other choices but you can (and a lot of people do this - search velospace.org for instance) make it into a fixed gear/singlespeed with its horizontal dropouts, ride it offroad (almost a 29'er with clearance to 700x45), commute, and tour with it. Lowrider racks will mount onto forks without the braze-ons, it's just not as elegant. I did this with my mountain bike. It's not the perfect bike (could be lighter, that fork is very heavy, 4130 tubing) but it is easily the most versatile bike I got and I got a lot.

There is a fairly recent review of it at fixedgeargallery.

I built mine from frame up so it's got a triple crank, mismatched brakes (front vbrake, rear canti), 7-speed barends (friction!), etc. It cost about as much as buying a whole bike except I had most of the parts already and the big cost to me was having a rear wheel built by the local shop. I think $700 is fair is that guy has significant upgrades to the build. Otherwise you can buy new for about that much online.

Not necessarily. Any touring bike is going to be heavier than a road race bike...they have to be to carry loads but they should be in the range of a good hardtail mountain bike. I have a Cannondale T800 (aluminum but still a fine bike ) that weighs in at 27 lb. I could easily lighten it to get it into the 25 lb or less range.

This guy just told me that he would sell the crosscheck for 550! Is that even better? If not, I'll go check out the Jamis Aurora at Salvagetti today or tomorrow.



Versatility is huge. Are there racks that raise the back pannier so that heelstrike isn't an issue?

I ride a 58 cm frame use two Trek Interchange panniers with the interchange rack and have no heel strike problems. $550 for a Cross Check sounds very reasonable.

$550 for a Cross Check sounds very reasonable.

I thought so...I'm gonna go ride it this friday and I'll let you know what comes of it. Again, if it doesn't work out I can score the Jamis Aurora for 850 here in town. Something about buying a bike new doesn't appeal to me. I wish I would have known what I know now when I bought my first "new" bike last year. Total mismatch.

There are a couple of options for racks. One would be a Disc Rack from Delta. I wouldn't use it for a touring load but for commuting, it works fine with a trunk bag. Another option would be an Old Man Mountain rack but those are expensive ($125). I happen to have one in my garage that I don't really like. PM me.

For touring, and this is an option I keep forgetting, you could pull a trailer. That solves all kinds of problems in geometry. Trailers run around $300+ but then good bags and racks will cost about the same. I use a trailer for mountain bike touring but I don't really like them for road touring. They have a 'tail wagging the dog' effect that I don't like but they are a good option if you don't want to go with a full-on-touring bike.

I may be interested in that rack, we'll have to see how this bike checks out on friday. What differentiates a rack from another rack? I have a cheapish one that I used to use commuting but I've been using a messenger bag for awhile now, so my rack knowledge is slim. I was thinking I could get a decent rack and then ask for some ortliebs from my wife on my upcoming bday. How does that sound?

I have a trailer that I built. (https://www.bikeforums.net/utility-cycling/285912-check-out-my-new-trailer.html) but I think part of what I like about the idea of touring is being one unit, not several parts. Not to mention the wag factor. Man, I wish I had known more then, but when I was living in Central America these two boulder guys came through on their bikes and stayed a couple days. They were doing San Diego to the bottom of South America. One guy had a bike that had been welded like the Surly Big Dummy (an xtracycle permanently added to the bike) and was having a rocking good time coming down through nicargua. I really admired these guys, but didn't know enough about bikes at the time to recognize the beautiful bike this guy was riding.

Cyccommute, I need to do a little more research on racks but I may be interested in that rack, would you PM me what you think a reasonable price is?

Probably not quite that large, though I'm not sure. I think 35s are about the biggest I will be able to handle with the over-sized SKS chromoplastic fenders I have on, but it might be able to go up to 45. It looks like it has a lot of vertical clearance on the fork, presumably because they assume you'll be putting on fenders, but I don't know about width-wise. I'll keep you posted on how much room I have after I put the 35s on. My guess is that it could take up to 45s, but you'd need different rims. The wheelset is only so-so on the Aurora anyways.

550 is a great price if the cross check is lightly used, but do you really want flat bars if you're going on longer rides?

No! I wouldn't. If I got it, I would automatically put drops and bar end shifters on it, with the possibility of trying to sell/trade the crankset for a triple. I just don't want to get myself into the costs of a new bike. Possible? I don't know. Still considering a lot of options. A trek 520 just came up for sale on craigslist here, but I have no idea about the tire clearance, fender accessibility, etc... I'll look it up right now...

I think you're smart in going the used bike route. Nothing wrong with buying new (I did), but you can get a nice bike in the 5-600 price range. Oh, an I want pics when you get it!

Update: I just put 35 knobbies on my Aurora. Tons of room still on the fork, and still a decent amount in the rear. however, I don't think I'll be able to fit full fenders on the back with anything larger than about 38. 35s are as large as I can ever imagine myself needing, but the LHT or Crosscheck might be a better choice for you if you want to go up to around 45.