Touring bike w/nice ride.
 

I am considering looking for a touring bike, with relaxed geometry and longer seat stays to allow for use of panniers. Trouble is I am not really planning to do any loaded touring. Maybe just enough for a day tour etc. Most of the reviews i read suggest that most touring bikes ride poorly unless heavily loaded.

Is there one that rides well when barely loaded?

Define "poorly".

Worse than a standard "race bike."

why not just use any road bike or mountain bike?

if you are only going to go on day tours, you probably won't need four large panniers. you can probably get away with only two smaller ones.

my trek 1400 road bike is by no means a tourer. its a late 80's/early 90's racing bike. but i would still trust in on tour that lasted for even a few days, provided i didn't weigh it down to much with panniers filled to the brim. you could also try a comfort bike.

A touring bike has a longer wheelbase, and therefore not as 'twitchy' as a racing bike and not as light. My Fuji World rides just fine unloaded, but isn't made anymore. Try a Bianchi Volpe, with some better tires and saddle. Jamis Aurora might also be a good choice.

How much does a Volpe weigh?

Touring bikes ride =differently=. "Worse" is a subjective term.

Touring bikes are generally heavier, more stable, flexier and have a "softer" ride. Racing bikes are stiffer, handle more quickly and are lighter.

Different bikes for different purposes.

Just a suggestion...how about an older late 70's to mid 80's touring bike? I have an early 80's Raleigh Kodiak touring bike and it rides like a plush Cadillac. You get the old school lugged frame look, super-long chainstays, full-size frame geometry for a stretched out/relaxed ride (horizontal top tube, handlebar at or above seat level). Those older frames give a lively (although some would say flexy) ride. Not so important if you don't load up. You may need to upgrade a few things, so you have to like tinkering with your bike.

For comparison, I also have a newer Fuji Touring. Very stable and I love it for longer tours, but it's not as fun as the Raleigh for day rides. I have no problem riding it unloaded, however.

If $$$ is no object, how about something like a Rivendell Rambouillet?

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/rambouillet.asp

(but, personally, I would get a retro 80's bike, and fix it up for 1/4 the cost.)

Here's my reply to the same question over on the Clydesdale forum.

I'd start there and look up and down the entire line. The ones I've listed tend to be the less expensive, heavier models. But there are lots of higher level models that would be much lighter.

If you want a confortable bike for day touring, consider a day touring bike. Typically these use long drop caliper brakes to take any tyre up to 32mm and have drop bars set at a higher position than race bikes and come with the relevant braze-ons.
The style is also known as sport road bike, audax, randonee.
It is a bit of a niche product so look at smaller brands.
The IF Club Racer is a nice example. See also Gunnar, Soma, Surly, Marinoni

pick your style
 

This is good advice for sure. I picked this style of bike, then went to LBS. Originally I wanted a SomaSmoothieES, but after I was fitted, it turned out that Soma was the worst fit of all ! We then checked out the GunnarSport, SurlyPacer, Salsa LaRaza, but the Marinoni Ciclo had the very best geometry for my body. We put in the order for the Marinoni, should be here in a few weeks w/CampyVeloce.

So to the original poster I say - pick the style of bike (ie Sport road), but don't get your heart set on one specific model. Get a highly experienced shop to do a proper fit, then scour the publshed geometry charts for the one which fits best. These sport bikes have longer steerer tubes to accomodate higher bar heights (w/o needing 10 headset spacers), slightly longer chainstays (but not as long as fullon tourers) for comfort and stability, the better tire clearance mentioned above, are made of double or triple butted cromoly steel, and usually have rack braze-ons at dropout and seat stays.

If I recall correctly (and I know I posted it in some other thread), mine is about 26 pounds, that's with a brooks B17 saddle, and a Tubus lightweight rack.

Steve W

I'd say about 22-23 lbs (stock). My Fuji weighs in at 25lbs with the rack and fenders

Edit: Ok I was wrong, just went to my LBS next door and weighed a 58cm Volpe - 25.11lbs

Specialized Tricross. Yeah, I'm biased...

That's about 3 lbs heavier than my 58 cm Trek 1000. Just FYI in case anyone else ever stumbles across this thread. Three lbs isn't all that much to me.

I bought a used 1984 Trek 520 on eBay. About 26-28 lbs with racks and fenders, at least it seems to be, based on the bathroom scale subtract your own weight method.

That's either a low measurement, a small frame or really light weight racks.

Axiom fenders, so super light, and just a rear rack. Sorry about the s. :)