lilmouse85

Hi! So all of my hopes have been dashed today, because I cannot use the awesome '79 Schwinn Traveler that I got for free as a touring bike. According to the bike shop, the bike is basically good as a one speed, and that's about it (unless I want to spend $3 - 400 on it, which doesn't really make sense to me).
So anyway, I am looking to the smart folks on BikeForums to make some suggestions of bikes that I can get on the cheap (I can spend up to $400 - it just doesn't make sense to me to fix up the really cool, but mostly crappy bike for that amount). I'm thinking of buying it off ebay, but I just sorta got onto the idea of touring, and I have no idea what a good bike would be to do that with.

Thanks!

tuz

Building up a bike on the cheap needs experience in bike mechanics, used bikes stores, and a fair amount of luck (though classified ads or garage sales).

For self-sufficient-do-it-all touring you more or less need a specialized touring bike with braze-ons, low gears, tire clearance etc... At 400$ you'll need luck to get one. Classified and garage sale are your friends.

For lighter touring on flat(ish) you can get away with a road bike from the late 70's early 80's like your Schwinn, which are ubiquitous. But... you'll need to tune it up, adjust your position on it, maybe switch wheels (from 27" to 700c), change gears...

It depends on what type of touring you want to do, your local used bicycle market, and your knowledge of bikes. Maybe you can be a bit more precise.