Anyone know any bike shops in Alanta area that are touring oriented?

I live in the Dallas area, which is admittedly not the biking Mecca of the universe, but I couldn't hardly find a bike shop locally that carried ANY touring bike when I was shopping for bikes a few years ago. I think the biggest store in the area had a couple of Trek 520's (not in my size), and REI had the Sojourn (but not in my size). To actually see a LHT in the flesh then, I would have had to drive to Austin.

Interesting question... I've been to many many LBS around Atlanta and I can't really recall any of them being touring oriented. Maybe Outback Bikes in Little five and REI are the only ones I can think of. I've seen touring bikes at LBS but hey have been rather Roadie oriented.

One consideration ,
Im at a touring destination, western end of a transcontinental route
and pass through touring from WA down the coast location ,
but most people have their kit when they arrive ,
so the best gear is not bought, so the Mgr wont stock it. repair parts yes,
sometimes they cannibalize a wheel off a bike on the floor to get people back on the road ,

but thats 3 maybe 4 months. out of 12.

touring , the shop people work in the summer , so they dont go out, when the job needs them to stay.

I had to do post working there things to go on tours , but I did get my bike together.

so I cannot say what a touring shop is , REI has bikes and camping-back packing gear

under the same roof ... so that's close..


May I advise, .. decide what you need , and have the shop order it,
if they don't have it in stock when you get there .

Check out... Http://www.ttrbikes.com this is the type of shop...

REI has bikes and camping equipment both. I find that their bike department is highly variable depending on where you are and what time of year it is. For example, in Colorado in the wintertime, the bike business is pretty much dead, so up there it's skis and snowshoes and hiking gear, etc.

I bought my tandem from a shop up north of here. It is not a "tandem shop" at all, but I knew the owner rode a tandem all the time, and he was in a position to recommend what tandem to buy, etc. The shop a mile from my house is a nice enough bike shop, but they seldom if ever see tandems, so they couldn't begin to tell me what kind to buy. So finding some local people that tour might be a start.

In shopping for my Sojourn, I did find that Surly does not have "preferred dealers", so any dealer can order them if you're content to buy one site unseen, for what that is worth. At that time, their web page did show the dealers who actually had some stock and stuff, and that might be one place to look.

I have never been to a brick-and-mortar shop anywhere that was touring oriented. Unfortunately, your best bet is to order gear on-line. You can also support your local bike shop and special order gear, but in my experience that ends up costing a lot more money and taking more time with less selection. Here are some good on-line shops for touring gear:

https://www.thetouringstore.com/
https://www.rivbike.com/
https://www.rei.com/
https://www.adventurecycling.org/

The REI downtown in Atlanta usually has a few touring bikes in March, when I bought mine and my daughter's. One year they had the house brand Randonee and the (late, lamented) Cannondale Touring. They may have the LHT or Crosscheck, or the Raleigh (Sojourn?) next year. The Jamis dealer south of downtown may have an Aurora in stock in the same time frame.

As an aside, many bike shops will have touring bikes come in March, and when they sell them, they're done.

REI usually has fenders, racks and panniers. Make sure what you buy will go together; I had to do surgery on my daughter's panniers to make them (sorta) fit the racks she bought. Anything you buy from Wayne at thetouringstore.com will work together, or he'll let you know.

Having put a bunch of miles on the Sojourn, I would say it is a touring-styled bicycle. I say this due to the rear wheel falling apart after 4,400 miles. So I've got 30,000+ miles on it now, but that's with replacement wheels. REI had them on sale in the fall, I saw them at the store, but they didn't have any in my size- but my local bike shop was a Raleigh dealer and was able to match REI's price okay.

One of the local bike shops was a Jamis dealer, but as best I could tell, they didn't have a single Jamis bike, touring or not, in stock when I visited.

The "big" store that had the Trek 520's 3 or 4 years ago had a couple of LHT a while back when I was in there, I doubt they had my size, still, but it was closer. They probably had a couple of hundred road bikes, but it tends to be 20 of this kind and 30 of that, not a 100 different bikes, so selection isn't really all that great even there.

Anyway, don't be surprised if you have to special-order something sight-unseen, it's not ideal, but it happens.

Depends on what you're looking for. I was in the I-85 REI the other day and they have Novara Safari's and Randonee's in stock as well panniers and racks and most other bike equipment. They also have a well stocked camping section. Bike South on N Decatur at Claiborne sells Surly and had some LHTs in stock when I was in there a year ago. Outback might be another good choice but I haven't been there is years.

mike

There are none that I have found. What I did was decided on the bike I wanted (Trek 520) and went to a store that carried that brand and had them order it. Everything else I bought here and there from REI and other places on the web.

Are you looking for a touring bike or gear? If looking for a bike, I would consider ordering frame and having a local bike shop build it for you. That is what I did and I don't think it cost that much more than a pre-built touring bike, and I was able to choose all of the components to my specifications. Fortunately, I have a LBS that doesn't mind me providing some of the parts, so I was able to save a lot of money by buying quality used parts or sale items on line. I also had parts left over from other bikes. My LBS also built my wheels, which are a critical component for touring bikes and often skimped on with pre-built bikes.

I ordered my touring frame and fork (World Tour model) directly from Bob Jackson in England during a time when the dollar had gained a lot of value vs the Pound, so I got a great price. They are more expensive now and there are better options available in the US, such as the Soma Saga and Velo Orange Campeur. If you get lucky, you might also find a good deal on used touring frames.