Hannah22

Hello friends,

So I am looking to buy a new / new to me touring bike. I am pretty unexperienced and I'm not sure where to start. After some training, my touring plan is to head down the California coast, and if all goes well, just keep it going. Any advice you guys could have for me, I would really appreciate it. So far what I've gathered is that wheels and tires will be the most important thing for me. I have also decided to use panniers and not a trailer. But I don't want one of those "extra long" bikes. I'm not sure if it would be more in my interest to buy a lower priced frame and then pay more for a new wheel set and tires or if that wouldn't be worth it? I also prefer drop bars. More than anything, I just am looking for a simple frame and a strong bike that I can get a good connection with.
A little more info:
Price range: around 1,000$ (not including panniers)
How much I plan to carry: 30-40 lbs, (13-18 kilos)
My height: 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm.)

I currently ride a (POS) raleigh... but it's fun

Thank you !

bradtx

Hannah22, Welcome to the forum.

Looking from a budget stand point: Save up to 60% off Road Bikes, Free Ship 48, Schwinn, GT, Kestrel, Fuji, Motobecane and more Road bikes. Authorized dealer for Schwinn, GT, Kestrel, Fuji, Motobecane, Mercier, Gravity, Dawes road bikes. Shimano Carbon Road Bikes, Titanium Road Bikes, . The Motobecane GT has gearing more suited to touring than the Windsor Tourists. Both will need to be finished by yourself, a bike shop or yourself with co-op help. To meet a price point the wheels are not human finished and will require re-tensioning and re-truing. From the experiences of others, they'll be fine after that.

The Randonee is a very good LBS available bike, but will push your budget. Big plus is fit because you can actually test ride an example, besides being already assembled. Novara Randonee Bike - 2015 - REI.com .

Brad

staehpj1

We rode three of the Windsor Touring model on our Trans America and a couple other long tours and liked them pretty well. I looked forward to seeing the Grand Touring, but for me the GT was a bit of a disappointment because I hate bar end shifters. It looks like they upgraded the wheels and gearing though which is nice. We swapped out the cranks on our WT's and that took us up to the price of a GT.

I agree that REI is a nice source for bikes and when they have the 20% off sale it often includes bikes so the price can be in your range.

Unless the newer model Fuji has changed, the Fuji Touring looked like essentially the same bike as the Windsor Touring. When I compared them side by side I couldn't see any real differences. So the Fuji might be another option and also if you test ride a Fuji and like it you can probably assume the WT would be OK in the same size.

bud16415

I see Bikes Direct now has two versions of the Windsor Tourist now. I have the $600 one and I feel it’s a great value for a touring bike and like mentioned above it will need gone over by a good mechanic before hitting the road. I have never had any issue with getting my local shop to work on mine. I would talk to my shop first if you buy a bike on line and ask them what they would charge to have you bring them the bike and have them go over the wheels tension and true as required lube and adjust the bike and fit you to it. I found the Windsor lacking some in gears for my liking and depending on what’s right for you. You might consider a smaller granny gear I went down to a 24t from the 30 I also went to a larger cassette with a 12-36. Others find the gearing fine the way it is. That all boils down to how much load you will have how strong you are for hills and how big the climbs are. Others have replaced the crank with a Mtn Bike crank to get some really nice low gearing. That’s a fairly inexpensive change and one you could easily swap back if you found you liked road gears better. It comes with a rear rack that’s held up ok for me.

mdilthey

Used is a good market if you're patient. After a month of searching with my ex-girlfriend, we found a Jamis Aurora, fully loaded with racks, fenders, touring tires, etc. for just $550. That bike would have been $1500 new.

My girlfriend, Kelley, has a 90's mountain bike. All steel frame, comfy geometry, sturdy components. All of her parts are Shimano XT, which is good stuff. We payed $200 for it and had plenty left over for some touring tires and a new non-suspension fork, so total cost was about $300-350.

So, I'd say, look at your local shops and craigslist for a deal, do some research, and enlist experts (or, this forum) for a second opinion. You might save enough on the bike to get some more trip gear like panniers, tent, etc.

Lou Skannon

Three words: Local Bike Shop. Internet might be great on price but you buy unseen then have hassles if things aren't right. Find a local bike shop with a big stock of bikes, sit on a few, tell them what you want it for, get the right size and have a place where you can go back to.

Wilfred Laurier

The most important aspect of selecting a bike is fit. How the bike fits you makes a bigger difference than 'touring specific' layout or intent.

My first thought was if you have a bike that fits, see what it would take to get it tour-worthy - new wheels, a trekking bar, headset and bottom bracket overhaul, new cassette...

But if your Raleigh really is old and crappy, bringing it up to a reasonable standard might mean replacing every moving part on the bike.

For new bikes, since you are small you probably don't need a 'touring' specific bike like a Trek 520 or Surly Long Haul Trucker. A sturdy cyclocross bike or rigid mountain bike (depending on if you want drop handlebars or flat bars) should work fine. The main advantage of touring bikes is that they have a longer rear end (just longer by an inch or two - not super long like X-tracycles that I think you were referring to) so large feet don't hit panniers on the rear rack.

LeeG

Hanna, the choice of bike will involve less work than getting a general sense how everything works on the bike and how to maintain it. Don't bother assembling a bike from parts, get something new in your budget, get familiar with adjusting seat/stem position. Get familiar with removing wheels, adjusting brakes and repairing and replacing tubes. There might be 26" wheel bikes that fit well but off the top of my head the Novara Randonee on sale looks like a good choice.

Ditto the local bike shop so you can bring it back for a tuneup but also so you can bring it in for a tuneup after a few rides fully loaded. Things that seem fine unloaded might change with a load. See if you set your bike up with one set of panniers before getting fixed on two sets and the kitchen sink.

fietsbob

Have you found a favorite bike shop in Seattle ?

check out REI too..


they will charge a fee, but a bike shop can finish the assembly and tune one of those Bikes Direct things .

but any warrantee issues you have to deal with BD, thats their game, they skip any dealerships. no test rides before buying them.

pdlamb

The REI Randonee will be near your price target when they have their 20% off sale next month. You might also want to test ride the Safari. While you're in Seattle, see what the bike shops have for touring and test ride those bikes. Buy what you want to ride.

Unless you've got a very good LBS / mechanic, it's probably worth the extra money to buy new (IMHO). Buy soon enough that you can ride around town for a month or more to make sure everything is mechanically sound before you take off.

p nut

A local bike shop of mine sold a Surly Long Haul Trucker last year, with rear rack/Ortieb Panniers.........for $900. Brand new. Customer ordered it, but ended up getting something else. Try not to get wrapped up in the online price wars and check out your local shop. There are intagiable benefits to shopping locally.

bigredkevbot

Agreed. Also, if you're hauling for miles and miles, fit will be key. Incidentally, that's some beautiful riding, so get something that you can enjoy riding as well! I think you can get a Trek 520 for something along those line. My bike is a little over that price range. Salsa (owned by QBP - same parent company as Surly) also makes some awesome touring bikes to check out with the Vayas.

mdilthey

If you can shift your budget and pour another $100-200 into your bike fund, do it. I'm not saying you can't get a great bike with the budget you have, but I never, ever regretted spending too much on a bike and I've definitely gazed wistfully at bikes I might've purchased if I had pushed my budget a little.

My first bike was $900 and I rode it for thousands of miles, and crashed it a few times, and still use it as a commuter. But the one I spent a bit more on, with nicer components and wheels and frame- that's my baby. It's a joy to ride.

Ron Harry

As time passes, my opinions change; since I've been perusing the touring market lately, here's some more thoughts of another cyclist [me].
Bike fit is very important of course, but what are we talking about here? I mean, we have an option in a given frame of a few 'cm'...say 52 cm or 54cm or 56cm etc. I've found, at least for me, once I KNOW what 'equivalent top tube' length works 'best' for me, that's all the info I need really on deciding what size 'frame' I'm going to buy. SO, all this talk about bike fit...after the 'frame size' is purchased, one can always adjust things like saddle height or handlebar stem etc. Bike shops make much ado about 'bike fit', but the only real 'material' option in the purchase itself is the frame size. All else can be adjusted 'after the fact'...and most likely will be an ongoing thing anyway [for me it has been anyway].

Next, I am finding on my own purchase, one of the biggest decisions I wish I had put more thought into, was if I wanted STI shifting or bar end shifters. The argument I always heard is that most 'touring' bikes offer the bar ends because if 'STI's' break down on the road, they are near impossible to repair. But here's the caveat to that...I personally have never ever heard of STI shifters 'breaking down'...ever. Oh, I'm sure there are cases, but how often does that happen? I'd personally think something going wrong with the bottom bracket, wheels, tires, rims, spokes...would far more likely to spoil my trip than STI's breaking down.

And, at least for me, the difference in the 'ride' between bar end shifting and STI's are like 'night and day'. STI's are far more 'functional' where one can 'fine tune' on an ongoing basis, while with bar ends, again at least for me, it is like I'm only 'coarse' adjusting all the time...getting the gears 'close' but not 'finessed' for each small hill, bump, or slump in the road as I go. I much prefer the STI's...and it's probably the major reason I find myself passing up my Surly LHT to take out one of my road bikes for my daily ride [not touring].

If I had to do over again, I think I would concentrate on finding the STI equipped tour bike, such as the Jamis Aurora perhaps...albeit, most tour bikes I came across now are outfitted with the 'bar ends' [including the Navara Radonnee..which is nice bike BTW at REI].

Which brings me to the next point...that apparently there are different levels of 'touring' and the designs. Epic world travel that involves thousands of miles, perhaps into exotic lands...well things like bar ends make sense then, as 'break downs' would mean relying on what's available [and if out in the boonies somewhere or desert or wherever, the 'bar ends' are still operational via friction for example [if the indexing breaks down for some reason].

Thinks like a few weeks down the California coast, or even doing the 'trans am' though, well, it's not like being in the middle of the jungle most of the way. My point is that much ado is made out of 'self sufficiency' which of course is good of course, but it remains exactly where you plan to travel whether you want a bike, say like the Windsor Tourist offered on Bikesdirect, which would be fine for extended trips through the civilized world [per se, ie like America, Europe etc], or something 'grander' and more than your budget [like Raleigh Sojourner or Koga-Miyata Traveller etc].

I myself, decided on the Surly Long Haul Trucker because of it's excellent reputation [could not find a single bad review on that bike, anywhere; cost as $1230 for me, a bit more than you said you've allotted]. I've yet to take it on tour [I toured what I thought was a lot when younger, but these days, sheese, some of these guys are putting in tens of thousands of miles for years on end, sheese, ha].

Finally, I did purchase a titanium bike from bikesdirect a few years ago now, and I had excellent luck. It is a bit of risk buying something over the internet, but I knew that 'equivalent top tube length' I wanted, and my bike 'fit' me perfectly [after I adjusted some things like saddle, bars etc]. There was very little assembly to do or adjustment [derailer stops were already tuned in for instance]. A titanium bike by other well known builders, like Merlin, Litespeed, or Lynsky would have cost DOUBLE what bikesdirect cost was. I'm not here to hawk bikesdirect, but just offering that I had a very good experience that saved me a LOT OF MONEY [something like $2000 saved]. But you need to know the size bike that best 'fits' you beforehand...and that's a risk [buying in the dark like that].

That Windsor touring bike they offer was very appealing to me since it had the STI's and was very low cost...but I decided on the surly anyway. Originally, I was thinking about buying custom wheels [the most important thing on the bike IMHO...the difference between a good ride with no problem or...well not so good]...and put them on the BD Windsor. I'm sure I'll learn to love the surly though once I actually get a few trips under my belt. Not sure if any of this helps; WHEELS are very important [all my road bikes wheels, once tensioned or custom made, have given me no problems whatsoever for years now...nada] [I've had excellent luck through Bicycle Wheel Warehouse, sometimes advertised around here for wheels...at a reasonable cost, though their options have tailed off].

I know I had narrowed my choices to the Jamis Aurora, REI Navara Randonee, Bikesdirect Windsor Tourist, and the Surly LHT [all of these at a little more budget than you expressed but ballpark]. That Navara Randonee looked like an excellent buy, given the components it offered [and apparently they discount it every so often down into the range you specified, $1000 or less]. The Windsor looked like the best 'value' [at $600 or so, well within your budget...but note the wheels]. The wheels I was looking at offered at BWWarehouse cost me $560...and are depicted as 'touring' [but I ran into some confusion on these too, so better check more thoroughly than I did].

Good luck.