In article <
[email protected]>,
"Zix" <
[email protected]> wrote:
> >The difference between a light touring bike and a fairly typical race
> bike is not a lot.
>
> Which light touring bikes would you recommend?
Well...I'm really cheap, and I've never been in the market for a really
nice light touring bike. So my first instinct is to say this:
"The best price-performance on a light touring bike is to spend a
$100-200 on the fanciest touring bike you can find that was built in
1982."
I more or less live that advice: my standard commuter is a rather odd
Japanese-made "Bianchi" from the early 1980s, found at a garage sale for
$10. My father rides my previous commuter, a 1970s Mikado tourer.
But that's probably not the advice you're looking for. My only other
experience is with race bikes, where I just went and bought what I could
find in my size on eBay. It works.
Your needs are, frankly, so easily met that there's a vast number of
bikes that would fulfill them. Your bike will be carrying, what, 20
pounds more stuff than your own body weight, which is not really into
the realm of touring loads.
My general recommendations would be to eschew boutique wheels for
boring, conservative 28-36 spoke wheels, and then go find a nice bike
shop and purchase a bicycle which is within your budget, makes you smile
when you look at it, and isn't stupid-light in any of its componentry.
Picking a manufacturer at random from the sponsor logos on my team
jersey, I'd look at Cannondale's Synapse (their new carbon fibre
"century ride" frame) with the caveat that it is afflicted with
16/20-spoke Shimano wheels, which seems unnecessarily radical for a
light touring bike. See if your dealer will swap you for some nice
boring wheels with more spokes.
Like I say, I'm bike-agnostic. If you had the money and the time,
Richard Sachs or about a hundred other makers will build you a custom
frame, and that's lovely. Mark Hickey does simple, inexpensive titanium
frames in either off-the-shelf or custom geometry: a friend has one as a
race bike, and loves it.
> >What happens to your touring plans if it rains?
>
> I'd stay at the hostel an extra day. My idea of a good ride
> is one without rain. Maybe British riders don't have the luxury.
> Although I do wonder if any British inventor has yet devised
> an umbrella for a bicycle.
>
> Re bags, I agree a large saddle bag would be sufficient,
> such as this one:
> http://carradice.co.uk/saddlebags/cadet-saddlebag.shtml
>
> Thanks for the links.
--
Ryan Cousineau
[email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos