First touring cycle? £300 to £700 budget

[MichaelM]

Well, a decision is looming. The thoughts I have are like this:

-I'm a little stuck between buying a £400-ish bike now and then something more expensive next year for the Canadian voyage (maybe £1200-1500).

So the thought is there that I should just get something around about £700 to £1000 now and straddle those two extremes.

But wait, I could go for something like the Ridgeback Voyage or Dawes Horizon 2008 models... aargh!

I play electric guitars a lot. I don't go for super-expensive ones as I prefer buying midprice ones and modifying them. I'm already learning that the 'tinkering' factor with cycles is a lot worse than guitars, amps, effect pedals, pickups, strings etc. Cyclists certainly rival guitarists in the anal retentive stakes!

This site has taught me a great deal already in what to look for and what to avoid.

£400 now, then £1200-1500 next year gives an outlay of £1600 to 1900 (you could get a Roberts for that!).

£1000 for the Ridgeback Voyage now is an outlay of £1000 plus you get to ride it for a year!

I'd be looking to buy the best I could (or whatever it was that would satisfy my bikelust) now. What's that saying - buy it cheap, buy it twice....

 

[HeartfeltDawn]

If you're after a tourer in the £700 - £1000 range, i'd also consider the Aravis Super Tourist from Byercycles. I'm ordering one as soon as i've got the readies !!

Thanks for that tip. I'm liking what I'm seeing with Byers on the website.

 

[Baggy]

Are there any bike shops near you that sell tourers, if you try a few it might help narrow the choice down.

I'm another satisfied Dawes Horizon owner, have had mine 6 years now, probably racked up about 12,000 miles, and apart from the saddle and tyres, didn't neet to replace anything for about 3 years. I'd say they're hard to beat for a budget tourer, but if you've got more to spend there are plenty to choose from.

As suggested, secondhand is also a good idea - the ads in the back of Cycling Plus magazine are a good place to start.

 

[HeartfeltDawn]

I've had test cycles on cycles belonging to friends and had lengthy talks with two guys in the office at work who regularly tour. There isn't ahuge plethora of cycle places down here in Wiltshire but I've tried to get to a few and get a feel for things. As said before, I'm a guitarist outside of work and I've come to agree with MichaelM about 'buy cheap = buy it twice'. Seeing some of my midprice guitar amps made using printed circuit boards die and splutter made me seek out handwired guitar amps. I spent time learning about the various makers and eventually learnt about a guy called Denis Cornell who is the British guitar amp equivalent of someone like Paul Hewitt going by what I've read here.

So when it came to finding a bike for longer tours, I thought I'd take the same approach. First, research. Forums like this and CTC have given me so many pointers and things noted down for the future. I've been reading through the Byercycles website and I've fallen in love. I adore the fact that they're not trying to be a webshop. It infuriates me no end to see flashy websites for any type of store that cover over lousy service, so to see a business run by people who clearly are about bicycles first and foremost is great. The Aravis Super Tourist model looks good, the specification looks good from what I've seen on other bikes and the price is good. It looks like it could handle both UK trips, Euro trips and the Canadian voyage too.

Thanks to everyone for all the help

 

[Cathryn]

Where are you from in Wiltshire? I'm a Wiltshire girl...

 

[rich p]

Where are you from in Wiltshire? I'm a Wiltshire girl...

There was a young girl from Devizes
Who had............

 

[HeartfeltDawn]

Where are you from in Wiltshire? I'm a Wiltshire girl...

Currently I'm back in Trowbridge. Born in Portsmouth, spent half my life in Wiltshire with a bit of time in London and three years in Toronto on the CV.

 

[craigwend]

Like others have suggested, try speaking to the folks at SPA they may be able to offer better deals than advertised

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b1s21p0

 

[JCroxton1]

I would suggest chatting with one of the guys at Bike Shed. Their touring bike sale has a few different options that could be suitable.

 

[velovoice]

I would suggest chatting with one of the guys at Bike Shed. Their touring bike sale has a few different options that could be suitable.

This thread is more than 6 years old. And Bike Shed was mentioned at the time...

 

[greekonabike]

This thread is more than 6 years old. And Bike Shed was mentioned at the time...

We never did find out what bike he got.

GOAB

 

[Nigeyy]

I bet he got a bike that is at least six years old

We never did find out what bike he got.

GOAB