Need a touring bike, but don't know which to buy

[Amshaegar]

I did the Yorkshire Dales cycle route (around 130 miles in 3 days) on an MTB with a rucksack on my back (this ride was.... ineffable) and want to do the ride again, but do it with the right bike as I plan on riding the 110 miles from my house to the start of the route, do the loop, then back again. So all in all around 350 miles.

None of the 3 local bike shops in my town have any touring bikes, so I have been looking online, but don't know what to look for. Please can you recommend a sub £1000 touring bike.

I have been riding MTB for many years and never had a road bike. The frame size and wheels are different so I am worried I will buy the wrong size bike for my size. For example i was looking at the Jamis Aruora 2013 Touring bike, but the smallest frame size they have is 53cm and 700c wheels, but my MTB is a 17" (43cm) frame with 26" inch wheels, so will this bike be far too big for me?

Please help I am confused about frame sizing on road/touring. If the frames and wheels are much bigger, will I need a ladder to get on a touring bike???


Thanks for your time and patience.

 

[vernon]

Mountain bike frames are usually smaller than road bike frames to avoid you bashing your rocks while you are bashing your bike on the rocks.

An old style way of getting a rough and ready frame size was to take ten inches off your inside leg measurement.

Have a look at if you want a decent tourer for under £1000, you can spend as little as £500 on something that will do the job competently

Raleigh Royale, Gran Tour and Sojourn cover a price range from about £500 - £1000
Edinburgh Bike Co-operative do a range of tourers with your budget
Decathlon have a tourer/hybrid called the Riverside at £600 and has a surprisingly high specification including hub dynamo lighting and hydraulic rim brakes

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I don't know the Jamis Aurora but the bottom bracket on my tourer is noticeably lower than on my road bike. I believe the idea is to keep the centre of gravity lower. This means that the saddle is less up in the sky.

 

[Lee_M]

as above, the sizes between mtb and roadbikes dont correlate, so dont worry about that

700c is the standard road wheel too so that's what you'll get on everything.

Also, do you really mean a tourer - ie with fittings for panniers etc, or do you mean a road bike for doing long distance one

 

[Amshaegar]

Thanks for the replys .

To answer Lee_M: A proper tourer with panniers etc would be better, carrying all my gear in a rucksack was not good for my shoulders and back!

 

[Lee_M]

best bet is to go out and try some. everyone is different.

I'm 6' 3" and have a roadie with a 62cm frame, but I know others of similar size are happy with a 58 etc etc

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

I did the Yorkshire Dales cycle route (around 130 miles in 3 days) on an MTB with a rucksack on my back (this ride was.... ineffable) and want to do the ride again, but do it with the right bike as I plan on riding the 110 miles from my house to the start of the route, do the loop, then back again. So all in all around 350 miles.

None of the 3 local bike shops in my town have any touring bikes, so I have been looking online, but don't know what to look for. Please can you recommend a sub £1000 touring bike.

I.

I love my Ridgeback Voyage, a wonderful mile muncher.

 

[oldfatfool]

I have Ridgeback Panorama, solid and dependable nice to ride over distance, last years model can be had for a very bargenous sub £1k http://www.ukbikesdepot.com/m115b109s860p7055/RIDGEBACK_2012_Panorama_2012/RS_GB/20455

 

[Nigeyy]

I did the Dales fully (read: heavily!) loaded about 4 years ago on an old early 1990's Specialized Hardrock mtb. Rear and front racks, slick tyres with trekking bars. Personally given the terrain (it is a bit hilly in places isn't it?) I thought it was a good choice particularly given the mtb gearing. I didn't find I needed (nor wanted) a purpose built tourer for that tour.

Some words of caution though with purpose tourers: you may not need (or want) the bigger wheel size (some bikes with 700c wheels will give shorter riders toe overlap -and I just can't get on with that.) Also keep in mind the addition of mudguards will definitely reduce the distance between your toes and mudguard potentially causing overlap when turning even if there is none without mudguards. And if you are doing that Dales ride again, I'm sure you are aware of how important appropriate gear ratios are (which can be a problem with some touring bikes as they tend to have more road like gearing). Choose carefully and know what you want up front.

Lastly, have you considered turning your mtb into a tourer? Don't get me wrong, it may not be the perfect solution, but it will probably be the cheapest, and if you think you are going to go on very few tours, this might be a very good way to save money. Assuming your frame has a rigid fork (makes for much easier cycling), rack eyelets (and even then you can use p-clips if it hasn't) an older style mtb can be converted to quite a functional touring bike, even as far as switching out to trekking bars for relatively little cost as you can use the same gear shifters.

Good luck -those Yorkshire Dales make for a great tour!

FYI: of course it depends on the bikes, but generally speaking a ~17inch mtb is equivalent to a ~52-54cm road bike (don't anyone shoot me here as I realize this isn't always true, but this has been a good generalization for me). Mtb bikes are usually a different design (e.g. can have a shorter seat tube) and hence measurements for the approximately same fitting bike can be quite different.

 

[Nigeyy]

I've found touring bikes don't necessarily come equipped with mudguards (course, could be this side of the atlantic, but I thought it was worth mentioning this as you might buy a bike without mudguards, fit the mudguards, then find out....). Additionally, even if they are equipped doesn't necessarily mean toe overlap isn't a problem -it depends on the bike itself (though on a test ride, I'm sure this becomes readily apparent when you try to pull out of a junction). FYI, some people don't find toe overlap to be an issue at all, I'm just not one of them! With 700c size wheels, mudguards, feet size and shorter people, toe overlap can be an issue -just depends on the bike and geometry.

You're right about my gearing comment, I should have been clearer. What I meant to say is that touring bikes will usually not have a gear ratio as low as mtbs -after all, they are designed to be used more on the road not going up some steep, steep muddy hill. But for the Dales and very steep hilly tours, I'd definitely recommend more mtb style gearing (when you need those shorter gear ratios, you need 'em!). I think it's not so much the range of gears, it's the usable ratios you have for your application. Again, horses for courses, but I ran mtb style gearing where I definitely(!) used my lowest gear, and I think a cadence of ~95 in my tallest gear equated to ~21mph. Since I could never keep a 20mph average speed touring unless it was all downhill, I was quite content to freewheel down the big hills and attempt 20mph on the flats. I never did miss the big ratios.

So what am I saying? Assuming you are carrying a bit of weight in the form of tents, sleeping bag, stove, etc, if you're doing a very steep hilly tour, I'd recommend a very low ratio (usually won't come with a stock touring bike). However if you're doing a flat or even hilly tour with less steep hills, usually the gear ratios that come with a touring bike will be fine (and even more road like gear ratios may do for a very flat tour).

Nigeyy, sorry but your post has baffled me a bit. I'm looking for a 'touring bike' too - and am also finding the market a bit confusing . But surely a proper 'touring' bike comes with mudguards and doesn't need them 'added'? I have also noticed that purpose-built touring bikes for smaller (generally female) riders like me are designed and set up to avoid the toe overlap problem. And your comment about 'road like gearing' is confusing too - I understood that touring bikes will automatically have a wider range of gears, usually with a triple chainring, whereas a road bike will have a completely different setup - compact doubles, no ultra-low gears et al.

 

[rich p]

Nigeyy, sorry but your post has baffled me a bit. I'm looking for a 'touring bike' too - and am also finding the market a bit confusing . But surely a proper 'touring' bike comes with mudguards and doesn't need them 'added'? I have also noticed that purpose-built touring bikes for smaller (generally female) riders like me are designed and set up to avoid the toe overlap problem. And your comment about 'road like gearing' is confusing too - I understood that touring bikes will automatically have a wider range of gears, usually with a triple chainring, whereas a road bike will have a completely different setup - compact doubles, no ultra-low gears et al.

TMN, Terry never found an off the shelf touring bike that fitted her properly (she's 5'0") and ended getting one custom built.

 

[oldfatfool]

On the otherhand a dedicated tourer will have a longer wheelbase that avoids toe overlap and has longer chainstays to avoid heel slap on panniers. An advantage over mtb will be narrower road tyres especially when lugging a good bit of weight around, of course if you are planning on touring off road/ off trail then an mtb or hybrid is a better option.

Not sure touring you would need lower than 26x32 (as fitted as std to the ridgeback), I fretted over mine ( as I was touring in the alps and pyrenees with 40kg+ inc bike) and altered the inner ring to a 22 mated with a 34 cassette and never used it, in fact I would go as far as to say that if you needed a gear so low then you would be either spinning so fast or traveling so slow that on a fully loaded bike it would be so unstable as to be unsafe.

 

[rich p]

Sorry for the temporary thread hijack but this is her bike..
http://www.villiers-velo.co.uk/

it took about 6 weeks from start to finish.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Sorry for the temporary thread hijack but this is her bike..
http://www.villiers-velo.co.uk/

it took about 6 weeks from start to finish.

And that is one glorious looking bike, a head-turner!

On the low gearing question, I've got a 22-36 and I've used it without any stability issues. Keeping the pedals turning at 3mph seems to keep things balanced. I spin out at around 4.5 mph, though!

 

[rich p]

FWIW TMN, She has always found road bikes to suit her height and frame but none of the off-the-peg tourers. But, she may have a different frame geometry to you!