Originally Posted by
biker3c086e24
I'm looking for recommendations on touring bikes, but with some unusual requirements.
I live in the San Francisco Bay area, and I do a lot of few-day tours with a lot of elevation gain. A typical day on these trips might have 7-9,000 feet of elevation gain over 80-100 miles. From what I can tell, "touring bikes" tend to be built for long but not particularly steep rides, where sturdiness matters more than weight. Because of the kind of riding I do, I'd really like something sturdy enough but also light so that it doesn't kill me on hills. I recently had to cut a trip short because my knee was acting up, and climbing thousands of feet on my clunky 25lb bike was definitely partly to blame.
Is there anything out there that is good for touring - comfortable to ride, sturdy enough to take a beating - but also light enough, sporty enough, and with nice enough parts to make it doable to do lots of hills? If it helps, my budget is in the $1-2,000 range and maybe a bit more if need be. Thanks for any advice!
others have piped in with the "touring bike basics 101 tutorial" concerning their weight, gearing etc
but here is the real thing, you are at the age I tried out touring, many moons ago, and saying that your knee bothered you after riding 160km and climbing 2700meters in a day is like saying that for some reason, your forehead hurts after repeatedly hitting yourself there with a 2x4.
--thats a crapload of distance and a crapload of climbing
to make this kinda short, touring is how you want to do it, but making sure your bike fits you properly and setup is good is super important. Gonzo distances and climbing per day is one thing, but as said, any bike fit issue, and or fitness, and or this and that, will show up with long days.
and the main thing is that touring with stuff just plain means that you arent going to be going as fast, or as far, but you'll still be working hard.
and yes, touring bikes have low gearing, and this allows us to go up long hills and not overstress or overtorque our knees.
to be the stereotypical old guy here, we all did what you did, overdid it and had sore knees. Lower gearing and learning to pace it and do reasonable distances only comes from overdoing it at some point, so yes, your bike is not geared for "touring", not with a 50/34 and 11-30t, but there are lots of touring bikes out there with better gearing.
up to you if you want to try them, but setting lower goals for distance and not comparing yourself to someone else is important.
but ride your own ride, there is no clear answer here.