View Single Post
Old 03-04-15, 09:13 AM
  #14  
Darth Lefty 
Disco Infiltrator
 
Darth Lefty's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Folsom CA
Posts: 13,775

Bikes: Stormchaser, Paramount, Tilt, Samba tandem

Mentioned: 72 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3126 Post(s)
Liked 2,102 Times in 1,366 Posts
Originally Posted by Craptacular8
They were suggesting doing a custom build so that I would get the triple with a granny gear that I want/need. What exactly do you mean by other bikes being available that are "more normal?".

My LBS carries All-City, Surly, and Salsa. The All-City seemed cheaper in price to me than Salsa, and similar to Surly. They are also supposedly a GT dealer, but had none on the floor, and did not recommend them to me for my purposes.
It's a touring bike frame. It has many specific features as such, including cantilever brakes, large fender and tire clearance, rack mounts front and rear, extra eyelets at the rear, double bottle mounts, and long wheelbase. It's going to be a little heavy because it's well built to carry those loads. But then they've chosen to build it up with full Tiagra shifters and compact double drivetrain, which are medium-duty road bike parts; where a touring bike would normally have a smaller triple crankset, which will give you more time in the middle ring and a lower granny (26-32 rather than 34-30), bar-end shifters that are simpler and perhaps easier to fix or bodge on tour, and some heavy duty mountain bike parts, like hubs and derailleurs. Here for example is the venerable Trek 520 kitted out this way (and also ~$280 less), and you'll find the Surly LHT is similar.

The OP's and your stated need is "fair weather commuter, road bike, light tourer." What features do you need for this? Do you need fat tires and fenders both, are you likely to buy all five or six bags? The frame adds a pound, fat tires add a pound, fenders probably add a pound. Some people complain touring bikes don't ride properly without a load. I think I'd put a saddlebag or a rear rack on a sport touring bike, of which the brands you mention include Surly Pacer and All City Mr. Pink. The result would be a lot lighter and livelier. There also is the "cross commuter" category as well like the Cross Check, which also now often have disk brakes instead of cantilever, like the Straggler. Incidentally these are all different brands from the same company, QBP, which explains why your shop carries them; although that does not render their differences invalid. They are thoughtfully designed by different individuals. Because they are sort of following a fashion branding model, you can sometimes find similar bikes from discounters with ripped-off design for a lot less. Just as an example the Fantom CXX is much like but a lot less than a Cross Check; and Giant would like to sell you an Anyroad. If you wanted to go mainstream there are a ton of aluminum bikes in this price range that are quite zippy. My coworker has a Giant TCR (the Defy is similar but more relaxed) and I've test ridden a Cannondale Synapse and there are a bunch of others.
__________________
Genesis 49:16-17

Last edited by Darth Lefty; 03-04-15 at 09:16 AM.
Darth Lefty is offline