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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
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Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.
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If you start looking in Germany at the touring bikes, you will start seeing more Rohloff bikes. They are pretty rare here in the USA. I would not say they are common in Europe, but they are less rare there. When I did my month long tour in Iceland, I saw eight different people touring on a Rohloff bike. But here in USA I almost never see a Rohloff. One of my neighbors is a bike mechanic and he has told me that my Rohloff touring bike is the only Rohloff bike he has ever seen even though he has been working as a bike mechanic for years.
I think you will find that in continental Europe that touring on flat bars is much more common where most bikes sold as touring bikes in USA are fitted with drop bars.
So, there will be some cultural changes when you start looking at touring bikes in Europe.