italcyclist

Good day, everyone:
I am considering riding from Texas to California on my vintage,
chromoly steel - frame sport touring bicycle. It has a lugged frame and it is in very good condition minus a few scratches that I covered using touch - up paint. The the reason I'd like to use it instead of my 2010 commuter hybrid is because it is a very comfortable, and fast bike. A friend, bike wrench and former owner of a LBS said the hybrid would be a fine bike to ride cross country. Another reason I am thinking of the vintage road bike as opposed to my hybrid is because it has an aluminum frame.
I have done a fair amount of research, and I have found the bicycle tourists have use both steel - frame bikes, and aluminum - frame bikes. So, I am in a quandry as to what to choose.
Does anyone have any advice that was garnered from personal experience?:

fietsbob

'Touring' is sitting on the saddle and turning the pedals for a few weeks.

any bike that you are comfortable on is OK..

Strip it down , lube and replace old worn parts, put some strong racks on ..

My Koga World Tour Frame is Aluminum, people have already ridden those
on all continents, but Antarctica.

Oregon Coast sees hundreds of people on all sorts of bikes,
touring and having a good time..

Machka 

What's the brand name of the bicycle?

LeeG

personal experience of others isn't applicable to your unspecified bikes and unspecified loads. Don't be in a quandary. Load up each bike and take it for a test ride. The answer is right there.

italcyclist

My vintage road bicycle is a Maruishi RX - 7 Sport.

italcyclist

Machka:
My vintage Japanese road bicycle is a Maruishi RX-7 Sport. My commuter is a GT Transeo which my friend, bicycle wrench and former bicycle shop owner Mike said will make a dandy touring bicycle.

shipwreck

I have done some tours on older roadbikes than yours(including my Maruishi! Not as nice a bike as yours but one of my favorites). My first tour was on an old motobecane that had nothing like touring gears, and it was the hardest thing I had ever done. Only three hundred miles, but I learned a lot about hills, loads, and walking


Stock gearing is a pain. I only take bikes like these on fast ultra light summer tours, self supported but with no racks or panniers, just seat and bar bags. Most of my older steel bikes are converted to triples, which can be expensive. But at the end of a long day when the campground is at the top of a huge hill, your low on water, hungry, tired, and there is a headwind, lower gears are kind of nice.

The Gt is something that I know little about, other than a quick google search, that told me that the front fork has a lockout, and that would be a good thing. If this is your very first tour, I would suggest the GT. Get some bar ends for more hand positions.

BUT, the suggestion that you try it with both bikes is a good one. Try a weekend or overnighter with everything you think that you might need, pick a route with lots of hills. You can never have to many miles under your belt before a tour, so this is a good idea for lots of reasons.

Another option is to keep your eye out on craiglist for a older tourer. Sometimes you can get an older one that has low miles and needs little work.

Machka 

I thought it might be a Maruishi. I used to have one.

irwin7638

I've used my '87 Trek 560 for several trips. The only real drawback is the tire size. Mine will only accomodate 28 mm tires without fenders. Both larger tires and fenders would be more comfortable. If I did it again,I would pull a trailer rather than load the bike.

Marc

LeeG

old road wheels and 28mm tires. Most of my touring was on a similar bike with less than 15lbs of gear and I weighed 145lbs. I didn't carry a tent or gear for cooking food. If these are 30yr old wheels I'd replace them, put low riders on the front, use small front panniers, top of rear rack for tend and bag, keep the total weight under 25lbs.

If you're a heavy person thinking of carrying a heavy load, get a touring bike.