henryblowery

I'm thinking about getting a new bike for cummuting and touring. I don't have the money to get a new one so I'm I want to get a used one. I was wandering what to look for in a used touring bike as well as specific makes and models. Thanks.
Gray

MichaelW

Most proper touring bikes make excellent commuters, better than the modern alternatives.
Touring bikes come in various loadcarrying capabilities:
Lightweight for unladen day tours and long rides. Usually fitted with caliper brakes.
Medium/club bikes for a bit of loaded touring but OK unladen. Fitted with MTB style cantelever brakes for more clearance.
Expedition bikes, designed specifically to haul camping loads across continents.

The std US model is the Trek 520 which is at the heavier end of medium and is OK for daily use.
Other brands include Fuji, REI, Jamis, as well as scores of small workshop/custom bikes generally of higher quality and lighter weight than the equivelent factory bike.
Look for: correct size and fit
Crash damage/misalignment/bent frame.
Excessive wear in transmission (teeth having shark's tooth profile)
Most touring bikes are of good quality but 1970s style sports bikes can be rough. A good indicator of quality if you dont know the brand is to look at the grade of lugs and dropouts. More sculptured, moulded components were used on better bikes. Tubeset labels are also good indicators. Chromoly is std, butted is good, Reynolds and Columbus tube brands are good, hi tensile/hi ten is best avoided.

henryblowery

Thanks for the reply I ride about 15 miles a day pluse any extra trips like going to the store ect. I plan on weekend tours in the near future and mabe week long tours in the more distant future. "Look for: correct size and fit" I know the seat should be high enof that your leg is almost extended on the bottom stroke. How do I find the correct fit for the other measurements? And my last question(for now) is what should the frame be made of.
Gray

cooker

If you're getting a used tourer, steel is probably going to be your best bet...it was the standard bike material for 100 years and is cheap, reliable and repairable and there's a lot of good steel tour bikes available second hand. There's been a story quoted lately about a North American who was touring in India and his bike was thrown down from the top of a bus and an eyelet broke off and a local welder fixed it for him...any other material and he would have been toast. From the mid-80's Trek used high quality Reynolds 531 steel on its tour bikes, and that still seems to very respectable
R