Papa Tom

I'm kind of comfortably naive on this subject, as I am not even sure what a touring bike is. My so-called "tours" are pretty much what the OP did (40-50 miles a day for 1-2 days) and I have no complaints about the way my 1996 GT Outpost mountain bike handles them. I've used both 1.5" Nimbus tires and 2.35" Big Apples (both smooth tread) and have enjoyed very comfortable rides.

While out on the road, I do see many touring cyclists zipping by me on much lighter-looking bicycles with a little less luggage on their racks, but I have no envy for them because all I can think is that their rides will be over much faster than mine will. And THEN what?

Pratt

My opinion (worth every cent of what you pad for it) is that the craziness of touring on a bicycle itself is of such a magnitude that issues like the type of bike are really noise level. Riding anything, anywhere is better than writing about anything, anywhere

Digger Goreman

+1

Miele Man

I like hard-tail rigid fork MTBs converted to Drop-bar and bar-end shifters for touring. There are such a choice of tires and 26" tires are available just about everywhere here in Ontario Canada. Plus, by changing to narrow smooth tires you ca ride quite fast on pavement and with the wider knobby tires you can ride rough dirt or gravel roads. Here are three examples of MTBs converted to drop-bar touring bikes.






Cheers

stardognine

Too late, this zombie's alive! 😁😉 I'm currently touring on a 1988 Bianchi Forte (in the middle of that year's MTB lineup), and love it. 😎 One of the best things about it, you can cruise right over those darn rumble strips, on the highways. 👍

mbusky

As Meatloaf should have sung... Good bikes go to blah blah but Mt bikes go everywhere!