Originally Posted by
Doug64
My daughter is 4' 11", and rides a 42 cm Surly Long Haul Trucker. It is almost on the short side for her. If you go to new bike, the LHT would be another option. She toured thousands of mile on her's including 2 months in Europe.
Nice, I have a 42cm Surly Pack Rat but I've heard great things about the LHT!
Originally Posted by
staehpj1
A lot will depend on how heavy or light you will pack, but if you are fairly light weight and pack light the wheels may be okay. You will want some lowish gears, not necessarily as low as some here will tell you, but you will be crossing mountain ranges if you ride across the country.
Choice of baggage can vary widely depending on how much you carry. If you will be carrying 40-50 pounds of stuff you will likely want 4 panniers. For 10-20 pounds of gear you can get by with some pretty minimmal baggage. And yes you can travel for months on that light of a gear load.
I suggest thinking about how what/how much you will carry first. Then decide how you will pack it and on what bike.
My weight and height would probably help . . . I'm 5'1", 120lbs. Probably will be carrying no more than 30lbs of gear at most. I'm thinking (and hoping) it'll be closer to 10-20lbs. I definitely do not want to weigh the bike down too much and seriously skewer the bike weight to person weight ratio more than usual.