samkl 

Aw. Wayne helped me buy my Tubus rack. A very generous guy with his time and expertise.

jonc123

4 X Bags and 2 X Tubus Racks. Will miss him.

DropBarFan

Was gonna buy a Tubus Tara from him last week--he was super helpful on the phone. My new bike has a non-standard fork & there's a good chance the Tara won't fit so I think it's perhaps best not to saddle him (heh) with the hassle of a return. BTW it's surprising how rare it is for any local LBS to stock any front rack, they tell me there's so little demand for touring stuff. Ironically one of those stores specializes in recumbents. There are thousands of bike tourists in the DC area but the shops just don't want to bother with lower-turnover stuff. Perhaps there's room in this market for a touring specialist LBS.

gamecock

It is hard for me to list everything Wayne supplied: Front and rear Ortlieb rolled panniers, handlebar bag, rear rack bag, front and rear racks, etc. If (when) I break something else is when I will miss Wayne the most. Wayne also sent a copy of "A Brief History of Most Everything." (or something like that) Thanks Wayne. Touring bicyclists will surely miss you. I'm 67, and working less (none) is the best gig I've ever had.

countalmaviva 

Huh. I found this thread after trying to go to thetouringstore.com. I echo all that's been said above about Wayne's extraordinary care for the customer. Someone else wrote about being a newbie to touring and talking with Wayne. Same story for me. I bought Tubus racks and Ortlieb panniers for my TransAm ride in 2006, and then another purchase in 2008. Eleven years later, when outfitting my wife's bike, I remembered him. I wrote to him:

"Your customer service is the reason I have remembered you for 11 years!"

He was also very generous in replacing the Ortlieb buckles that always seem to break in cold weather. I don't know where I'll get my replacements now...

I'll join the chorus in wishing him well, belatedly!

Tandem Tom

Hey Wayne!! If you are reading this how about an update on what you are doing!!!!!

Papa Tom

This thread is another example of why the forums should go back to displaying the date of the first post IN THE THREAD LISTINGS, the way they used to. Like others here, I read this as if it were happening in real time and I immediately tried to log on to the touringstore.com website to see what they are about. Now I know why it kept coming up as Campfire.com.

Anyway, I never knew about the Touring Store, but I wish I had, and it's always sad to see another Mom & Pop go away.

Miele Man

It has gone back to displaying the date of the first post. The date is right under the thread title.

Cheers

DropBarFan

I had some Ortlieb buckles break in the cold--I posted a thread about it actually but right now the search function isn't working for me. Anyway someone recommended Duraflex buckles & those have worked fine for me. Supposedly that brand is what Ortlieb uses. I guess so since I only replaced the male ends & they matched the original Ortlieb female buckles.

Nyah

I never knew about this store, probably because I hadn't been in the market for bicycle touring stuff when it was around. Had I been, there's good chance that I would've bought from Wayne. I started boycotting Amazon at least five years ago. I value ethics and personal interest to the genre of whatever I'm shopping for, over convenience.

Papa Tom

Whoa, you're right! I guess I got so used to the start date missing that I just stopped looking for it. Thanks, Miele.

AngeloDolce

The post is old, but surprisingly useful. The store closed before I started much touring, but I've had the same problems with Ortlieb buckles. Good to hear that Duraflex works, they seem to be easier to find without high shipping charges.

bikiola

May as well comment here too - I bought from Wayne many times in the past and was looking for a new front rack, went to thetouringstore.com and saw that dumb generic camping store redirection, I hope he made money off the redirection at least! WAYNE are you still around? It was always so funny, you'd call him and he would be in his pickup and answer your questions about the most esoteric things. Like Sheldon Brown, alot of our greats are gone (I hope Wayne is alive, I don't mean to say he's gone gone).

himespau 

+1 After a number of great interactions with him (from which he made no money, and knew he wasn't going to make money going in), I had always planned on getting a really nice touring set of panniers when I had the money and time to tour. Never had the time materialize and wish I'd done something to support him in exchange for the help he gave.

indyfabz

IIRC, Wayne wrote that someone was interested in taking over. If that happened, it certainly is not the same resource. When this thread got resurrected I checked the site again. Woefully generic.