UKFan4Sure

OK, I realize I may be opening a can of worms here, but what are everyone's feelings on the best buy for the money in a touring bike? Some of these bikes are featuring Alivio components at upwards of $1500. I've even noted Claris on some of them. I'm not sure I'd want to trust a bike with such low end equipment if I was traveling distances of up to 300 miles.
For those of you who have done your homework in the past, I must admit I am just worn out comparing apples to oranges trying to figure all of this out. I am to the point I must admit I am looking for some honest opinions or experiences.
Or, should I just buy a frame and equip it myself. I have build experience, but admit I'd have to do some research in fitting it out with bulletproof components.
I thank everyone in advance. I'm not opposed to finding a site selling units several years old as long as there was a deal to be had.

Happy Feet

Well, to start the conversation: If you wanted a tried and true off the shelf design for road touring you could look at the Surly long haul trucker or disc trucker. Many people tour on those successfully.

PedalingWalrus

My first touring bike was (not long ago) a Surly Disc Trucker and I used it pure stock on tours and would not hesitate to take it on a world tour as is.


however, I have added a touring tandem to our quiver that was pure build. Happy with it too and we like tandeming so much i feel this will be our goto touring rig

my bikepacking rig is a fancy pinion Co-Motion Divide that started as stock demo bike purchase yet I added new wheelset, swapped handlebars, seat, pedals and rear rack.

so, it depends ... 🙂

Twang -O- Doom

Are 'low end" components really that unreliable?
From what I have seen, they are mostly just heaver, and missing some bleeding edge features.

Russ Roth

I'd have no trouble running claris or alivio depending on where it is. The four things that really matter for me on a touring bike are frame, wheels and tires, handlebars and saddle. Cheaper parts like claris and alivio tend to be less refined being made from thicker heavier pieces that aren't as well polished but there's plenty of bikes running around on 30 year old alivio and 2100 (precursor to claris). If I Otherwas in the market for a new touring bike I'd do a Bob Jackson world tour frame painted to look exactly like the one on their web site with disc brakes, if money wasn't a concern king r45 hubs, if it is xt hubs built with velocity aileron rims 3x. 13/14 single butted spokes in back, 14/15 double butted spokes in the front. For a build group I'd do tiagra just like the current bike uses. 2x10, low gearing and good weight and durability. Maybe do the entry level GRX group, either way make sure the chain is top quality since its about the only part that typically randomly fails and even then only when you force a shift. Probably be in the 15-1800.00 range.

cyccommute 

Although a bit boring, they have gotten everything right on the LHT. The only quibble I have on the current model is the crankset. It could be better since the Tiagra won’t take a chainring smaller than a 30 tooth or, perhaps, a 24 tooth. And I’m not a fan of barend shifters but many are. But it is a good bike right out of the box.

It would depend on which component is the low end. On the LHT referenced above, the Sora front derailer is actually a better front derailer than the more expensive Shimano front derailers.

If you want to build, by all means, do so. It is fun and rewarding. It’s probably easier and cheaper if you don’t start with a whole bike and replace everything...including the frame. Especially if the only reason you replace the frame is to change the color. But I do have another frame for the future. And since Cannondale doesn’t make their excellent touring bike anymore (both of mine are made in the US), having an extra frame is a plus.

As with building wheels or just buying a bike, don’t build something that you can buy. Build something special.

CliffordK

I enjoy the experimenting.

I've never bought a "touring" bike. One of my abominations was this hybrid to drop bar conversion.




It isn't perfect, and needs some work. But, it has several features such as flat top bars that aren't in all off-the-shelf bikes.

Nonetheless, I've also toured on vintage road bikes. Most of my riding is on paved roads.



I still have a "Rough Road" touring bike in the drawing books. As well as a new and improved lightweight touring bike.

smudgy

If I bought an "off the floor" bike I would definitely change the handle bars, shifters, brake levers, seat, chainrings, pedals and who knows. I would end up spending hundreds of extra dollars getting it the way I like it. I've looked at new touring bikes and I haven't seen any that I like. Trek, Soma, Salsa, ehh? I would start with a Surly frame. It's like a blank canvas, you can do anything with it. I started with a Troll frame and made an off road touring bike, I love it (see pic below). If I needed another road touring bike I would probably start with a disc trucker, if I wanted disc brakes or a LHT if I wanted rim brakes; and go from there. Is there another bike company that will sell you just the frame? Trek won't. I would put it together piece by piece, wheels, cranks, BB, chainrings, etc. In the end, I think I could build a custom touring bike with quality components for about the same as an "off the floor" bike. $1200 - 1500??

My Surly Troll

Tourist in MSN

You are probably better off buying a complete bike if you would be happy with the types of components that manufacturers currently use, such as shifter type (if drop bar, bar end or brifter), type of brakes (disc or rim), and number of speeds (9, 10 or something else). If you wanted to upgrade a component here and a component there later, such as a derailleur you could easily do so.

On the other hand if you would be happiest with an esoteric mix of components, then you would be best off building it up yourself. I have some biases in the type of equipment that I would like on a derailleur fitted touring bike, thus I am happier with a bike that I build up myself. But some of the components that I put on a new bike are 15 to 20 year old technology which most manufacturers would not be putting on a new bike.

Do not forget the time needed to build up a bike. It might be easy enough to build a bike in a day, but you can spend lots of hours looking for the best price for all the components you would be buying for the bike. I built up a new touring bike three years ago on a new frame, I ended up ordering parts from Germany, from the UK, a bunch of parts from Niagara (they are no longer in business), plus I used a few used parts that I had on the shelf. And I bought a few used parts from a local bike charity. Putting together the complete package can take some time to source all the parts. i am retired, I have the time and enjoyed doing it. Most people do not have the luxury of that much time.

UKFan4Sure

Thanks for everyone's advice. It looks like everyone has a slightly different take, as I expected. Maybe my resistance to Sora or Claris is my past experience with lower end components. They just never adjusted right to STAY right, and I found myself constantly fiddling with the adjustments. I am really liking the idea of buying a LHT frame and building it up with XT. I do, however want brifters. I'm used to them and I don't like taking my hands off the bars to shift, especially when my 210 butt is trying to get up a hill while standing.

boomhauer

I went from a $400 off the shelf bike (that is now 20 years old) to a $3000 self- build.
The $400 bike was really like a $900 bike after all the components were replaced over its life.
This was a very hard decision because I'm am the cheapest of the cheap-asses you'll ever meet.
But now that I've done it I don't even think about the money aspect of it anymore.
I haven't "fiddled" with anything on the bike in almost 4 yrs. (other than my worn out brake pads on my hydro- brakes.)
If you truly want a "touring bike" then you will be replacing the seat and the tires on any new bike you might buy, anyway.
It probably took 8 months to buy all the components off the internet. I wasn't in any hurry to get it done. If I thought a component was too expensive I would just wait and hopefully get a better price later.

LeeG

Buy a complete bike that will do what 80% of your riding is about. Get familiar with disassembling and assembling it as you would for shipping. Make sure to bring it back into the shop for checkup after a couple months riding. There is no problem with low cost components compared to a lack of knowledge and a fat pocketbook. If you are not familiar with wheel building at least be aware of the condition of the wheels before you load the bike up. In other words be aware of the trueness of the wheels from day one and notice if the wheel has gone noticeably out over the months. If it has get them trued up and ridden before loading up.

Only reason to build a bike up from a frame is if you have a pile of parts sitting around already or you just want to have fun and spend more money. .

djb

And don't forget, given your mechanical experience, getting into brifters and gearing suitable for touring will pose issues, and perhaps surprises if you buy stuff online on your own.
in other words, do the research on brifter details, although you may not have the back ground to know what gearing you need.
Also you'll need to look carefully at 9, 10, 11 speed details for brifters and specific crank derailleur etc limitations--and be realistic about what sort of touring and gearing you'll need.

mstateglfr 

300mi just isnt far. A Claris drivetrain can handle that since that component group is put on bikes that last thousands of miles.
Sure Claris and Alivio are on the entry level side of things, but its absurd to think they can't last 300mi.
Technology has come a long way in 30+ years- entry level bike shop quality doesnt necessarily mean poor performing and unreliable.
I ride with teens who are outfitted with Claris and Sora road bikes since they typically buy their own bikes. The drivetrains are quite reliable and 2 bikes I'm thinking of specifically have gone 4 years(over 6000mi each) with nothing more than a spring check over and tune up at a bike shop.

You have a nice Voyageur- just use that. Or if it doesn't work well, then change what doesnt work well.

Personally, I would build instead of buy. It's what I did for the 3 touring bikes I've had.
3x9 is dead simple, reliable, and inexpensive with a wide range of error for slop compared to higher level drivetrains.
I use a mix of old and modern for the drivetrain- 20 year old XT rear derailleur, 9sp shimano bar end shifters, and a sora triple front derailleur(oh no, its Sora!). The crank is from 35 years ago and has the rings I want which are a mix of old and new.

djb

alivio stuff is, and has been for decades, completely reliable equipment. Sure, I think its worth spending the slightly bit more money on deore level stuff, which is that great balance of cost/functionality/longevity, but frankly we have bikes in our family with alivio on them and they just plain work.
dont need adjustments, shift properly and do so over years and years.

I have old xt stuff that also keeps working, and old deore lx stuff that also keeps working.
And I commute in the summer on a 90s hybrid with Alivio stuff, and it just plain works fine.

If you have had "constant adjustment" stuff with bikes with this level of components, there is other stuff going on--cruddy cables and housings, gummed up shifters, gummed up derailleurs, bent stuff, misaligned rd hangers , you name it. Who knows.
All I know is that lower end shimano stuff can and does work fine on properly maintained bikes, and can do so for a long time.

I do understand wondering why Alivio level is on the new Trek 520, but I guess its a price point thing, also a 9 speed thing maybe, but also not to be discounted is the whole trickle down thing. The Alivio rd on the 520 doesnt look like an old alivio did, it looks like a much nicer rd.

robow

I know it has bar end shifters and not brifters, but the Fuji touring bike has to be the best deal out there for a competent touring bike that should work for years without changing out stuff unless you just want to. That said, I love to build all my own bikes but often it's not cheaper in the long run, unless as discussed above, you've got a bunch of parts lying around.

UKFan4Sure

I'm on top of all of those build aspects. The only thing that trips me up sometimes is mixing brands of components like SRAM, Suntour, and Shimano. This would be a new build, and I suspect with Deore XT, and the best triple components I can find. I'd probably do 48/36/24 front or something close.

UKFan4Sure

Everyone here seems to be a fan of the less expensive components saying they work well. It may just be a psychological thing for me, I don't know. Usually, the lower end brifters don't feel as good, that I can say for sure.

UKFan4Sure

I didn't mean to imply they wouldn't actually LAST but 300 miles, I was saying I don't know if I trust a lower end derailleur to have my back out in the middle of nowhere when I'm 300 miles away from home. Maybe they've gotten better and trickle-down has given them some reliability. I do know I've built a few new Sora bikes for my LBS and have found them surprisingly functional at least in the beginning. But honestly, I think the Tourney is junk except for moms and dads cruising around the park or block. But here I go opening another can of worms.

UKFan4Sure

Yeah, it's a nice one, but I'm going to have to do some rides on it before I trust it to take me too far. It has such a mix of antiquated parts, that it does worry me a bit, though.

djb

Just to be clear, I do get your point. And I do think it's worth using deore, deore lx or xt. Worth it in the long run if you ride a lot. I ride an alivio bike, but higher up levels are nicer.
re brifters. The old 8 speed sora with thumb shifter were stiff feeling, 9 spd tiagra a step up with paddle and you felt it. 9 speed sora with paddle feel like my tiagra, if that's any consolation, my opinion though.

in the end, you're going to have to number crunch parts and only you know if you can do the work yourself, which will save a lot.
so yes , xt stuff would be great, but just be aware of all the fine print, dynasis and all that....

Tourist in MSN

Reading between the lines, you have decided you want to build up a bike, just nervous about mixing and matching components.

My rando bike has:
- Campy 10 speed rear brifter.
- Huret front friction downtube shifter.
- Tektro CR720 canti brakes, Tektro interrupter brake levers and Tektro left hand brake lever.
- Campy Race Triple crankset, Campy square taper bottom bracket and Campy front derailleur.
- Shimano M756 rear XT hub, Shimano M739 XT rear derailleur.
- Sram eight speed 11/32 cassette.
- KMC eight speed chain.
- SP PV8 front dynohub.
- Cane Creek headset.

Not sure why you want something with the Suntour name on it. They made good stuff before gearing went indexed, but not sure what component(s) you are thinking about.

You will figure it out. What does not work at first, you can tweak it and replace a few parts until it does.

Miele Man

There is an immense amount of satisfaction in building up a bicycle with components one has purchased separately or collected over the years.

When I was looking to get a dedicated touring bicycle I looked at the Surly LHT in my local bicycle shop but didn't care all that much for the looks of the bike. Therefore I decided to build up a bicycle with parts I had on hand. I was lucky because I had a couple of mid-1980s vintage MTB with the Deore components on them that were original to those bikes. I bought those bikes used at $40.00 Canadian each. The crankset will take a 24 teeth inner ring. I put a dropbar on it and added bar-end shifters for the bike because in my honest opinion they are the simplest mechaincally (not much can go wrong with one)as well as the most versatile shifter. Mine are index or friction mode which means if I have to get a different wheel or cluster when touring I know the shifter will work with it.

Some people like to buy a frameset and then build it up with their chosen components. Other people prefer to buy a ready to ride touring bike.

Oh, one reason I repurposed my MTB to a dropbar touring bike is because of the huge selection of tires available for 26" wheels. I can put 26" x 1.25" SLICK tires on it for fast road touring or I can put 26" x 2.125" or 2.25" knobby tires on it for dirt/gravel road touring.

I recently put old school Alivio V-brakes, Techtro V-brake levers and Tachtro Inline/cyclo-cross brake levers on it and I love it. I was told by a reputable bike shop in Wisconsin that there wasn't much difference between Alivio and Deore V-brake calipers.

Cheers

Russ Roth

https://www.gevenalle.com/shifters/
Road brake levers with built in shifters for whatever setup you want. Let you run Shimano MTB derailleur systems on a road touring setup or whatever road gearing you want.

Happy Feet

As long s they are compatible I don't worry what the brand is. I have a SRAM crankset driving a Sunrace cassette shifted by Shimano derailers. They're just mechanical devices.