Bicycle Touring 101: Common considerations when choosing a bicycle for touring

All touring bikes seem to have several considerations in common. Before I discuss the specifics of each type of bike I would like to discuss these common considerations first.

Water bottle holders are useful for many things. On tour all three carry water bottles but for commuting I carry a battery, water bottle and an air reservoir for the air horn.

The next few sections will discuss each of these items in more detail. Please remember that whatever bike you choose it's important that it have a good fit! A great bike but a poor fit is very likely to lead to an awful tour!

When you load up the bike with 50 - 100 pounds of weight and go for a ride around the block how well does it handle it?

I currently use a Trek 520 for my loaded touring bicycle. I actually feel like my bike rides better fully loaded then it does with no load at all. The frame is made with carrying a load in mind and I think that it shows in the ride.

If you do the test and find that the bike feels really shaky then perhaps it's time to consider a different bike. Before you get too upset though you might consider towing a trailer behind your bike instead. A trailer introduces other issues that will be discussed in the trailer section but it is something to consider.

You might be considering just ignoring the shakes and jitters. Please keep in mind that any problems you notice now riding around at normal speeds will be even worse when your speed is either blazing fast like during a downhill or incredibly slow like you would experience during a steep climb.

If you aren't sure then carefully do a bit more trial riding or consider getting a second opinion from some knowledgable cyclists. The last thing you want to do is experience a high speed shimmy while descending a mountain at 60+ km/hour!

Unless you decide to use a trailer (and sometimes even then) you will need to have a place to put your gear.

Sometimes people start a tour using a backpack or something similar to carry the load. The vast majority of these people quickly change to saddlebags or trailers before a long distance trip has ended. While a backpack can certainly hold lots of stuff most people find them hot to wear on the back and uncomfortable.

This leaves you with the option of a trailer or racks and saddlebags. In order to use racks you have to be able to mount them on the bike. To do this there are usually items called braze-ons. Mounting a rack to these is generally quite easy to do.

Sometimes light racing bikes are used for lightly loaded or SAG touring and the cyclist wants a rack despite the lack of braze-ons. For light loads there are clips that you can get to allow you to mount a rack on these bikes. Usually the amount of weight that you can carry is greatly reduced from the amount that you would normally be allowed to carry with the same rack.

Another use for braze-ons is to mount front and rear fenders on your bike. Back when I was a kid I can remember always removing the fenders from any bike that came my way with them on. I used to think that they lacked a certain something.

Now that I've grown up I love fenders and I have them permanently mounted on all of my bikes. Why the change you ask?

Fenders protect the bike, the gear and I from spraying water. Most tours that I've been on have included at least one day with some rain. The great increase in comfort during those days far outweighs the slight weight gain especially when you consider that the fenders are also protecting your nice dry sleeping bag!

When you load a bike with tons of cargo it becomes a bit harder to move it up hills. Even riding on flat terrain you will notice that it takes some extra effort to move the fully laden bike at a reasonable pace over the ground.

Most bikes come with gearing designed for an unloaded and unencumbered bike. While there are numerous examples in the world of touring of people who have toured successfully there are also many who changed to lower gearing, suffered less and continued touring for many more years without gearing related injuries.

I haven't yet heard of anyone regretting carrying lower gears even if they haven't needed them on a tour but I most certainly have heard people wishing that they did have lower gearing.

If you have a choice when selecting a bike pick one with low gearing whenever possible. More details about this will be covered on the gearing page.

Few things can wreck a tour faster then having a critical part disintegrate in the middle of nowhere (Of course some people would argue that minor setbacks like a broken bike provide an extra bit of spice to the adventure of a bicycle tour).

While you don't necessarily have to have the world's most expensive bike, it is important that you have a bike with reliable and trustworthy parts.

Remember that people have used bikes in various states of readyness to do continent crossing journeys. The difference between a well equipment bike with reliable components and one that is a poorly maintained wreck might come down to the number of flat tires, broken spokes and other failures.

It's your tour. Would you rather relax watching scenery and eating ice cream or fix your bike instead?

Water is one of the most important things that you need to have when touring. Running out of water while pedalling along can be an unhappy experience!

Although there are many ways to carry water on a bike, water bottle holders are one of the most common ways of doing so.

Many bikes tend to have two water bottle holders although some mountain bikes only have one and most touring bikes seem to have three.

Water can be carried other ways including using water bladders saddlebag pockets so there are work arounds. Still having the ability to carry water on the bike itself is a major plus.