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BUYER'S GUIDE
4 reasons why your next bike should be a touring bike Nov 2021Explore and more - 4 reasons why your next bike should be a touring bike
They’re a category that hasn’t had much love in the last few years, but touring bikes might be the most versatile machines around. Here’s why your next bike should be a touring bike.
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Designed for carrying significant amounts of stuff for long distances, touring bikes are the pack mules of cycling
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Robust frames and wheels, and steady handling make touring bikes ideal commuting bikes too
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Touring bikes always have clearance for mudguards and they're often included in the package, along with one or more racks to carry your stuff
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Like low gears? You're more likely to find them on a touring bike than just about any other category because they're essential fr climbing with loads
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Their combination of tyre clearance and braking power made cantilever brakes standard on touring bikes for decades, but disc brakes are taking over
Imagine taking off into the hills for days at a time — or longer — on the same bike that carries you comfortably for a Sunday ride in the hills, and gets you to work every day. That’s the appeal of touring bikes. Aside from situations that require pure speed, a touring bike will do almost everything you can imagine wanting to do on a bike.
Four things touring bikes are great for
Touring
Well, yes, that’s obvious, the clue’s in the name. Nevertheless, it bears saying that if you want to ride day after day carrying your gear and maybe even camping overnight, a touring bike is the traditional and arguably best bike for the job.
‘Arguably’ because the light-and-fast bikepacking approach eschews racks and panniers, instead strapping specially-made bags directly to the frame, handlebar and saddle. If you’re going down that route, then you probably want something lighter and faster, and you probably already know that.
For traditional touring, with a decent number of home comforts along for the ride like a change of clothes for the evening pub visit or a tent and other camping gear, a classic touring bike is the way to go.
A touring bike’s handling is designed to work with a load. You can bodge a rack and panniers on to a race bike, but you’ll almost certainly badly degrade the handling because the panniers will hang so far behind the rear wheel axle that they’ll make the frame wag under load. A touring bike’s long back end reduces this.
Commuting
You can commute on more or less anything, but the things that make touring bikes stand out are that they come with mudguards and a rack, or at least the necessary mounts.
It rains at commuting times less often than you’d expect, but you can still get unpleasantly damp from wet roads even if it’s not actually raining. Mudguards help keep most of the water off you and can make the difference between a comfortable ride and getting sodden.
The best way to carry your stuff when commuting is a controversial subject, but if you don’t like a sweaty back, then panniers are the way to go. Not only will a touring bike likely come with a rack, but the chainstays will be long enough your heels won’t hit your panniers and they won’t make the whole bike waggle as badly if you give it some welly.
Shopping
Shopping (CC BY-SA 2.0 Richard Masoner)
Want to carry a few days’ groceries home from Tesco? That’s going to be really uncomfortable in a rucksack. A cargo bike to carry it all may be cool, but it’s not going to fit in a tiny city flat. But a couple of large panniers will swallow a week’s groceries for one and a few days’ worth for a family. You might have to abandon the weekly mega-shop, but that opens up the chance to buy and eat more fresh fruit and veg. Win!
Day riding
A touring bike has a number of advantages over a race-style bike for a day’s pootling in the countryside, even though it’ll be slightly slower on the flat and up hills.
For starters there’s actually being able to sit up and enjoy that scenery you’re riding through, rather than Frooming along looking at your stem. Then there’s the comfort that comes from fatter tyres at lower pressure than a race bike’s, and the handy feature that a touring bike’s mudguards mean you won’t get utterly drenched and miserable if you get caught in a shower.
Throw on a pannier and you can carry stuff, which opens up the possibility of a picnic in a secluded spot instead of paying tourist-trap cafe prices for lunch.
Read more: 10 of the best touring bikes — your options for taking off into the beyond
What’s a touring bike?
So what are the details that give a touring bike its characteristics and versatility? Let’s take a look.
Load-carrying ability
Fully loaded touring bike (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Michael Rosenstein:Flickr)
Many features of touring bikes serve the objective of being able to carry lots of stuff without too much fuss. That means you should expect to find at least a rear rack as standard on any touring bike, and preferably a front rack too.
The best place for a front rack is next to the wheel hub. Low rider racks have the least effect on the bike’s handling and spreading your luggage between the front and rear of the bike stops the front wheel from going light on climbs.
>>Read more: Your guide to racks and panniers — all your bike luggage possibilities from low riders to convertible backpacks
Riding position
Touring bikes usually put you in a more upright position than most road bikes, as touring is more about looking round, enjoying the scenery and smelling the flowers than covering ground at great speed. That’s great for town riding too. Being able to sit up but still have your hands near the brakes means you can see that driver doing something stupid and react in time to save your bacon.
Because you’re sitting more upright on a touring bike, you might find you need a wider saddle because you’ll have more weight on your bum. That’s one reason why Brooks leather saddles are popular with tourists: they’re wide, as well as being top quality.
Frame design
Touring frames can be made of any material, though carbon fibre is rare and steel is still prominent as a result of tradition and its ‘springy’ ride. Titanium is revered among well-heeled touring riders for its ride and durability. Inexpensive touring bikes tend to have aluminium frames, which have the rigidity that’s useful for load-carrying.
Whatever the material, the frame tubes will tend to be beefier than those on a racier bike, because durability and stiffness are more important than weight.
In terms of geometry, a touring bike frame has a shorter top tube for a more upright position, shallower head angle for steady handling and longer chainstays. That last detail moves the pannier rack away from the rider’s heels so there’s clearance for panniers without dangling them out the back of the bike where they can make the whole bike wag.
Touring bikes have plenty of attachment points for accessories. Mudguard and rack fittings are mandatory and you’ll often find extra water bottle bosses under the down tube where they can be used for an extra bottle or more load capacity.
Tyres
Wide tyres for comfort and traction on poor road surfaces
The need for both load-carrying ability and a comfortable ride means touring bikes tyres are wide. The minimum you’ll usually find is 32mm, but the new generation of adventure touring bikes often goes as fat as 45mm for dirt-road capability.
The need for grip on poor-quality, loose road surfaces means you’ll usually find a relatively deep tread pattern on touring bike tyres. Puncture resistant belts in tyres are common too; manhandling a fully-loaded bike to fix a flat is a bit of a pain.
Brakes
Disc brakes provide reliable, powerful braking on modern touring bikes
You’ll almost always find either cantilever brakes or discs on a touring bike. Side-pull brakes are rare because they don’t have the necessary reach to provide space for fat tyres and mudguards.
Disc brakes are becoming more and more common as the options available to manufacturers expand. They’re particularly suitable for touring bikes because they separate braking from the rims, improving stopping power and rim durability.
Wheels
Forget weight; touring bike wheels need to be strong. High spoke counts are common (36 per wheel is traditional), as are wide rims. Many keen touring riders end up buying handbuilt wheels because off-the-peg options are limited or simply not up to the job.
The trend to wider rims of the last couple of years has improved the options for touring riders too, making wheels inherently stronger and stiffer.
Gears
Touring gears: a combination of mountain bike rear derailleur and hybrid chainset for a very wide gear range
Carrying loads up hills requires low, low gears. It’s common to find a low gear below 1:1 on a touring bike, and tourers are almost the last drop-bar bikes that still commonly use triple chainsets.
Touring bikes often borrow components from mountain bikes and hybrids to provide the gear range needed for a touring bike. You’ll find chainsets with 48/38/28 chainrings and cassettes as wide as 11-36.
Gearing is another area where touring riders love to tinker. Many chainsets will take inner rings as low as 24 or even 22 teeth. Some tourists don’t see the need for high gears, so go for a 44-tooth big ring or even a ‘super-compact’ double such as 42/24.
>>Read more: Beginner's guide to cycling luggage
Explore the complete archive of reviews of touring bikes on road.cc
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John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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47 comments
I have an old Specialized Tricross Sport with triple chainset and upgraded TRP brakes. Whilst slightly heavy, it's done tours of England and Ireland fully loaded through to local CX and canal side bimbles. Best £350 I have ever spent on a bike and it's fun whatever you do with it. And the TRP v brakes are excellent and knock the spots off the TRP disc brakes on my CX machine. If I had to keep just one bike this would be it!
Good article. My only disagreement is over its promotion of front racks and panniers. They're best avoided, though if you're planning a tour with family, I guess you'll have to accept the additional burden. Front panniers suck aerodynamically, and the heavier steering tires the upper body significantly. There's no need to weight the front of the bike to keep the front wheel on the ground going uphill, even if you're fully loaded at the back.
How to keep your gear down to two rear panniers, a rackbag, and a wee barbag is a separate article, but it can be done.
Depends how extreme a hill you are going up. I can think of a few where I've had to be right over the handlebars to keep the front wheel down. Actually the bigger problem is downhill, where the bike can shimmy if there is too little weight at the front.
I've come across lots of opinions on how to load your bike, from front panniers only to everything on the rear, and I think it depends really on bike geometry and personal preference. Personally I would only use front panniers for expedition touring, where you need the extra space, but I would always have a barbag to move some weight to the front.
I was interested to read that, as I recently read this article https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/aerodynamics-of-real-world-bicycles/, in which some students lucky enough to gain access to a sophisticated wind-tunnel reported this: "Perhaps more surprising to many, front bags were more aerodynamic than rear ones. A handlebar bag was more aerodynamic than a Carradice saddlebag that extended just slightly beyond the hips of the rider (see photo at the top of this post). Front panniers (on low-rider racks) were more aerodynamic than rear panniers."
I've never used front panniers, but had been considering it after reading the above. Could you provide any more info on why you say they suck aerodynamically please?
Not arguing you are wrong, just looking for more info. I note your subsequent point on front panniers"... and the heavier steering tires the upper body significantly. " also, thanks.
Oops, quadruple post!
Oops, quadruple post:)
Oops, quadruple post!
Thanks very much for pointing me at that article. I'm now contemplating buying the two Bicycle Quarterlies that it refers to.
I haven't ridden with front panniers for several decades, but I think about it a) when I'm trying to start on a really steep hill with a big load on the back and b) when I've just bought more food and water that I don't have reasonable space for. I suspect that another bag in the airstream, that my feet and rear panniers are going to travel through, will only make a small difference. Modest front panniers would let me use smaller rear panniers*.
Handlebar bags are the most convenient place to put things that you really need to hand: Camera, passport, wallet, 'phone, etc. but, if they're heavily laden, they induce wobbles on fast descents, so I'm prepared to keep the camera elsewhere. Low, properly centred, front panniers don't seem to have the same problem. Most people report that front panniers damp steering wobbles, at the expense of making it difficult to make sudden turns to avoid potholes, snakes, etc. I'd like to find a 2 to 3 litre waterproof handlebar bag that fits a Clickfifx or similar mount.
For day tours, I now usually abandon the side pocketed saddlebag in favour of a smaller Carradice Cadet which is about the same width as my arse so not adding much to it's drag coefficient. For canping tours, I'm wondering about carrying a tent in a frame bag rather than on the rear carrier.
Anyway, I'd like to see more measurement like this. Maybe cargo bikes versus bicycles with trailers in the windtunnel? MRI tissue damage assessment of varying Q factor? <ducks>There is more to life than racing:) </ducks>
*I made the mistake of riding with Altura 46 litre Arran panniers into Icelandic "headgales" once. Ooh, my knees! Packed Arrans are as wide as they are long! Cd ≈ 1.0
Having ridden many thousands of miles with front low riders, I have to disagree. If anything, they improve stability, and I've never had any suggestion of getting tired arms from heavy steering. If you are worried about aerodynamics, you wouldn't be riding a touring bike anyway. Some of the climbs I've done have certainly benefitted from the extra weight on the front keeping it down.
Having ridden fully laden bikes with all the weight on the rear wheel and bulging rear panniers, and comparing it to the same bike but with about 30% of the weight in low riders at the front, my overwhelming preference is for the latter.
Correct sir. I've done some touring and the bike feels so much better for having the weight spread between the front and the rear. As for low-riders giving me a tired upper body .... I'm not sure that Dougie has ever ridden a laden touring bike.
I've also been running my Condor Heritage with a low rider front rack (Tubus Tara) since reading Jan Heine's article and find the handling much improved with no discernable difference in aerodynamics than when I ran panniers on the back. And I also agree that bike handling on steep climbs is easier with the load distributed on the front.
IMG_20180127_154034_474.jpg
Why not get a touring MTB like a Surly Troll or Ogre then? Back to n+1 now.
The other week you said I should get a mountain bike! I'm now at n+2
Touring bikes are great. I had avoided getting one as It was very unapealing over a fast touring "audax" or cross bike. However a long tour and advice from a friend swayed me to a bike more 'up to the job'
I built up a Surly Long Haul Trucker from a frame and haven't looked back. It's done loads of commuting, a long tour through France, Italy & Austria and many off road tracks. It comes out whenever I just want to go for a bike road, or have to take something that would be a pain in a rucksack.
I think that anyone considering a hybrid should really be steered to a touring bike. They really are a do everything bike and with good touring tyres like Vittoria Voyager Hypers can have a rolling resistance not far off a road bike.
Totally agree! I wished there were as many tourer options as there are for hybrids. A alu hybrid with drop bars, mini V-brakes, slick tires and a simple 3X8 drivetrain is what most people really need to move around in towns, comfortly and fast. Why are there so few options??
My wife has a Specialized Vita hybrid we bought 2nd hand a few years ago for £200. It has a 3x8 drivetrain, mini V-brakes, rack mounts, clearance for wide tyres and guards, Sugino cranks and MKS pedals, and a riser bar so you can get the bars up nice and high (not possible with modern obsession with cutting the steerer on most new bikes).
We have toured in France and done some long day rides with it. It is so easy to work on, and there's not much you couldn't do on it. Makes me feel silly for spending so much money on my 'niche' steel framed bikes whenever I walk past it in the garage.
I disagree.
I have a disc-braked hybrid and it's perfect for what I use it for, namely for nipping around locally, as you describe. I also disagree with your 3x8 suggestion - mine has a compact 2x9 with 11-32 cassette and I think that's bang on.
"Most people", in the wider sense of the term, probably won't like to ride on drops in general, let alone through traffic.
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