Primary design focus - a long distance touring bike.
It is great to see organised groups making cycle touring more accessible. But those of us open to go on those organised trips often also have our minds open to another adventure where there are just a few people and where we organise it all ourselves. So, even if the plan is to get into touring through organised trips with baggage support, we want a bike that is going to allow us to try out the more independent touring options.

All bikes are ok for short day rides. We don’t need different bikes for every kind of ride. They all work. The improvement designers can make is often quite subtle. A cr-mo properly designed touring frame is subtly better to tour on then an aluminium touring frame. But not much. And on a 10k ride there is no significant difference.

There are some more obvious things, however. If you are on a tour you want the independence of being able to carry your own stuff. You have got every thing you need with you. That may or may not involve camping and food preparation gear. Depending on where you are and what your rate of travel is, you determine what you will carry. Certainly in many countries, we stay in paid accommodation. But you still need bags.

On a tour the days may not be long. Perhaps 50-150k per day. But even on the lower end of that range, if you ride those distances on most days, you end up getting to know your handlebars and saddle pretty well. Avoid the sore-or-numb fingers problem. Make sure you are comfortable. As your riding develops you keep getting stronger and you may find your seat and reach positions on the bike needs to change.

Tourers rarely decide to ride at night. There is the strategy in incredibly hot places of leaving at 4am so as to avoid the heat. That needs lights. But we plan to avoid those places anyway. The classic case for lights is that you are delayed in the day and/or misunderstood which was the next town with a hotel. You arrive in the dark. You are tired. People are getting a bit frayed (and hungry). It wasn’t supposed to happen. Having good lights is something the bike designed sorts out for you. There is also going out (to dinner) on the bike in the evening. It is your bike and means of getting around. It must have lights. But it is not the same headlight you may use on the city bike path or route. You need to be able to see in the dark! And, it would be nice to extend the independence of your existence on the bike tour to include producing the power for your light.

One thing that tourers can get stuck by is some failure in the wheels. We need strong and trouble free wheels. Eyletted widish double-wall rims with 36 good spokes does the trick. Tyres for touring can be anywhere between 32 and 40c wide depending on front or rear, the road condition and the rider’s loaded weight. But road wheels with wider tyres eventually let touring cyclists down (not to mention that the road bike frame is too short to carry things on).

Cyclists adjust to their gear systems. So lots of people praise the set-up they have. The good news is that you will survive with any of most systems. But, on a trip, you really want to avoid the need for service and the delay and inconvenience to your buddies that a transmission problem can readily cause. And, although you can walk up that long hill, you would like to have the gear ratio that allows you to ride up. You want gear quality and range. Plus you want gear levers that offer the best in ergonomics. Chain gears are so good these days largely because development was advanced by competition in elite cycle racing.

Secondary design focus – a city bike.
OK. We don’t all live in cities. But we all have to go to the shops. We all have trips when we are not touring. And being able to ride up any hill would be good. Being able to carry things like the shopping would be good. It is that same independence notion. The lights are built in, as are the mudguards.

Folks who have managed to “flick” the car in their city lives usually have a bike trailer somewhere. These modern single wheel cargo trailers (such as BOB) work great. But don’t try to pull it with a road bike. The tourer is best for trailers.

All those qualities that are good for the open road are good in the city too. A good tourer gives virtually no punctures, or crooked wheels or gear problems. And great handling.

A road bike is faster in the city and is chosen for this reason by many who have a distance to go to work. Not as good in the rain, or with stuff to carry, but faster. If you want to travel on a bike plus ride in town the road bike it is the ideal second bike and lacks the versatility of the touring bike.