One Bike To Rule Them All

Touring Bikes Are Perfect For…Almost Everything

If you haven’t been living offline or under a rock you have likely come across the N+1 meme:

N = Number of bikes you currently own + one more = the perfect number of bikes.

While we do agree that having more than one bike is a very nice luxury, for many, this is simply not possible due to storage space and/or budgetary constraints. And for folks who are not enthusiastic cyclists, more than one bike can seem quite weird: I mean, really, you only have one ass and can only ride one bike at a time, right?

Is it possible to own just one bike and have it be useful and fun for all kinds of cycling adventures? One bike that your could commute on all week then slightly modify to tackle a big charity road ride in the summer, participate in a gran fondo event, ride some gravel roads on the weekend, or use on a multi-day bike touring holiday?

The answer is yes. And that bike is a traditional road touring bicycle - aka, a touring bike.

What is a Touring Bike

In it’s most basic explanation a touring bike is a more comfortable and more stable road bike - when compared to a road racing bicycle. To the untrained eye the bikes may look similar with their 700c wheels and road-style handlebar, but there are important and subtle differences that make a touring bike what it is.

Generally speaking, a touring bike will have a taller head tube and spacer stack, sometime a little shorter top tube, more bottom bracket drop, a longer wheelbase, accommodations for wider tires, and mounts for rack systems and fenders. Some will also have accommodation for sturdy kickstands. Remember, we’re making this comparison to a road racing bike.

All of this adds up to a bicycle that is easier to ride, more comfortable overall, can handle heavier loads without making the bike feel twitchy or sketchy, and ultimately combine to create a bike that can do almost everything a road racing bike can do - just a little more slowly and predictably. I’m not going to dive into a rabbit hole of nitpicking all the myriad, smaller details - as there are as many as there are opinions. If that’s your jam, head over to one of the bike geek sites, there are many.

In short, a touring bike is efficient, comfortable, and very capable making it ideal as a do-everything-machine for all your urban and open road adventures. These bikes can handle the rigours of daily commuting and grocery hauling, are great for pulling trailers full of children or dogs, and can be cleaned up nice for a jaunt to the mountains to ride the parkways.

Frame Details And Descriptions

Touring Bikes Are Perfect For… You Guessed It…Open Road Touring

Can A Touring Bike Handle Gravel

In short, yes. For our purposes here in Calgary, we generally recommend 40mm tires minimum for gravel riding as those roads can sometimes be covered in soft/deep gravel. Tires narrower than that can be ok too but there is a chance you may struggle in spots if the grader has been busy recently. A standard touring bike’s relaxed geometry and stable handling are great on gravel roads as well. And the lower gearing available on touring bikes (again, as compared to road racing bikes) means grinding up gravel inclines does not have to be an exercise in frustration and suffering. Just gear down, look around, and enjoy the countryside.

Touring Bikes Can Handle The Gravel Too.

The Perfect Commuter

Riding to work. Picking up some groceries. Running errands. Meeting up with friends at the local watering hole. Traditional touring bikes are perfect for all of these “bike life” duties. With their stable handling, efficient rolling, go-up-everything low gearing, and high gearing when you have a tailwind home, traditional touring bikes can handle it all. Install some fenders and wet weather matters a lot less. When winter arrives, slap on some studded tires and ice melts in fear as you approach.

What’s Up With Bar-End Shifters?

Traditionally, road touring bikes are spec’d with bar-end shifters instead of road-racing inspired brake/shift levers - aka, “brifters’. The reasons for this are quite simple: They work, always, under any conditions, and are more or less impossible to damage. As you might imagine, if you are out on a tour and have a crash or even if your bike were to fall over and hit the ground - which is a thing that DOES happen with a bike loaded up with gear, it is very easy to damage a brifter beyond repair, possibly ending your adventure right there and then. Just to back up a bit, brifters are very intricate machines and have a lot going on inside. You’ve got 2 cables going into each one, and a shifting mechanism in there as well.

Keep in mind that brifter-tyle shifters were initially designed for road racing use. In a race, being in the perfect gear all the time matters. A lot. Having the perfect cadence optimizes the riders position in the peloton. It also aids endurance, speed, and power to get the most of of the racer along every section of the course. With the flick of a finger the rider can constantly be in the perfect cadence, delivering the required amount of power, maintaining the perfect position in the group.

When bike touring, most of that goes out the window and doesn’t really matter. You’re not trying to keep up with a peloton and you’re not constantly obsessing over your cadence and speed. Your “finish line” might be days, weeks, or months away. What matters most is durability and comfort (discussed above). Durability comes from the fact that the shifters are separate from the brake lever and the shifters are small and tough. The left shifter controls the front derailleur and is infinitely adjustable (aka friction shifting) making for easy, perfect shifts every time, with no rubbing or grinding - ever. The right shifter controls the rear derailleur, is indexed (clicks between gears), and also has a secret superpower: It can be adjusted to friction shifting quickly if your shifting ever goes out of adjustment due to cable stretch or maybe a bent derailleur hanger due to the bike falling over as we discussed above. Bar-end shifters never die. If your bike fell off a click and was smashed to bit, the sifters would likely survive :)

Ok, Sean - Wrap It up

Well, there is our argument why touring bikes are great and if you can only have one bike, a touring bike it should be. If you’re in the market for a new touring rig, get in touch. Not only do we have options, we also have the best collection of touring accessories and bags in western Canada.

Happy Trails!