Good bikes for touring europe on.

jordy boy

Hi guys, I'm not sure if this is the right section, please move it or tell me if this is the wrong place. Anyway, I am wanting to bike around europe next summer and was wondering what sort of bikes I should be looking at. It needs to be light, strong, reliable, comfortable and able to handle some slightly rough paths. Any recommendations would be very welcome.

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pneumatic

You need a bike that can take luggage, so the frame needs "braze ons" (little holes that you can put screws in) for the rack.

You need gears that are appropriate to carrying luggage up steep hills (not race gears).

You need strong wheels and good tyres (700x28 or 700x32).

I have a Dawes Super Galaxy that meets all of these requirements and I've had some great tours on it. However, you could get a cheaper bike than that, such as the Edinburgh Bikes tourer or a Dawes Galaxy.

Best advice is to go to a good bike shop and ask them to show you some.

xilios

There are many bikes out there that you can tour with. Some like to use MTB's, some like to go for steel touring bikes only, and there are some others like myself that went to the LBS and found a used aluminum hybrid bike that was already set up for touring, changed some things around and over 20,000kms later is still using it with no intention of getting a replacement. It just fits and rides good.
There are some tips on our page that you can check out, also look at the links page for places you can find more tips on types, size's and the rest.
Hope it helps you out some.
cheers

timbooth

I've done a fair bit of touring and commuting on an aluminium hybrid and it's done me very well (bought off C+ forum 5 years ago!). On a non-touring specific bike, just watch out for a short back-end, which means your heels might clip the panniers.

In Europe, you won't need a repairable steel frame, but if you intend to go into the wilds later (Africa, Silk Road, etc), it might be handy to have a farmer be able to weld your bike into one piece again.

Other than that, as pneumatic says, as long as it has the capacity to take a rack and you can fit big enough tyres, most bikes will do.

(Remember, half the world uses 30-year old, single-speed beaters to travel huge distances, so anything we have will be 'good'!)

andymiller

While you can tour on anything, there's a lot to be said for buying a purpose-built tourer - if only because they are very good value and cheaper than building a bike up or adapting a 'non-touring' bike.

As well as the Dawes range you might want to look at the Kona Sutra. the Surly Long Haul Trucker seems to be sweeping the US market but I'm not sure it's available over here as a complete bike.

zonc

what have you got at the moment?

most of my touring has been on a old steel Fixed wheel...hmmm...
with just a saddlebag and bar bag. Works for me!

go go go

zonc

elduderino

I have to mention the Dawes Horizon as a true beast of a bike..

I paid £375 for mine and rode her 4000 miles from Oslo to Istanbul, up and over mountains, through rough city roads riddled with potholes and along a backroad in Serbia made entirely of sand and rubble, with no problems at all.

Over the course of the journey the only thing I had to change on the bike were the brake pads, everything else performed faultlessy.

The bike was comfortable, more than reliable and took rough terrain in her stride.