Road or touring for long distance cycling?

You need to carry your luggage on the bike and not on your back so a rear rack is usefull. The main difference between road and touring bikes is the tyre width, gearing and accessories. (mudguards etc) The amount of luggage you carry is down to you, not the bike. Road bikes are likely to be geared too high for leisurely riding, they may not have fittings for a rack and mudguards and the tyre clearance may not let you fit a wider (28/32mm) tyre.
How far is "long distance" and whats likely to be your average speed? Are you going to wash your kit each night? Will it rain? (waterproofs, mudguards, spare dry clothes needed) Are you going into the hills?
Chris

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by robxster</i>

Long distance as in 60-80 miles a day for several days. Average speed would be about 15mph i think. I guess i would need a spare change of clothing, spare inner tube, map and some food and a phone. Would not be worried about mudgaurds as i don't mind getting dirty.

All in all i intend to travel light.

Cheers
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An Audax/Sport tourer is the way to go, put a triple or wide double on it and a rear rack or a saddlebag. I do both light weight and fully loaded touring on my sport tourer, here it is set up for loaded touring with tent, sleeping bag etc. If I do credit card touring I only need the saddle bag and its not quite as stuffed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8342807@N02/502297229/

Yeah - Bought a Condor Fratello recently - superb for that sort of thing.
Other nice ones:
Van Nicholas/ Condor Gran Fondo (Titanium frame), Mercian, Thorn.
Steel and Titanium alloy bikes are generally considered more comfortable than Aluminium alloys.

These bikes generally have deep drop forks and slightly longer chainstays to allow mudguard fitment. This has the benefit of making them slightly less whippy due to the longer wheelbase, however the sports tourers are generally lively enough.
Bear in mind this means that you need deep drop brakes, if not using cantilever or V-brakes. Campag. don't make deep drop calipers.

Triple chainset would be useful as already mentioned.
I run 25C GP4000 tyres.
Racks - I use a Tubus (www.tubus.net) although there are some fancy Titanium racks I spied on the bikeplus website.
Sprocket wise, I run a 13-29
Wheels: Get yourself a decent rear wheel to take the weight - Something like a 36H Mavic Open Pro. with some sturdy spoking would be nice, though plenty of other options out there.
Saddle wise, a lot of people rate the Specialized Toupe and the Fiziks. Some swear by Brooks, however they need to be looked after more than a plastic saddle.

Consider your lighting requirements if riding after dark - If you need a front Dyno-hub, better to do it up-front and not end up having to buy a new front wheel! Battery/LED systems are pretty good - The latest Topeak LED system will run for up to 47Hrs on the optional battery!

For youth hostelling I try to be minimalist, one change of clothes and a pair of trainers, Therefore can get my stuff in a Carradice saddle bag supported from the seat tube with their SQR system. I then just use my road bike in summer. No mudguards fairly light. In winter I use my winter bike which is basically an Audax bike Mudguars and a triple.

I think if you fit a rack and panniers you will fill them and spoil the light weight feel.


Racing is rubbish you can't relax and enjoy it- because some bugger is always trying to get past.

Audax/light tourers tyically have long drop caliper brakes. Tourers use wider clearances with cantilever brakes. The calipers tend to work better (with drop-bar levers)if you can cope with the limit on clearance (32mm tyres).

Mudgaurd and rack threaded eyelets are pretty essential on any non-race bike. You don't have to fit all the accessories but if you do, the best way is using bolts rather than clips.The downside of these eyelets is a couple of grams weight.

I think an important consideration is how much you like mountains. If you are the type that wants to do some tough Alpine climbs why not go ultralight with a racing bike and just a Carradice SQR Tour and a bar bag? Then you can have fun overtaking all the people with triple chainsets and four panniers.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Eurostar</i>

I think an important consideration is how much you like mountains. If you are the type that wants to do some tough Alpine climbs why not go ultralight with a racing bike and just a Carradice SQR Tour and a bar bag? Then you can have fun overtaking all the people with triple chainsets and four panniers.
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It's even more fun overtaking the naked racing bikes on your fully loaded touring bike.

As far as mudguards are concerned a cheap pair of 'SKS raceblades' will fit to almost any road bike.

If you are taller than 5'8" then a Carradice Saddlebag will be enough.Alternatively you can do a search on this forum for for bags like this which attach with a rack to your seat post. http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... 5360012458

I have a Specialized Allez '05 which I can stick a rack on as it has the neccessary braze-ons. An audax bike would probably have stronger wheels.

I suppose the big question is do you think you may do more one day rides (possibly join a club and do the odd sportif)
OR is there a chance you may want to do longer tours needing small panniers in the future???

Have a look at Pearson cycles website . They do a price for helmet, shoes etc incl with bike. You could get them to put a cheap 'compact chainset' on which is easier to pedal up hills etc when you are carrying a small amount of gear.

Good luck.