[Getting Started]

Touring Bicycles 101: For Newbies

An Overview of What Makes a Great Touring Bicycle

We'll cover the basics of choosing a bicycle, getting it into working condition, what kinds of safety equipment you'll need, adjusting the bike properly, riding skills, and a bit about the different types of bicycle touring available, as well as various ways to get into shape for riding your bicycle.

There are many great books out there that go into greater detail than we will in this article. You'll find a list of some of our favorites at the end.

So let's get started...

You'll Need a Bicycle

There are many types of bicycles available, from the most modern and stylish multi-geared "road" bikes made of aluminum, carbon or titanium, to ancient, classic bicycles like 10 and 12-speed bikes made of steel, as well as "mountain" bikes suited more for off-road use.

While many people enjoy riding sporty, high-priced roads bikes while touring, there's no requirement for you to invest in that kind of a machine. Safety is what counts.

Before we start talking about what features are found on a good touring bike, let's look at a diagram of a generic touring bicycle so you get familiar with its parts:

Click images to zoom

You can use just about any bike for touring, but there are trade-offs in performance and safety if the bike doesn't have the features of a touring bike.

Good Touring Bicycle Features:

Triple Chainrings — Touring bikes generally have triple chainrings (gears on the pedal crank) of a relatively small diameter — the smallest at around 24 or 26 (teeth) — which make pedaling easier on hills with a loaded pannier. Experienced cyclists try to maintain a pedaling "cadence" of between 75-100 revolutions per minute in order to be most efficient with their energy.
Longer Frame with Angled Downtubes — Angled downtubes can give a bike a longer wheelbase which makes turning feel more solid. When touring with a load, stability is important and having stability increases safety.
Gearing — Lower gear ratios allow you to more easily transport whatever extra load you're carrying. A rear gear cassette with gear diameters spaced uniformly across the lower or middle ranges, instead of the higher ratio ranges (as with racing bikes). Both gear cassette clusters and chainrings can be customized by your local bike shop if necessary.
Built-in or Brazed-on Eyelets — Threaded eyelets on front forks, rear seat stays, or near the rear drop-outs will allow you to attach fenders and/or luggage racks. Some rack or fender systems also come with universal adapters that mount around the fork or seat stays,

Here are some of the tradeoffs with other bicycle types:

Racing bikes — have a more vertical seat tube and head tube, which reduces the flexing of the frame making it more responsive and transmitting more power to the wheels, but this also transmits more of the bumps to your seat and arms and can feel less stable with loaded panniers.

However, my next bike will be a Cervelo Soloist racing bike with added racks because I travel with a single rear bag when credit-card touring and stability is not such a big issue, plus I like the extra perfomance such a bike provides when climbing hills.

Mountain bikes — while enabling you to ride on dirt and gravel roads, they tend to slow you down because of the wider knobby tires, and slight extra weight.

Glossary

Cadence — Pedal revolutions per minute. Good cadence helps prevent wear and tear on the rider's knees and can help endurance.