Choosing a tour/commuter bike!

[vlion]

Hi,

I'm looking at getting a decent long-range bike. The companies that make the bikes are...

• Raleigh
  
• Kona
  
• Giant
  
• Specialized
  
• Trek
  
• Gary Fisher
  

In no order of preference. I'm looking for a bike that won't break down randomly, is comfortable, and goes decently fast, and isn't going to cost an arm and a leg. Does anyone have experience with these companies?

Comments

[sara]

I have a Trek 520, and think fairly high of it, though I've swapped out a few things over the years, and in the 21" model, it does sometimes do a bit of that thing where at an extreme angle, my toe-clip hits the turning front wheel -- I can't remember what this is called but I am sure there is a technical term. But that doesn't happen much because it's a 700 cc bike and you just don't turn the wheel that hard very often. And it could use a lower low gear, but I could probably also use more time hillclimbing (this is probably at least as much a me problem as the bike's problem).

It is, aside from the toe-into-wheel problem, very comfy, and works well for me as an all-purpose bike: something I can haul groceries and commute on, and take out on the weekends and do half-centuries in the summertime.

Were I buying another touring bike and wanting something that one could buy built out from a bike shop, I would also look at Fujis and Surlys.

[zingerella]

Toe overlap is that thing.

[sara]

It's not my favorite thing. But I have to be turning the wheel pretty hard to do it, and on a 700cc bike, that's pretty rare (on the bike with leeeeetle tires, I turn the wheel sharply all the time, but toe overlap is so not the issue there. *GRIN*)

[zingerella]

Oh sure thing, and you know your riding.

I was just doing a bunch of reading about it, so the name was on the tip of my fingers.

[sara]

Someday when I have an infinite amount of money, I am going to have someone build me the World's Most Perfect Bicycle, and it will have a slightly more raked out fork than this one. *GRIN*