My 1992 Trek 950 (no suspension MTB) works fine for me. I've owned it since 1997 set up with drops and bar end shifters, triple crank, fenders racks, I've also done it bike packing style too. The frame and fork cost me $30. I had spare wheels and components from another bike and it has been my go to bike ever since then. I've toured on it in every road that exist in my area from New England, NJ, NY, Ohio, PA, Virginia and WV....lots of dirt roads, trails and this is also my main commuter bike. I have seen a lot of the newer stuff come and go. I feel my set up has been more reliable than what my riding buddies have bought in the last 5 to 10 years. This bike has also ridden on a lot of the 200k (125 miles) brevets in the rando world too. It is nice that we do have these new gravel bikes availble for the masses but the old MTB can handle this with zero issue!
@@brianbassett4379 My goal was not to have the cheapest bike, the frame and fork was bought in the swap meet. What I am saying is look around. There are tons of older rigid mountain bikes that are truly great touring bikes and can go gravel too even though we I been riding on gravel roads and trails since back in the 60's and plenty other riders before my generation.....nothing new about this concept. These old frames made from 4130 tubing, some lugged and even some with Reynolds 531 rides pretty dam nice....
I've a 920 and i love it. Have the 2018 version with the shifters on the hoods rather than the bar ends. Looks like there'll be no touring this year with covid restrictions but can't wait to get back out on it.
@4:40 Anyone can get an angle grinder with cutting wheel and go downtown on to the seat stay, add a coupler with fasteners. . . Voila you now have a frame compatible with a belt drive system.
I found your channel today and I want to say thank you for your down-to-earth reviews. I' ve been torn between buying the Trek Checkpoint ALR 5 or the Trek 920. Your reviews have pushed me to the 920. The 920 appears to be a much more stable and capable bike over the Checkpoint. Thanks again!
@5:10 Correction 8 bottle cages You're forgetting that you can actually have the option to add 2 more bottle ages behind the saddle area, just like how triathletes do on their bikes.
The real bargain are early 90s mtbs. They typically had all the braze ons for touring in those days, the frame geometry was close to a modern touring bike and the frame quality is quite high as it was a very competetive market and steel tubing was at its peak with many having a combination of heat treating and butting that is superior to what even Surly have on their best bikes. The catch is you really have to know what to look for to spot one with a drivetrain that is in good shape but knowledge is money and you can find these bikes for around $300 in very good condition, spend another hundred on rebuilding all the bearing ,new cables/housing and brake pads. Buy some tires, racks and panniers and for less than a grand have a touring bike as good as one costing three times as much.
schlooonginator yep....lots of bang for your buck! Even cheaper are same era hybrids....people give them away....if you get one with butted chromo frame and stick flared drops on you can have a decent gravel bike for peanuts!
@@michaelx9079 I have recently done exactly this, I'm using an old Shogun CroMo hybrid with panniers, I think about 20 years old or so. It is the perfect on-road tourer, and while I am taking it off-road too, I am now looking for another bike so I can run much thicker tyres. I can only run 35mm tyres on it unfortunately. Also the frame is a size too big for me but I suppose that also heightens and stablizes my position which is a plus. It is a comfortable ride for me and is really holding up strong with so much weight in my panniers off-road for such skinny tyres! I've been going over various off-road crap with panniers on this thing, and while it gets there, it's just not suitable with the thin tyres, it's difficult nervous riding off-road with such skinny tyres on rocky roads and washboard roads and soft sandy sections etc..., especially when you add such heavy weight with the panniers! Ideally I think I'd like plus size tyres or at least mtb size tyres.
schlooonginator I like this idea of using a 90s mtb as an off-road tourer. And for me I wouldn't worry about the drivetrain, I always like to put my own drivetrain on as I prefer lower gearing than is on stock builds. I'm always gearing my bikes down further than stock. The thing is I want something that has a lot of flotation for off-road stuff as that is what I want to do the most, but I also want to run front and rear panniers. The one downside for me of 90s mtbs for this is I'd prefer wider tyres than say 2.2 inches. But maybe 2.2 is alright. I was looking at fatbikes and holy hell in real life those tyres are so wide! On video they look more normal, but in real life for some reason they are so wide.
The Marin Four Corners is an extremely good value steel framed, drop bar touring rig that can fit up to 29x2.1 tires and has 6 bottle mounts for just over $1000. There is also the Trek 1120 now, 29x3 that allows belt drives. Look for our review of both coming soon. Love this video. Please do one every year.
Not sure if you're familiar with the mongoose Elroy, it's a great bike at a great price. I paid $630 for mine. Well worth the money for mid distance tours. I'm not sure what it would be like on long distance but only because I've never done a long distance tour on it yet.
I got the AWOL last year and love it. Mine came with fitted fenders and racks and feels great on both trails and road. Its more of a weekend bike for me though, I don't go nuts on it off road and I've yet to really weight it down with gear.
I own a steel cyclo x nashbar built up with 105 and ultegra. For 700$ it’s a legit setup but the new ones aren’t like the gen b4 but but is quality for the cost.
Amazing video and so far I think the dislikes are coming from the people who have bikes that wasn't mentioned in the video you made them feel they are doing it wrong :')
I'm thinking I might start bikepacking, first small trips around Victoria,Oz. then I would like to bike pack the length of the murray river and finally once all the annoyances have been worked out, then I'll start doing interstate trips.At the moment I'm looking at getting a Trek 1120 as it won't all be on road. has any one tried this bike out yet ? It looks really cool and practical
Meh, converted the $ 159 as new 1997 Fuji MX-200 with a 48/38/28T triple, upgraded 12-18T 7 spd freewheel , 26x2.10 knobbies or 26x1.75 Continental Tour Rides. The vintage ATB will save you at least a couple of grand, do asphalt, off road touring & gravel. If you load those panniers up, the only advantage I see with the newer bikes are the disc brakes. I ride flat FL anyway, so rim brakes are adequate for the task.
Did you consider Tout Terrain's Panamericana & Panamericana Xplore? They look like the ultimate off road touring bikes to me, with full suspension and integrated, stainless steel rear rack.
That specific AWOL isn't belt drive. They do offer a frameset with the split chainstay and swinging dropouts, but no complete model shares those features currently.
I bought the 2015 without fenders and racks (was not sold anymore), great bike but I had to change a few things to get it down properly, it was not suited to climb mountains on heavy loads. The crankset was too big for a tourer in my opinion.
Julian Thanks! The ECR is awesome but I feel like its more of a full on bikepacking bike than a touring bike. I know that's kind of splitting hairs but I plan to make another list video for bikepacking bikes aswell.
Wild Outdoor Living hey, what is the difference between the two? I always thought bikepacking is just a special kind of packing a off-road touring bike. 😅
The difference really does come down to the different bags at it's simplest explanation. Many bikepacking bikes aren't specifically designed to carry a rack and panniers (even if they have rack mounts as we found out with the Jamis Dragon slayer) and were specifically designed with soft bags in mind. These bikes here can certainly use soft bags as well and go bikepacking but they qualify as touring bikes as well since their specific geometry and rack mounts make them ideal for carrying rack and panniers and even cruising on the road. Also while you can even go bikepacking on a road bike, many will agree the purest bikepacking bikes are full on mountain bikes, designed to travel in the most remote and rugged areas you can find. I'm still working on the list, but those on it will be need to be capable of completing any major bikepacking route in the world and many of those routes require plus sized tires.
the Rough Stuff Fellowship has been off road touring around the world on normal bikes for 70 years or so, and I do notice non of the bicycles featured here have the braze ons to attach a climbing rope to lower the bicycle down a cliff ;-)
Thanks for your comment! Yeah that's the tough part of making one of these videos, there are so many bike companies out there that it's sometimes impossible to find all of the bikes, especially in this category. I had heard of Bombtrack before but only recently. The Beyond looks awesome, hopefully your comment will steer people to look in that direction as well.
In the 30s my dad used to tour the UK on a 3 speed Raleigh. As a teen in the 80s, I used the same bike all over Europe. So what? Intention is everything..the blah-blah about what's better, my bike is best in the comments (not the video). Maybe it's because there are all these categories now that people talk about bikes like envious car owners...the horror!
Is it fashion prevents any of the bikes featured here from having front suspension? My Roberts Roughstuff with 100mm travel forks is a lot nicer for off road touring than my Surly Troll and a Tubus suspension fork frame allows the use of four panniers.
Seen so many photos of broken Soma frames. I'm not concerned they fail, it's more about where they tend to fail (usually / consistently around the dropouts / somewhere in the rear triangle)
im thinking between the Trek 920, the Cube nuroad exc 2018 òr the giant Toughroad SLR1, what do you guys think i should buy ( its for daily work rides and bike vacations within Europe)
Can't imagine off road bike without mudguard or fender... got little concern with the dirt rolling around the wheels. Your water bottle at the bottom and your panniers will get dirt for sure...
All of these bikes have fender mounts. Due the the huge variety of situations these bikes might be used in most companies leave the selection of specific fenders up to the individual owners.
Aluminum frames for touring, get serious. I know it's better than it used to be but it still is harsher than steel or carbon. I've lived in a coastal region most of my life and never had an issue with corrosion if some minor maintenance is performed. If they made this bike out of steel I'd agree, but aluminum is way to harsh to sit on for hours on end
While I've heard the stereotypes many times, they simply aren't true. Especially of the 920. By far the smoothest bike I have ever ridden, I have ridden steel bikes that were comparable and steel bikes that were much worse. Frame material is just frame material, how the bike is constructed and even more importantly tire size is far more important. Same thing goes for Carbon, but even more so as the layup can be manipulated so drastically.
Well the reality is that Aluminum is stiffer than steel, old road frames made of aluminum were very punishing, especially on poor roads. But I've heard Aluminum frames had improved and admittedly it's less of a concern when your riding on big fat tires.
Well done modern aluminium is pretty much the same as most steel, and with the tire sizes on these bikes, the difference is totally irrelevant. Lose the prejudice and assess each bike on its merits, you can generally spot someone who does not know a lot but wants to justify their own purchases by sweeping statements that one material/style/bike is better than another.
You say that co-motion is a company that makes touring bikes only. Until your video I've seen plenty of co-motion road bikes and cyclocross bikes, but never a co-motion touring bike.
Great simple, traditional touring bike. It's Trek's longest running model. People have been having grand adventures on 520's for decades and best of all it's pretty affordable. It's not really designed to be a real rugged off road traveler but it can take fairly big tires especially if you switch to 650b wheels and tires. (thanks to disk brakes, that's now possible!). For road tours, both paved and gravel, it's ready to go out of the box.
Many people do choose to tour with a suspension fork. Most purpose built touring bikes go without it because rigid forks are simpler to maintain and they are better at carrying a load. Rigid touring/Bikepacking forks often have mounts for racks that suspension forks just don’t have.
Thorn Mercury & Nomad are great bikes and would be on this list if it wasn’t a US-centric collection. There are some good German, French, Dutch, Swiss brands that should appear also
A bike shop near where I live has them, if I had the money I'd get one. I already have a Specialized Crosstrail though, that I've been working on turning into an off road touring/adventure bike.
So where did all these 2017 bikes go this is 2019 they should be on the market someplace for like a hundred bucks or two hundred bucks 3 years old just saying there's got to be a place that sells these bikes at a decent price now they're old
Most of these models are still in production with very few changes. You can sometimes find people selling theirs on Facebook and other sites like that. Since they are only 2 to 3 years old though they are still worth between 40-60% of their original value. A 2017 Trek 920 still has a blue book value of just over $1000. In poor condition you'll likely pay a bit less of course.
Great bike as well, honestly there are tons of amazing bikes that could have been on this list. I didn't feel like the Sutra was quite off road worthy enough compared with the others in this group and it's only coming with 40 mil tires. Honestly though if you are looking to do paved and dirt road touring I would go with the Sutra over several others on this list. It can do much more of course it's just not as ideal as the other bikes listed.
Sutra LTD it's quite off road worthy. I'm not sold on the 1x11 and hydraulics tho. Trek 920 looks similar to the sutra in it's LTD form, but with no no-sense transmission and brakes.
I've been considering the ECR for years. Between the ECR and Fargo, I'm interested in a dropbar bike that won't handle "like a tank" | Couldn't even test ride "pre-pandemic" as I'm from a small town where people don't really purchase bikes. Would be nice to compare the two (set up 3.0)
Very low expectations for an "Off-Road Tour" bike. All unsuspended, all with bolt-on racks, and I don't believe that any of them even have fenders. One thing they got right is that an off-road tour bike IS very much about the racks. A FAIV front rack carries 40 lbs. of gear in two panniers suspended on my Panamericana. The rear shock and integral rear rack carry another 40 lbs. of gear in two panniers fully suspended and rock steady. The cherry on top is a Mule single wheel suspended trailer with another 90 lbs. of gear and toys. I guess now someone needs to dissect the word "Tour" into all it's possibilities because none of the bikes shown in this video fit the bill for me. - imgur.com/a/zXXlyuv
How so? Are the parts or sizing difficult to find outside north America? Or are there equally good bikes outside north America, eg, Bombtrack? I have a new Fargo for touring Canada and possibly Great Divide. But I have a 90s Cannondale CAD MTB I might use overseas.
@@KowalskiVanishing_Point I think ascot 104 means it's a very American centric choice. There are many bikes available from around the world that are much more suitable to off road touring and roughstuff riding than these over built wanna be mountain bikes. Thorn, Koga and Shand are a few companies come to mind, but there are many more.
Think you should add "USA Brands only" into your video title. What about people living outside of the U.S that are watching this?? Are you completely unaware of super-high quality European touring bike brands such as Koga or Van Nicholas, or, best of all, THORN. Check out the Thorn 'Nomad' for the ultimate indestructable global tourer that will go anywhere a mountain bike can go, whilst carrying upto 60kg of gear, plus the rider!! Thorn bikes are based in southwest England, and the company owner and frame designer Is a vastly experienced global tourer himself. He builds a bike, then tests it out himself(the Andies in South America is a favourite destination) and fine tunes the design before going to market. The perfect system! I'm currently saving to buy my Nomad.... CHECK THEM OUT!!!!
There are tons of amazing smaller brands around the world (yes I know Koga is not that small). There's even a fantastic builder here in my home town. I'm quite familiar with all of those brands but the goal of this video is to help people find a great touring bike. Most of the bikes in this video are available world wide and in large quantities. Where one of these bikes isn't available this video will hopefully help to show riders what type of bike they might be looking for. Since this channel is based in the US it would be a bit silly of my to include bikes that I can't see for myself and that the majority of my viewership can't purchase. One of these days I would like to do a video highlighting the greatest touring bikes available regardless of price, location or availability, this just wasn't that video.
I should point out though that none of the Thorn bikes would have made this list anyways. They are quality touring bikes certainly and while the nomad can take larger tires they lack the to modern geometry to truly allow them to excel off road. The Nomad is an expedition bike, meaning that it is designed to take a very heavy load and stand up to the abuse of terrible roads all around the world. That doesn't mean it was designed specifically to perform well in terms of outright off road capability.
The best touring bike is the bike you're touring on.
David Stanek right on!
My 1992 Trek 950 (no suspension MTB) works fine for me. I've owned it since 1997 set up with drops and bar end shifters, triple crank, fenders racks, I've also done it bike packing style too. The frame and fork cost me $30. I had spare wheels and components from another bike and it has been my go to bike ever since then. I've toured on it in every road that exist in my area from New England, NJ, NY, Ohio, PA, Virginia and WV....lots of dirt roads, trails and this is also my main commuter bike. I have seen a lot of the newer stuff come and go. I feel my set up has been more reliable than what my riding buddies have bought in the last 5 to 10 years. This bike has also ridden on a lot of the 200k (125 miles) brevets in the rando world too. It is nice that we do have these new gravel bikes availble for the masses but the old MTB can handle this with zero issue!
If owning the cheapest bike is the goal then congratulations Bob you're the winner.
@@brianbassett4379 My goal was not to have the cheapest bike, the frame and fork was bought in the swap meet. What I am saying is look around. There are tons of older rigid mountain bikes that are truly great touring bikes and can go gravel too even though we I been riding on gravel roads and trails since back in the 60's and plenty other riders before my generation.....nothing new about this concept. These old frames made from 4130 tubing, some lugged and even some with Reynolds 531 rides pretty dam nice....
@@767bob Then why the misleading title?
I've a 920 and i love it. Have the 2018 version with the shifters on the hoods rather than the bar ends. Looks like there'll be no touring this year with covid restrictions but can't wait to get back out on it.
@4:40
Anyone can get an angle grinder with cutting wheel and go downtown on to the seat stay, add a coupler with fasteners. . . Voila you now have a frame compatible with a belt drive system.
Awesome video! I am currently touring on a salsa fargo 2012 found at a pawn shop for $500. Super sick!
I picked up a 14’ today at flea market with brooks saddle for 350$ . My first salsa bike ever.
@@calibomber209 Epic pick up! :)
Thorn Nomad MKII. One bike does all
I found your channel today and I want to say thank you for your down-to-earth reviews. I' ve been torn between buying the Trek Checkpoint ALR 5 or the Trek 920. Your reviews have pushed me to the 920. The 920 appears to be a much more stable and capable bike over the Checkpoint. Thanks again!
I just ordered my Trek 920 today. I can't wait. It checked all the boxes. I'm only suspicious of the 28 spokes. We'll see.
Still riding my 920. It's like wine. It only gets better with age.
@5:10 Correction 8 bottle cages
You're forgetting that you can actually have the option to add 2 more bottle ages behind the saddle area, just like how triathletes do on their bikes.
The real bargain are early 90s mtbs. They typically had all the braze ons for touring in those days, the frame geometry was close to a modern touring bike and the frame quality is quite high as it was a very competetive market and steel tubing was at its peak with many having a combination of heat treating and butting that is superior to what even Surly have on their best bikes.
The catch is you really have to know what to look for to spot one with a drivetrain that is in good shape but knowledge is money and you can find these bikes for around $300 in very good condition, spend another hundred on rebuilding all the bearing ,new cables/housing and brake pads. Buy some tires, racks and panniers and for less than a grand have a touring bike as good as one costing three times as much.
schlooonginator yep....lots of bang for your buck! Even cheaper are same era hybrids....people give them away....if you get one with butted chromo frame and stick flared drops on you can have a decent gravel bike for peanuts!
@@michaelx9079 I have recently done exactly this, I'm using an old Shogun CroMo hybrid with panniers, I think about 20 years old or so. It is the perfect on-road tourer, and while I am taking it off-road too, I am now looking for another bike so I can run much thicker tyres. I can only run 35mm tyres on it unfortunately.
Also the frame is a size too big for me but I suppose that also heightens and stablizes my position which is a plus. It is a comfortable ride for me and is really holding up strong with so much weight in my panniers off-road for such skinny tyres!
I've been going over various off-road crap with panniers on this thing, and while it gets there, it's just not suitable with the thin tyres, it's difficult nervous riding off-road with such skinny tyres on rocky roads and washboard roads and soft sandy sections etc..., especially when you add such heavy weight with the panniers! Ideally I think I'd like plus size tyres or at least mtb size tyres.
schlooonginator
I like this idea of using a 90s mtb as an off-road tourer. And for me I wouldn't worry about the drivetrain, I always like to put my own drivetrain on as I prefer lower gearing than is on stock builds. I'm always gearing my bikes down further than stock.
The thing is I want something that has a lot of flotation for off-road stuff as that is what I want to do the most, but I also want to run front and rear panniers. The one downside for me of 90s mtbs for this is I'd prefer wider tyres than say 2.2 inches. But maybe 2.2 is alright. I was looking at fatbikes and holy hell in real life those tyres are so wide! On video they look more normal, but in real life for some reason they are so wide.
Working on just this with a 93 giant iguana
@@markmarlatt1105 I just built up a 94 giant rincon. Added thread less stem adapter and did bar end shifters on fsa adventure compacts.
Surly Ogre for USA, especially for bigger riders.
The Marin Four Corners is an extremely good value steel framed, drop bar touring rig that can fit up to 29x2.1 tires and has 6 bottle mounts for just over $1000. There is also the Trek 1120 now, 29x3 that allows belt drives. Look for our review of both coming soon. Love this video. Please do one every year.
Not sure if you're familiar with the mongoose Elroy, it's a great bike at a great price. I paid $630 for mine. Well worth the money for mid distance tours. I'm not sure what it would be like on long distance but only because I've never done a long distance tour on it yet.
I got the AWOL last year and love it. Mine came with fitted fenders and racks and feels great on both trails and road. Its more of a weekend bike for me though, I don't go nuts on it off road and I've yet to really weight it down with gear.
I own a steel cyclo x nashbar built up with 105 and ultegra. For 700$ it’s a legit setup but the new ones aren’t like the gen b4 but but is quality for the cost.
Amazing video and so far I think the dislikes are coming from the people who have bikes that wasn't mentioned in the video
you made them feel they are doing it wrong :')
What about Fuji Touring ?
I'm thinking I might start bikepacking, first small trips around Victoria,Oz. then I would like to bike pack the length of the murray river and finally once all the annoyances have been worked out, then I'll start doing interstate trips.At the moment I'm looking at getting a Trek 1120 as it won't all be on road. has any one tried this bike out yet ? It looks really cool and practical
love my 920! I have 1200+ miles on mine, your vid was excellent, well done
Bill Dermody I use the 920 as a commuter and it's the best thing in the world.
You are a good channel owner.
Trek rules!
Very nice review ... Great channel
@5:05
Only aluminum corrodes, seel never corrodes. steal only is susceptible to rust, and it can be fixed.
Meh, converted the $ 159 as new 1997 Fuji MX-200 with a 48/38/28T triple, upgraded 12-18T 7 spd freewheel , 26x2.10 knobbies or 26x1.75 Continental Tour Rides. The vintage ATB will save you at least a couple of grand, do asphalt, off road touring & gravel. If you load those panniers up, the only advantage I see with the newer bikes are the disc brakes. I ride flat FL anyway, so rim brakes are adequate for the task.
Did you consider Tout Terrain's Panamericana & Panamericana Xplore? They look like the ultimate off road touring bikes to me, with full suspension and integrated, stainless steel rear rack.
Seems like Diamond Back's Haanjo EXP Carbon and Raleigh's Tamland series deserve a look as well.
That specific AWOL isn't belt drive. They do offer a frameset with the split chainstay and swinging dropouts, but no complete model shares those features currently.
I bought the 2015 without fenders and racks (was not sold anymore), great bike but I had to change a few things to get it down properly, it was not suited to climb mountains on heavy loads. The crankset was too big for a tourer in my opinion.
The Genesis Vagabond is a great bike for the money.
Great video !!!!
Thanks, glad you liked it.
What happened to the Surly ECR?
nice vid btw
Julian Thanks! The ECR is awesome but I feel like its more of a full on bikepacking bike than a touring bike. I know that's kind of splitting hairs but I plan to make another list video for bikepacking bikes aswell.
thx for the reply, looking forward to the bikepacking bikes list.
Wild Outdoor Living
hey, what is the difference between the two? I always thought bikepacking is just a special kind of packing a off-road touring bike. 😅
The difference really does come down to the different bags at it's simplest explanation. Many bikepacking bikes aren't specifically designed to carry a rack and panniers (even if they have rack mounts as we found out with the Jamis Dragon slayer) and were specifically designed with soft bags in mind. These bikes here can certainly use soft bags as well and go bikepacking but they qualify as touring bikes as well since their specific geometry and rack mounts make them ideal for carrying rack and panniers and even cruising on the road.
Also while you can even go bikepacking on a road bike, many will agree the purest bikepacking bikes are full on mountain bikes, designed to travel in the most remote and rugged areas you can find. I'm still working on the list, but those on it will be need to be capable of completing any major bikepacking route in the world and many of those routes require plus sized tires.
Wild Outdoor Living
sorry, I just now saw you got a hole video on the subject 😅
but thanks for the answer, it makes a lot more sense now.
the Rough Stuff Fellowship has been off road touring around the world on normal bikes for 70 years or so, and I do notice non of the bicycles featured here have the braze ons to attach a climbing rope to lower the bicycle down a cliff ;-)
What a great idea for a bicycle! :)
Yes and I also noticed none of the bikes featured in this video have wings, which I find a big oversight on the part of the videographer.
Awesome! 😃
Thanks!
Have you ever looked at Bombtrack bicycles? I have a Beyond which would fit well in this category. Nice roundup though! Cheers.
Thanks for your comment! Yeah that's the tough part of making one of these videos, there are so many bike companies out there that it's sometimes impossible to find all of the bikes, especially in this category. I had heard of Bombtrack before but only recently. The Beyond looks awesome, hopefully your comment will steer people to look in that direction as well.
In the 30s my dad used to tour the UK on a 3 speed Raleigh. As a teen in the 80s, I used the same bike all over Europe. So what? Intention is everything..the blah-blah about what's better, my bike is best in the comments (not the video). Maybe it's because there are all these categories now that people talk about bikes like envious car owners...the horror!
great comment mate, sums it up completely
Well said!! Brand snobbery can suck it!!!
Correct. It ain't what you got it's where you go. Never let the bike stop you.
$$$Marketing$$$
I would ride technical firetrails with a 1976 dorado Sherpa rigid mtb and beat 2010+ full suspension riders.
Is it fashion prevents any of the bikes featured here from having front suspension? My Roberts Roughstuff with 100mm travel forks is a lot nicer for off road touring than my Surly Troll and a Tubus suspension fork frame allows the use of four panniers.
Thanks!
nice bike...
Soma makes some nice frames. I have been touring in a Was for 5 years on paved and gravel roads. Better steel, geometry and paint than Surly.
Seen so many photos of broken Soma frames. I'm not concerned they fail, it's more about where they tend to fail (usually / consistently around the dropouts / somewhere in the rear triangle)
what if you live in an area 4500 feet above sea level and hilly terrain. what groupset is good for a touring bike?
im thinking between the Trek 920, the Cube nuroad exc 2018 òr the giant Toughroad SLR1, what do you guys think i should buy ( its for daily work rides and bike vacations within Europe)
Can't imagine off road bike without mudguard or fender... got little concern with the dirt rolling around the wheels. Your water bottle at the bottom and your panniers will get dirt for sure...
All of these bikes have fender mounts. Due the the huge variety of situations these bikes might be used in most companies leave the selection of specific fenders up to the individual owners.
Thanks for the info... appreciate it. More power to you guys....
Aluminum frames for touring, get serious. I know it's better than it used to be but it still is harsher than steel or carbon. I've lived in a coastal region most of my life and never had an issue with corrosion if some minor maintenance is performed. If they made this bike out of steel I'd agree, but aluminum is way to harsh to sit on for hours on end
While I've heard the stereotypes many times, they simply aren't true. Especially of the 920. By far the smoothest bike I have ever ridden, I have ridden steel bikes that were comparable and steel bikes that were much worse. Frame material is just frame material, how the bike is constructed and even more importantly tire size is far more important. Same thing goes for Carbon, but even more so as the layup can be manipulated so drastically.
Well the reality is that Aluminum is stiffer than steel, old road frames made of aluminum were very punishing, especially on poor roads. But I've heard Aluminum frames had improved and admittedly it's less of a concern when your riding on big fat tires.
Well done modern aluminium is pretty much the same as most steel, and with the tire sizes on these bikes, the difference is totally irrelevant. Lose the prejudice and assess each bike on its merits, you can generally spot someone who does not know a lot but wants to justify their own purchases by sweeping statements that one material/style/bike is better than another.
You say that co-motion is a company that makes touring bikes only. Until your video I've seen plenty of co-motion road bikes and cyclocross bikes, but never a co-motion touring bike.
could you tell me what your opinion is of the Trek 520? I think that one seems good!
Great simple, traditional touring bike. It's Trek's longest running model. People have been having grand adventures on 520's for decades and best of all it's pretty affordable. It's not really designed to be a real rugged off road traveler but it can take fairly big tires especially if you switch to 650b wheels and tires. (thanks to disk brakes, that's now possible!). For road tours, both paved and gravel, it's ready to go out of the box.
Why dont these bikes have front suspension?
Many people do choose to tour with a suspension fork. Most purpose built touring bikes go without it because rigid forks are simpler to maintain and they are better at carrying a load. Rigid touring/Bikepacking forks often have mounts for racks that suspension forks just don’t have.
Trek 1120 is #1
What do you think of the THORN Raven?
a thorn frame would cost 3 times what a surly frame would. thorn plays in another league
So is the Thorn Raven WORTH the extra bucks/mile cycled?
Thorn Mercury & Nomad are great bikes and would be on this list if it wasn’t a US-centric collection. There are some good German, French, Dutch, Swiss brands that should appear also
Schwinn Volare 1300
Wow. He mentioned Aluminum for touring. And the Earth didn’t stop turning! What will all the Surlyheads do??
What's "belt drive ready"? I just imagined myself strapped into my car lol
It is ready for a belt instead of the "old" chain. Less maintenance, easy to clean and good for 10.000 km.
Kona Sutra man!
Surly can't roll on belt drive.
Whats with the potato quality with this video? 480p!??
is there a bike that looks like the Trek 920 that has a belt drive
look at the salsa range
Which is better
Specialized AWOL elite or Trek 920?
trek 920 number one!!!!
A bike shop near where I live has them, if I had the money I'd get one. I already have a Specialized Crosstrail though, that I've been working on turning into an off road touring/adventure bike.
what about Marin four corners.
So where did all these 2017 bikes go this is 2019 they should be on the market someplace for like a hundred bucks or two hundred bucks 3 years old just saying there's got to be a place that sells these bikes at a decent price now they're old
Most of these models are still in production with very few changes. You can sometimes find people selling theirs on Facebook and other sites like that. Since they are only 2 to 3 years old though they are still worth between 40-60% of their original value. A 2017 Trek 920 still has a blue book value of just over $1000. In poor condition you'll likely pay a bit less of course.
Sepeda Federal gimana ?
Did Trek give him 920?
That would be nice wouldn't it. Nope I purchased my 920 with my own money.
Trek & Aluminum, neither word should be mentioned in Touring Bike.
Where is Mason bokeh
what about go touring with front suspension mtb? i have cube acid and i wish to go looong way with it...so please tell me ur thoughts.
Comotion looks nice. Other bikes just looks ugly.
And this guy haven't heard Mountain bikes
Trek made a touring frame and they used aluminum? They truly have no shame.
And the 520 touring bike is steel but the fork is aluminum.... I don't get it
Steels Real bro. ;-P
Kona sutra? :'(
Great bike as well, honestly there are tons of amazing bikes that could have been on this list. I didn't feel like the Sutra was quite off road worthy enough compared with the others in this group and it's only coming with 40 mil tires. Honestly though if you are looking to do paved and dirt road touring I would go with the Sutra over several others on this list. It can do much more of course it's just not as ideal as the other bikes listed.
Sutra LTD it's quite off road worthy. I'm not sold on the 1x11 and hydraulics tho. Trek 920 looks similar to the sutra in it's LTD form, but with no no-sense transmission and brakes.
SURLY ECR....
I've been considering the ECR for years. Between the ECR and Fargo, I'm interested in a dropbar bike that won't handle "like a tank" | Couldn't even test ride "pre-pandemic" as I'm from a small town where people don't really purchase bikes. Would be nice to compare the two (set up 3.0)
Tout Terrain Panamericana
I vote my surely ogre
松ぼっくりが デカイ‼️自転車が模型に見えるよ。
Very low expectations for an "Off-Road Tour" bike. All unsuspended, all with bolt-on racks, and I don't believe that any of them even have fenders. One thing they got right is that an off-road tour bike IS very much about the racks. A FAIV front rack carries 40 lbs. of gear in two panniers suspended on my Panamericana. The rear shock and integral rear rack carry another 40 lbs. of gear in two panniers fully suspended and rock steady. The cherry on top is a Mule single wheel suspended trailer with another 90 lbs. of gear and toys. I guess now someone needs to dissect the word "Tour" into all it's possibilities because none of the bikes shown in this video fit the bill for me. - imgur.com/a/zXXlyuv
pop filter on the mic dude. Tights on a coat hanger will do.
i am building a troll
These bikes are for poeple who nether leave american.
I'm going to Europe and all I can find is info on US bikes. Any suggestions for a bike I can buy when I get to Germany/Netherlands?
How so? Are the parts or sizing difficult to find outside north America? Or are there equally good bikes outside north America, eg, Bombtrack? I have a new Fargo for touring Canada and possibly Great Divide. But I have a 90s Cannondale CAD MTB I might use overseas.
@@KowalskiVanishing_Point I think ascot 104 means it's a very American centric choice. There are many bikes available from around the world that are much more suitable to off road touring and roughstuff riding than these over built wanna be mountain bikes. Thorn, Koga and Shand are a few companies come to mind, but there are many more.
Think you should add "USA Brands only" into your video title. What about people living outside of the U.S that are watching this?? Are you completely unaware of super-high quality European touring bike brands such as Koga or Van Nicholas, or, best of all, THORN. Check out the Thorn 'Nomad' for the ultimate indestructable global tourer that will go anywhere a mountain bike can go, whilst carrying upto 60kg of gear, plus the rider!!
Thorn bikes are based in southwest England, and the company owner and frame designer Is a vastly experienced global tourer himself. He builds a bike, then tests it out himself(the Andies in South America is a favourite destination) and fine tunes the design before going to market. The perfect system!
I'm currently saving to buy my Nomad....
CHECK THEM OUT!!!!
There are tons of amazing smaller brands around the world (yes I know Koga is not that small). There's even a fantastic builder here in my home town. I'm quite familiar with all of those brands but the goal of this video is to help people find a great touring bike. Most of the bikes in this video are available world wide and in large quantities. Where one of these bikes isn't available this video will hopefully help to show riders what type of bike they might be looking for. Since this channel is based in the US it would be a bit silly of my to include bikes that I can't see for myself and that the majority of my viewership can't purchase. One of these days I would like to do a video highlighting the greatest touring bikes available regardless of price, location or availability, this just wasn't that video.
I should point out though that none of the Thorn bikes would have made this list anyways. They are quality touring bikes certainly and while the nomad can take larger tires they lack the to modern geometry to truly allow them to excel off road. The Nomad is an expedition bike, meaning that it is designed to take a very heavy load and stand up to the abuse of terrible roads all around the world. That doesn't mean it was designed specifically to perform well in terms of outright off road capability.
These bikes dont have front shocks? You joking?
They are touring bikes.
I don’t know much nor have any experience. But what is wrong with front shocks on touring bike especially one for off-road touring?
Du laberst! zu viel