Question:
I'm moving to Portland OR in May (from snow-infested midwest.. weeee) and it
seems like the perfect time to purchase a new bike. Unfortunately, I haven't
been able to find one bike to meet all of my criteria. I'm hoping for
suggestions.
Purpose: city commuting *and* bike camping/touring
(I've only done a little touring to date - really looking forward to
scenery; 200 miles of cornfields can knock the spirit of adventure right out
of you. Ireland, on the other hand, was awesome!)
Size: I'm just under 5'4" with an inseam of 31" (in my biking shoes)
(If you do the math, that makes my legs very close to half my height...
looking for a *short* top tube!)
Camping gear (tent, sleeping bag and pad, camp stove, flashlight, food,
water, etc.) adds up, so the frame needs to be designed to hold front and
back panniers.
I've only been biking for a couple of years (on an entry-level hybrid). I'm
comfortable with the straight-across handlebars and, although I understand
the arguments for the curl-unders, the straight-across would continue to be
my preference.
Price: dependent upon how close the bike fits my needs.
The Cannondale Adventure
(http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/usa/model-1TS2.html) is close to what I'm
looking for, but the smallest size is a 50cm with a standover height of 31.8
inches...
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Answer:If you are looking for a road bike with smaller wheels that will
be used for touring then you really want a bike that uses the 559 (26"
MTB) wheelsize. There are many good touring tire options in this size,
perhaps even more than 622mm/700C.
Marinoni makes some nice looking bikes that use these size wheels and
are suitable for loaded touring. REI in the past has made their touring
bike (Novara Randonee) in a women's size that used 559mm wheels too, but
I'm not sure if it is still offered. My wife has one of these bikes (a
1996 model that we bought on closeout). We also have a 559mm wheeled
tandem because it was hard to find a 700C wheeled one that fit her well.
You might also consider a folding bicycle built around 406mm wheels.
The Bike Friday touring models (http://www.bikefriday.com) are
reasonably priced and 406mm wheeled bikes can easily be made to fit just
about anyone. 406mm also has a lot of useful tires in the 28-38mm width
range as they are commonly used on recumbents. Such a bike won't look
as normal though.
