Gravel Touring Bikes

The traditional touring bike featured drop handlebars and an increased wheelbase for improved comfort and stability when fully loaded with luggage for those epic touring trips. Pannier rack mounts located on the rear seat stays and front forks enabled a copious amount of luggage to be carried.

There are essentially 3 types of touring bikes including, steel touring bike, titanium touring bike and adventure touring bike. Throughout the majority of the 20th century, the steel touring bike reigned supreme. Steel is naturally ‘springy’ and offers a very compliant ride quality which is perfect when fully loaded up with luggage. It also happens to be extremely durable and is well capable of taking the sort of punishment that would write off frames constructed from other common materials. The titanium touring bike is a much more recent addition and offers a ride quality akin to that of steel. A Titanium touring bike is very comfortable to ride but is even stronger and more durable. This is reflected in the cost as a Titanium bike is more expensive but can rightly be considered a bike for life. With bike packing trips to the most remote corners of the world being very much in vogue, a bike that can better cope with more challenging terrain was required. The adventure touring bike is like a gravel bike that’s been to the gym. The tyre clearance is vast, with clearance for MTB style tyres up to 3” in diameter which can handle almost any terrain with ease. They also include a multitude of rack mounts for carrying vast amounts of luggage.