Best bike to buy for touring as well as commuting..

[Big T]

An audax bike is basically a race bike with mudguards and a rack, or at least the fittings for them. Generally fairly narrow tyres, 23 to 25 mm. They might have a slightly more relaxed position than a pure race bike. An audax bike is built for comfort and speed. Not really designed for full-on touring, but can be used for lightweight tours and ideally suited to day rides.

A tourer is built more for comfort than speed, with a better luggage carrying capacity than an audax bike, wider tyres, usually 32 to 37 mm. Unladen, they are surprisingly nippy, perhaps not as quick as an audax bike, but not far off.

 

[jimboalee]

An audax bike is basically a race bike with mudguards and a rack, or at least the fittings for them. Generally fairly narrow tyres, 23 to 25 mm. They might have a slightly more relaxed position than a pure race bike. An audax bike is built for comfort and speed. Not really designed for full-on touring, but can be used for lightweight tours and ideally suited to day rides.

A tourer is built more for comfort than speed, with a better luggage carrying capacity than an audax bike, wider tyres, usually 32 to 37 mm. Unladen, they are surprisingly nippy, perhaps not as quick as an audax bike, but not far off.

Please read Audax UK Regulation 5.3 again.

An Audax bike is "ANY BIKE".

 

[Andy in Sig]

I still reckon that tourers are the best all round bikes there are: fast enough, practical enough, tough enough and comfortable enough.

 

[Scoosh]

Please read Audax UK Regulation 5.3 again.

An Audax bike is "ANY BIKE".

We are in the 'Beginners' section. Going on about the finer points of what bike may or may not be acceptable to ride an Audax is not being helpful to the OP.

If you go into a LBS, there are certain definitons/groupings of bikes to which they will refer. These would include racer; audax; hybrid; mtb; tourer; bmx; recumbent bike; trike; penny farthing etc etc. We are here to assist the OP to reach a decision on what we reckon would be the best type of bike for her specified type of riding. You could commute or tour on a bmx but I am not going to recommend it.

Two of those being recommended are an audax-type bike and a tourer-type bike.

I am going to suggest to the poster that she asks to see these types and test rides those which are recommended by the LBS and takes it from there and, if required, comes back here to ask more questions.

jimboalee, if you wish to continue your pedantic posts, I suggest you take them to the similar-titled post in the Road Rides, Audax and Sportives section.

Here endeth the lesson

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I still reckon that tourers are the best all round bikes there are: fast enough, practical enough, tough enough and comfortable enough.

+1 good on road, good enough off road, comfy and can carry stuff.

 

[jimboalee]

We are in the 'Beginners' section. Going on about the finer points of what bike may or may not be acceptable to ride an Audax is not being helpful to the OP.

If you go into a LBS, there are certain definitons/groupings of bikes to which they will refer. These would include racer; audax; hybrid; mtb; tourer; bmx; recumbent bike; trike; penny farthing etc etc. We are here to assist the OP to reach a decision on what we reckon would be the best type of bike for her specified type of riding. You could commute or tour on a bmx but I am not going to recommend it.

Two of those being recommended are an audax-type bike and a tourer-type bike.

I am going to suggest to the poster that she asks to see these types and test rides those which are recommended by the LBS and takes it from there and, if required, comes back here to ask more questions.

jimboalee, if you wish to continue your pedantic posts, I suggest you take them to the similar-titled post in the Road Rides, Audax and Sportives section.

Here endeth the lesson

What I'm trying to say is:-

Calling a commercially built bike an 'Audax' bike is a lot of 'Sales hype'.
The marketing oiks at the bike manufacturers saw that participation in Audax UK events boomed, so they went along to see what these people were riding. Winter trainers and adapted roadrace bikes.
They recreated what AUK membership had been riding for decades and created a 'Label' for the type of bike Big T described, pointing out features which puts the bike apart from Roadrace and touring bikes.

It really makes me laugh.

As for the OP's question. Any bike that will take full mudguards.


Hardened AUK people

 

[Big T]

Audax bike could just as easily be called something else, such as winter bike or training bike. However, if you go into a decent bike shop and ask for an audax bike, they'll know what you mean, and it will be more or less what I described.

 

[jimboalee]

Audax bike could just as easily be called something else, such as winter bike or training bike. However, if you go into a decent bike shop and ask for an audax bike, they'll know what you mean, and it will be more or less what I described.

No.

Go into a shop and ask for "a bike for riding an Audax".

Same as asking for "a bike to enter a Cat 4 roadrace".

 

[Scoosh]

No.

Go into a shop and ask for "a bike for riding an Audax".

Same as asking for "a bike to enter a Cat 4 roadrace".

Jane-o, please try to understand that we are aiming to help you here. Some people must be running short of hair, so they wish to split it at every opportunity.

Bikes come in so many shapes, sizes, styles etc and for so many different purposes, that there is a miriad of names used to describe them.

Audax bike could just as easily be called something else, such as winter bike or training bike. However, if you go into a decent bike shop and ask for an audax bike, they'll know what you mean, and it will be more or less what I described.

+1

 

[jimboalee]

OK, serious now.

Jane-O, when you say a ~50day tour, is that 50 km per day, 50 miles per day or 50 days of touring?

You must have your tour planned already. What are the hills like? How much luggage are you carrying in weight terms. This all counts to bike selection.

A serious bike tour warrants a serious touring bike. If it is 50 consecutive days of touring, a ‘laid back’ shallow angle tourer is my recommendation. It will have a low set of gears – Check out the Dawes Horizon at Spa Cycles for £750 notes.

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b1s21p1366


It has a 24” ( 28 x 32 ) lowest, so you could load that bike up to over 30 lb total weight and get up some steep gradients.

When you’ve finished your expedition, you’ll prob’ need a new chain and cassette, so renew the cassette with something that doesn’t have the enormous 32 sprocket, unless you fancy doing some Audax on it.

There is nothing stopping you commuting on a Dawes Horizon, except maybe the likely thief.