"Frederic Briere" wrote in message
...

Here's a few things I would look for:

GEARS: A granny gear is a must on a touring bike; even if you live in
Manitoba and always do credit-card touring, it's nice to know that you
*can* carry 50lbs of baggage uphill. Having at least one big rear cog
is also a plus; my lowest gear is 30-front and 34-rear, and I find it
useful from time to time. 9-speed is also a plus.

BRAKES: Make sure that there's enough clearance to install fenders;
cantis are the best in that regard. I believe there are also fenders
that will fit V-brakes, though I'd personally ask the LBS to switch the
brakes (and the levers) for cantis instead.

TIRES: Touring is typically done on 28/32/35 tires, although there are
no rules about this; maybe you'd prefer 23s for credit-card touring, or
maybe you often use bike paths and dirt roads and would rather use 38s.
The important thing is to make sure that the rims, brakes and frame can
all accomodate whatever tire size you might want to ride in the future.

WHEELS: 32 spokes should be enough, but 36 is always a plus. Anything
less than 32 should be avoided.

FRAME: You want at least one pair of eyelets in front and at the rear;
two pairs is preferable. (This is my main gripe with the Destination --
it only has one pair each.) Rack braze-ons on the fork and seatstays
are a definite plus. There should also be water cage braze-ons on the
seat tube and the down tube. (Some touring bikes have a third pair
under the down tube, where you can hang a spare bottle upside down.)

On a more personal note, I'd rather avoid having cables routed under the
top tube (like on the R400), as this robs you of a very convenient
location to store a frame pump. And I wish manufacturers started
putting braze-ons for pumps, dynamos and spare spokes. (I know the Fuji
Touring includes the latter; why aren't competitors imitating it?)

Sorry for leaving so much of your post in place, but I thought it was a
pretty good list. I think that the Giant OCR touring bike
(www.giant-bicycles.com) meets most of those criteria. Here's the list of
goodies:

Compact Road Design
Touring specific geometry and features
three water bottle mounts
fender and rack mounts
internal cable routing
Avid Disc Brakes

It would definitely be worth a ride.

-Buck