On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 5:41:21 PM UTC-6, sms wrote:

Trek's touring bicycle selection has always been lousy, they have the
Trek 520 which is inferior to other brands' touring bicycles.

Trek has the 520 for loaded touring. Most every other bike company has exactly ONE loaded touring bike too. The 520 is very similar or the exact same as every other loaded touring bike sold. There are no differences in loaded touring bikes. They all have steel frame and forks made in China. Shimano or maybe SRAM mid/low level components. Bar end shifters. 9 speed cassette. Triple crank. They are all the same. None are inferior or superior to the others. They are all the same. Only difference is price. Nashbar and Bikes Direct are at the cheaper end and Trek is at the higher end. Same bike.

I assume you have never ever in your life been loaded touring. The Trek 520 works just fine as a loaded touring bike. I have several months and thousands of miles to back this up. You just want a bike that works just fine day after day. Nothing fancy or wild.