We’ve been advocates of good, sturdy, versatile road-type bikes for years, and it looks like the cycling world is catching on. Commuters, casual cyclocross racers, bike tourists and these new-fangled gravel grinders all have similar requirements for their bikes, and for many riders the “one-bike-to-do-it-all” is something like one of the bikes pictured below.
Maybe you’re thinking about some light touring, commuting and hitting some of the metro area’s less-paved roads. The Specialized AWOL is a pretty good candidate, with plenty of tire clearance, low gearing, a steel frame and disc brakes. We set this one up with some Revelate bags and a Brooks Cambium saddle. You might want some fenders and maybe clipless pedals, but otherwise this thing is ready to roll.
The Salsa Warbird, Salsa Fargo, Surly Cross Check, Salsa Vaya (3 and 2), Surly Straggler, Surly Ogre and Specialized AWOL all feature 700c wheels geometry well-suited to road riding, whether paved, unpaved or somewhere in between.
If the AWOL is not to your liking, then we have a few other models to check out:
These are just some of the bikes we stock, but in case you can’t tell we’re into this stuff so feel free to ask us any kind of unusual questions about unusual bikes. Maybe we’ll find some cool solutions for your across-the-country touring needs. (We’ll have a post next week about just this thing.)