Touring Bike Tips & Advice

"Hi! I'm Aaron Philips for Expert Village, and this is choosing the right bike for you. If you're out touring, a lot of times you're going to be on the saddle for between 5 and maybe even 10 hours a day depending on what kind of ride you're taking on that day. You want to have something that you can basically live on. That moves us to the saddle. This saddle I refer to as it's pretty much like a sofa. It's a big saddle. There's a lot of gel padding in there. It has a lot of give. It also has a pressure release channel here to allow some of the more tender parts to be not in contact with the saddle all the time. It even comes with a reflector here on the back. Some people, it just depends on their style of touring. A lot of people choose to tour on leather saddles. You may have heard the brand name Brooks. It's very common. These are a saddle that essentially are similar to the saddle you use riding a horse. It's just a strip of leather, and that's about all it is. I opt for something a little bit softer. If I'm going to be in the saddle for between 5 and 10 hours everyday for between 5 and 50 days. On an extended tour I want to be comfortable. All in all, if you're going to buy one bike and you want a little bit of speed, you want to maybe commute, a touring bike cannot be beat. This bike with its steel frame can be taken even out on light duty trails and you can handle those quite easily on this bike. It's a delightful bike to ride. It's not the flashiest bike the world, but if you're touring, that's not really what you're looking for. This is a great bike."