Cycling Forum: Biking Across Canada, Need Help buying Road Bike please

We just finished riding our bicycles over 1,000 miles around Lake Superior last week. Until a month ago, I only had a mtn bike so the week before the trip I had to buy a road bike when I finally decided I couldn't pimp my mtn bike into a road bike by just changing my tires to thinner, smoother ones as evidenced by the fact I could not keep up with friends on their road bikes.

If you are going to have all those bags, I suggest you buy a "touring bike" that has an extended frame. The frame is a little longer so each time you peddle, your heal does not hit your back bags. Also, make sure you buy rain covers for all your bags that are highly visable like bright yellow or green. Be sure your bike jerseys are highly visable bright yellow/green too. And have good rear view mirrors, maybe both on your helmet and on your handbars.

I bought a new Giant WS road bike for about $600 US and really liked it except I really would have liked to have an easier gear for hills like my mtn bike has. I also bought the softest bike seat I could find and added a suspension seat post to the road bike and was very glad I did because of some of the really bumpy roads we had to ride on.

If I was strong enough to keep up with my friends on their road bikes, I would have much preferred to take my ds Kona mtn bike with the switched out thinner smooth tires to bike on those Canadian roads with little to no bike paths and all those big trucks blowing by from the mines and paper mills. I would have had the option to jump off the road onto the gravel sides when those big trucks came way too close for comfort especially on windy days. And I would have had the easier gears for those hills, and suspension would have been great to have on those bumpy roads. I also could have jumped up onto sidewalks on busy city streets that were not road bike friendly.  Another advantage to having mtn bike when you tour in Canada, you can go off road to campgrounds with out having to get off and walk your bike on the gravel road like you have to with thin, hard road bike tires. 

But if you put panniers on a suspension bike, you have to use a strong seat post rack that has down bars that hold the bags away from the wheels but can not attach to the hub since the suspension goes up and down.  Make sure you take a couple rides all loaded up the way you will be on your trip to work out all the bugs, like bags rubbing on wheels, weight distribution etc. To keep your load weight down, I suggest you eat in cafes except for ceral for breakfast which isn't too heavy to carry, if you use powdered milk. And you will be able to get going early in the mornings when it is cooler, less traffic and less wind. For snacks, instead of expensive power bars, I use salted peanuts for protein and salt; and licorice for sugar.
Have fun and write back if you have any other questions about biking Canada!Connie