Touring bike

Something from Shand?

Spa cycles "own brand" bikes are very well regarded. Well thought out and good value builds. No connection tothe shop btw

Shand, Spa Thorn maybe?

There's a few companies advertise in the Cycling UK mag that I've never heard of like Pilgrim Cycles and Stanforth

Sounds like you're looking for a Genesis. Tour de Fer, Croix de Fer or Vagabond, take your pick depending on where your biases lie

Indeed, SPA are the people to go and see.

My wife and I have got a pair of Wayfarers, looks to be what your after. I've taken mine, fully loaded, on some 'interesting' tracks in the Peak, removed the racks & put a pair of 42mm gravel tyres for the Tour of the Cornfields off-road sportive and recently did the Peddars Way with it. A very versatile load carrier, chuffin heavy but rides really well with upto 18kg in the panniers. It doesn't have a gazillion bosses though like a Croix de Fer or similar.

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m1b0s225p3866/SPA-CYCLES-Wayfarer-9spd-Cable-Disc

Edit: Spa don't just sell their own brand, they've all sorts you and test ride and compare.

There’s a few companies advertise in the Cycling UK mag that I’ve never heard of like Pilgrim Cycles and Stanforth

Pilgrim's bikes are just re-badged SPA models, with an upshift in price.

Pilgrim’s bikes are just re-badged SPA models, with an upshift in price.

I had wondered

I thought a Dawes Galaxy was the correct answer for any "What Touring Bike" question, but I just found out that Dawes have stopped making Galaxies, which makes me a bit sad.

Secondhand Dawes Galaxy?

Great. I’ll get myself off to Spa cycles for a starter for 10. If you don’t hear from me again I’ve been kidnapped by Audaxers

😉

My 2p, MTB's handle better than unloaded touring bikes, and loaded MTB's don't struggle much either, unloaded touring bikes feel funny*.

So I'd be tempted to look at something like a Singular Swift, Karate Monkey, Charge Cooker, Salsa El-Mariachi.

I do have my aluminum Charge Plug setup for touring though (pannier rack and front porteur style rack), but with a fixed gear. But that seems like more balanced handling unloaded than the Claude Butler Dalesman* it replaced. So my advice would be try before you buy, or get something CX biased so it handles well, and adapt it to touring.

**Badge engineered Dawes Galaxy.

*I think the difference is I could forgive the handling quirks of a loaded bike, or shuffle the load forwards/backwards on the rails of the rack to resolve it. The unloaded touring bike just felt heavy and ponderous the other 99% of the year.

If you don’t hear from me again I’ve been kidnapped by Audaxers

It’s not too bad, they will feed you cake and let you sleep in a bus shelter…

Spa own brand bikes get their handbuild wheels. Bombproof. The Steel Tourer which I have only takes up to about 700x35mm with mudguards. So great for road/towpath but for more offroad the Wayfarer with clearance for 700x47 plus mudguards is the better choice.

I have a Surly Long Haul Trucker 2009 frame which has clearance for 700x42 with mudguards. I've done a few miles on gravel in the USA and the Corrieyairick Pass here. Great handling on gravel - very stable steering - saved me once when I had to ride off the road onto a gravel shoulder to avoid being hit by a camper - but I'm not sure at current prices it is worth the extra over the Spa own brands.

I ride a Ridgeback Expedition, ticks all of your boxes, and have taken it on some pretty rough, steep tracks.
I'd buy it again if it ever died.

Kona also do the Sutra which is a modern (classic) steel tourer. You can get it in 2x and even 3x gearing. Or go for the Sutra LTD if you want something more like a drop bar mountain bike.

It’s not too bad, they will feed you cake and let you sleep in a bus shelter…

While making you ride from London to Edinburgh and back in 4-5 days....

Thorn Club Tour is a nice bike.
Rides well laden or unladen.
Thorn offer a huge menu of build options.
Mine is a few years old now , a cantilever brake model.
But I stripped down and used it on gravel for years including the first dirty riever ,then put mudguards and rack back on and toured many places with my Mrs.
The options significantly add to the price as well.
I now have a proper gravel bike with discs as I ride alot more gravel and use the tourer for winter commute and the odd shopping trip and holiday tours.
They do come up secondhand.
On mine the paint is very good finish and survived bike packing bags etc.
I personally think the traditional touring bike is underrated, the gravel bikes of today really need the bigger gear ranges to be truly versatile.
The longer rear helps keep weight of panniers more central between the axles which makes such a difference if heavily laden .
My Mrs has Dawes Galaxy. A real conversation stater! The good ones are rare , Dawes did some good specs for a while.
Discs on tour is one to consider, we miss discs but love the fact the bike can be moved, stored, taken by hotels ,airlines etc etc without worrying it will come back with a damaged disc brake !

As said above Spa cycles also well regarded..
Thorn is also part of "st John's St cycles" the odd secondhand bike comes up with them as well.

Like Johnnymarone, i would recommend a Ridgeback. I had a panorama world tour which was built with a high end reynolds tubeset and has mtb triple groupset. A very capable and fun tourer.

Have a 2002 ish vintage Dawes Super Galaxy and it's been a great bike. Unladen handling has always felt ok, more of a steady stable thing than a proper roadie but quite like that. The cantis always take some getting used to when not ridden for awhile but all good.
It's my highest mileage and most reliable bike. Tiagra and XT mix bombproof.
It's been slightly supplanted by a new proper gravel bike but can't see me getting rid off it as it's the perfect winter commute bike.
Always thought the Tour de Fer looks good and I think Trek does/did a well regarded I'd hard to get hold of one.

I have a Stanforth mentioned up there, this:

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It's a modern take on a 1980's light tourer which it replaced after an 'incident'. 853, fillet brazed, sloping top tube to avoid the 'gate' look, discs, thru axles and all the braze ons.

I built it up as a 9 speed triple with very low gears for load lugging. I don't like getting off so gear accordingly.

Something from Surly.

I have Surly Long Haul Trucker (no longer available, but they make the Disc Trucker, essentially the same bike but with disc brakes). Had it years, will probably never sell it. It's great for touring. I do mainly road touring on it, but a few times ive had it off road even with full panniers, it copes no problem.

Only thing is, if I was to buy it now, think I would go for something like the Surly Ogre or Bridge Club instead.

The rear facing drop out is a pain on my Ogre if you run it with gears and mudguards. I would look at the Bridge Club