Flat bar bike-packing/touring bike

Hi folks,

I’m looking for some ideas for a bike (or frame and fork, and I can do the rest) for my wife. At the moment, she’s got an old Genesis CdF (note: *not* a Croix de Fer) that she really doesn’t enjoy riding any more. Definitely flat-bar, ideally 650B/27.5, capable of having racks fitted and hefting panniers on-road, or being used for light off-road bikepacking. The rough equivalent would be my Salsa Fargo. Ideally capable of running something like 50mm tyres. Almost certainly fully-rigid.

Any ideas?

Ta!

On-One Bootzipper or the Sonder Frontier might fit the bill.

Kona Unit?

At the moment, she’s got an old Genesis CdF (note: *not* a Croix de Fer) that she really doesn’t enjoy riding any more.

May I enquire as to why she doesn’t like / enjoy this?

Cyclingabout few options to consider?

I (semi)-use a Genesis Longitude for that although has been noticeably under-biked for a lot of road use*. Before that I used a Vagabond which I liked more but it was the wrong size for me. Both are still offered as framesets, AFAIK?

edit: medium 2021 on sale

Sonder probably have something?

* I eventually filled this gap by N+1 (inexpensive, used 80s-90s tourer + flat bars/bar-ends) In hindsight I may have been wiser to instead have first gone with a flat bar tourer that can cope with light off-road. ie something like the Spa Cycles flat bar tourer (725)

Or the Spa Elan Flat Bar (700x40mm clearance with guards?

Maybe have a look there?

Was going to say Bootzipper, but beaten to it.

That’s what I’m using for my touring duties.

What height as she?  Does she need a smaller or woman’s specific frame?  At the womans event I was at over the weekend, Stayer cycles gets a lot of love from woman due to their smaller frame sizes.

I was thinking about this a while back, the Sonder Frontier and that On-One are both good budget options. Alternatively if you’re feeling more flush, a Cotic Cascade looks pretty sweet. If you squint it’s basically a mk2 Solaris with lots of bosses so it will take a flat bar fine if you put a ~70mm stem on it.

The other option not mentioned above is the Surly Bridge Club. On paper description pretty much what you’ve described as wanting. No idea on stock levels though
https://surlybikes.com/bikes/bridge_club

I find it hard to see past the Kona Unit X for this purpose – reasonably available, and no obvious downgrades on paper to get it in at the price point. Wheel size might be an issue for short people. I nearly bought one but went a different route.

to get it in at the price point

The OP doesn’t give a price point?!

Genesis Longitude

I love mine, but I wouldn’t buy one if I was looking for something that would do a lot of road miles. I’d go for something lighter, with less tyre clearance, and probably a carbon fork.

Pipedream Alice, I have one. Had for around 18 months, really versatile for all use – touring/bike packing, can take panniers front and rear/plenty of mounts for cages. Cromoly 4130 frame and fork. Wide tyres- 27.5 2.4. I was looking for a while, for something suitable – looked at genesis, surly bridge club, big brothers, wonder and on one. If you can find a Marin pine mountain 2016 to 2018 which is 4130 cromo, rigid

Pipedream Alice

This is an epic shout.  The lady that runs Lakes Gravel Gang has recently got one, which I saw in the flesh at the weekend.  It looks great and Em loves hers and rides lakes gravel through to road on it.

(Longitude) I love mine, but I wouldn’t buy one if I was looking for something that would do a lot of road miles. I’d go for something lighter, with less tyre clearance, and probably a carbon fork.

Same. I’d probably look at the Spa flat-bar offerings as mentioned if I could choose again.

I’d imagine the same goes for a Bootzipper, I noticed both shop-builds (Bootzipper and Longitude) are close to 14kg.

Thing is, it’s not the weight that puts me off riding a Longitude far on the road, it’s the MTB geometry, so no matter what tyres I choose it still feels like a hardtail/arse-heavy . My road touring bike is possibly the same weight (or a tad heavier) as the Longitude, but I happily ride the road tourer all day/s long on tarmac. It’s designed for it, so no big surprise.

Thanks folks – lots to peruse there…

The OP doesn’t give a price point?!

No, no price point at this stage!

Bootzipper

This is a pretty epic price for a frameset if small is the size!

May I enquire as to why she doesn’t like / enjoy this?

Hmmm – that’s a difficult one. I think part of it is drop bars (although she has a Ribble road bike that she loves); the cable-actuated disks (BB7s) are pretty uninspiring; the frame and fork are both pretty flexy, and I think a big part of what she dislikes is the liveliness of the ride – when loaded up for road touring, it can be a handful on descents.

She freely admits that she went for it because of the colour and the skinny tube profiles…