I’m looking for a frame/bike to do some light touring on next year (IOM TT and TdF).
Something with guard and rack mounts, nothing too flash as it’s just going to be a tool to take me there.
What options are open to me?

Surly cross check
Planet X Kaffenback
Genesis Croix de Fer or CDF
something from Dawes (Audax or Galaxy)
Thorn Audax

Lots to choose from, or you could just put slicks (or 700c disc wheels) onto your mtb and that’d probably do fine as well.

as above.
mate has a genesis day one alfine 11, rrp 1699, he paid 1200 for it.
charge filter?
there are loads of options out there.

Cheers BS, just what I’m after – I’ve got no rack mounts on the MTBs or my road frame, I’m think maybe a cross compatible frame would be good looking at some of your suggestions – CDF looks good

Are you bothered about speed /miles for your tour or concentrate on enjoying the ride. I prefer to use a MTB with taller gears, narrow slickish tyres for touring for the confort flat bars bring me – but yo have to accept that you will be slower / do less miles in a day than you could on a proper road tourer but that is of no odds to – its all about the scenery / pubstops for me so I don’t care that I am a bit slower

Something from the Salsa range?
Fargo or Vaya?
http://salsacycles.com

Simple questions to answer first;

Do you want drop or flat bars?
Do you want a ‘road’ or ‘mtb’ feel?

I have an On One Inbred frame, Salsa Cromoto forks and flat bars that I used for commuting and touring – it’s next tour will be to Le Mans next year.

700c wheels with 32c tyres offer, imo, great balance of stability, speed and comfort. It’s got a carbon seatpost and bars too. I fitted bar ends to give some variety in hand positions too.

It’s got a rear pannier rack and full mud guards. Run it with gears whilst touring and s/s for commuting.

ETA – you could probably build a similar bike up for well under £500.

While all those are good suggestions (i have a surly cross check and an LHT, both great bikes) they are quite expensive to meet your ‘nothing too flash as it’s just going to be a tool to take me there’ criteria, especially when you factor in guards, racks, etc. into the cost equation.

If thats what you like then great, but there are plenty of £500 tourers that will do the job. I have friends who do hundreds of miles on a pair of £200 hybrids from Halfords. As long as they are checked over before a big trip there is nothing on them that will cause you a problem and they typically weigh the same so no loss there.

Have a look at Decathlon, amazing value bikes. I don’t know how they do it.

I’m a big fan of the Roadrat. I built mine for comfort and practicality rather than speed and it’s great for long days touring around. Coming up to 4,000 miles old and still going strong:

Roadrat by jwrfooo, on Flickr

Winter Roadrat by jwrfooo, on Flickr

I think I’m favoring drop bars and bigger wheels at the moment but I’m open to suggestions.
I like the idea of the steady pace not flogging yourself type riding but might have to put in some faster stretches depending on who I’ll be riding with.

I will check out some more of the suggestions.
Thanks for your input

Broadman cx or Thorn Mercury 700c Rohloff fast touring bike with flat bars looks ideal for light fast touring needs. I would avoid the full on tour bikes as they tend to be heavy. I was on a trip recently with one guy who had a Thorn but couldn’t get up all the North Vietnam hills even without any bags!

I have also a Broadman road team road bike and with a frame and handle bar/seat bag is ok for light B&B touring 🙂

Depends how you want to travel but I think many people are over biked and carry too much IMHO.