In comments we’ve been discussing touring bikes and the proper setup thereof. My interest stems from an e-mail chat with Michael Deme, editor of Adventure Cyclist magazine, about maybe banging out some word count for his unsuspecting readers. Never having toured, I set about doing a little research (thank Buddha for Al Gore’s Ethertubes) and discovered a whole new world of gear and guidelines for turning a retired racer into a two-wheeled tortoise.

Seems nearly every major manufacturer makes a “touring bike” these days, though some are clearly cynical attempts to be all things to all market segments (“It’s a ‘cross bike, a touring bike and a sporty club racer!”). Kona, Cannondale, Trek, Raleigh, Fuji, Rocky Mountain, REI — I’m tellin’ ya, practically everybody makes one, and somebody must be buying ’em, because the Adventure Cycling Association has 45,000 members.

Lots of steel out there (mostly Reynolds); some disc-brake models (just one more thing to go wrong between here and there); and some overly optimistic gearing options (like 50/39/30 chainrings and 11-32 cassettes). Some of these product managers either have legs like tree trunks or live in Nebraska. I have a low end of 34×28 on my Soma Double Cross, and it feels like the granny of all grannies when it’s just me and the bike going uphill, but add 15-20 pounds of this and that and I expect I’d want something a lot more like 24×32 or even 22×32.

If I decide to dip a toe in the touring pond, I can probably get by with the Double Cross after a little velo-surgery (granny ring, triple front derailleur and maybe a long-cage rear with an 11-32 cassette). But if I were to get serious, I wouldn’t want to start swapping parts straight out of the box — it seems smarter to go with the small outfits that specialize in touring machinery. Bruce Gordon builds some nifty bikes; so do the folks at Co-Motion, though they hit you a little harder in the wallet pocket. And of course Rivendell is another class act, targeting the deep-pockets retro-grouch.

Oh, goody, says Herself, just what we need; another bike in the garage. And that ain’t the worst of it, toots — I think we’re gonna need a bigger garage.

Two of my favorite things, to be sure, and they were both on hand Saturday at the Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show at the National Western Complex in Denver.

I dropped round for a look-see, having missed last year’s inaugural show in the People’s Republic of Boulder, and shot the breeze with a few folks I know. There was Jon Cariveau from Moots, velo-advocate Al Brody from right here in Bibleburg, Chris Grealish and Brook Watts of CrossVegas, Brian Riepe of Mountain Flyer magazine, Eric Sampson of Sampson Sports and Mark Nobilette of Nobilette Cycles.

There was plenty of eye-catching stuff on show, but having recently developed a casual interest in bicycle touring I was particularly drawn to a touring frame that Mark had on display in his booth, complete with custom powder-coated racks front and rear; it was the one that got him the Best Fillet Brazed Bicycle award at the 2009 North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

Mark built a custom Reynolds 853 cyclo-cross frameset for me a while back, and I’m finally going to hang some bike jewelry on that beauty this fall. It’s taken a while to get all the goodies together, but a guy can’t slap just any old crap from the parts box on his first custom frameset. If this touring thing gets any more traction in my brainpan I may have to throw a few more bucks his way.

Tech weenie Lennard Zinn was also wandering around the joint, representing VeloNews, and he has more bike porn for you here.  And don’t forget to check back to VeloNews.com later today or tomorrow for more on day two of the show.