Suggestions (store, buying tips) for a Touring Bike

Does that $800-1000 budget include the racks and panniers? If so, you may be aiming a bit lower, as they can add up (though there are always MEC racks and bucket panniers, which work well.)

I've been happy with my Urbanite (except for the paint quality.) The Urbane Cyclist store (on John St.) had a lot of options for me, and sized it perfectly.

For about $1200, I got a CroMo bike with the gearing I needed (many "factory" touring bikes are geared way too high) and a perfect fit, with a rear rack that's been bulletproof, high quality wheels and tires - of a size that's comfortable over rough roads - and a lot of choices on the little things (tape, saddle, pedals, brakes, etc.) It was my third tourable bike, so I'd formed some opinions about what I wanted.

I would suggest aiming a little higher. In the $ 800 to $ 1,000 range, you're not going to find a good touring bike. Two that come to mind are the Trek 520 and the Rocky Mountain Sherpa 30. They're not strictly comparable (I would say the Trek has some better components, but the Rocky Mountain has a high-end tubeset) but they're both good dedicated touring bikes, and they're both well over $ 1,000. So, for that matter, are most road bikes. If you can find an extra $ 500, it will be money well spent.

Are you really going to be traveling with heavy loads of camping gear on hilly roads, or pulling a trailer with a toddler or two in it? If not, you would be better off with a lighter, faster, more road oriented bike. For example, you mentioned the Ride to Conquer Cancer. I know of no climbs in southern Ontario that need the mountain bike cassette and rear derailleur that are typical of touring bikes, and the steps between gears with such a cassette are so large that you will have difficulty maintaining your cadence. Road bike gearing is a lot more pleasant to use, and you'll find it much easier to match the speed of your riding partners.

If you need or want low gears, which you might when climbing up bumps on the landscape like the Niagara Escarpment, consider a road bike with a triple crankset (52-42-30 and 50-39-30 are typical chainrings) or a compact double with 50-34 chainrings. With either, a 12-26 or 12-27 road cassette will give you the flexibility of closely spaced gears for most of your riding, plus low enough gearing for any hill you're likely to want to climb.

I would also suggest that you be skeptical of claims that chrome-moly steel frames are more comfortable than aluminum. That might have been true of first generation aluminum frames, but that was over twenty years ago. The current models - typically with hydraulically formed tube shapes and carbon fiber forks and seatposts - are quite comfortable. On the club's tourist rides, you'll see a lot of riders on such bikes. We wouldn't ride 140 or 150 km on bikes that hurt us.

Hope this helps.