Building A Touring Bike

Abhijit, 24 August 2025

I just came across this video about an “ideal” touring bike build. I agree with many of the observations, but it got me thinking - if I had to build a touring bike from scratch today, what would I do? I have never built up a bike from scratch from the frame up, simply because I never had the budget for it. Buying a reasonably specced built-up bike always seemed to be the financially prudent option.

My first attempt was built up with a hardtail – I added a rear rack, full fenders, lights and bags to it. My second attempt was using an All-city Space Horse (Canti version) – like last time I added a rear rack, full fenders,lights and bags. In addition I added a front rack and bag as well.

If I had to do this again today, I would likely take the same route - pick a solid bike as the basis; rather than looking for a frame and sourcing all the components. Here are some of the main things I would think about when narrowing down which base bike to select.

  1. Frame and material
    “Purists” seem to advocate a great deal about steel frames, but I would be equally ok with steel or alloy (aluminium). I’d stay away from anything carbon fiber. As long as the frame geometry is reasonable, with mounting points for fenders and racks it is fine. Fork blade mount points would be great if you want a front rack / bag. Check the max. tire width the frame can support with or without fenders. For touring, you should look at frames that can accommodate 35mm, 38mm or even wider tires.

  2. The Drivetrain:
    • Crankset: I would not go for a 1x setup (i.e. a single chainring upfront. Many entry level bikes today have 1x7 or 1x8 setups where 10-15 years back they would all have been 3x7 or 3x8. The move to 1x seems primarily profit-driven: one less derailer, shifter, cable etc per bike. However, with a single chainring the range is severely reduced. I would look for 2x or 3x chainrings on the front for a wide range.
    • Cassettes: With low number of cogs in the back (6,7,8) the cogs and chain are wide, wear less, and are cheaper; but result in a lower gear range. 9, 10, or 11 speed systems have progressively thinner chains and cogs, wear faster, are costlier, and provide a greater range (or granularity of ratios). Moreover, 6,7 and 8 speed systems are largely interchangeable (you need to think of rear hub and dropout widths, derailleur range, and cable pull ratios for shifters). 10-speed and above is a mess due to very limited possiblity of combining derailers, shifters and casettes.
      My recommendation, therefore, is to stick to 3x9 as the happy medium if you can find it.
  3. Other components
    Mechanical V-brakes / cantis or good mechanical discs are great. Hydraulic discs are painful to maintain, caliper brakes on cheap bikes are usually underpowered. Good quality caliper brakes will only be found on higher end road/all road bikes and should be fine. Bikes with disc brakes will give you the option to switch to a smaller rim (650b instead of 700c) to further enhance tire clearance, but this will be a major expense.

Here are some good bikes that might be good places to start, available in India as of today, in no particular order.

  • Decathlon RC120 (INR 40K)
    • Good value for money overall
    • Solid 2x8 drivetrain (11-34 casette and 50-34 crank) Good range, may lack the very low gears; can be fixed with a different crankset
    • 8 speed system should be cheap and easy to maintain long term
    • Alloy frame, generally corrosion resistant
    • Mechanical disks - easy to maintain and allow upgrading to 650B wheels later if needed
    • Carbon fork - not sure of longevity and resistance to damage. Should be possible to replace with an alloy fork down the line
    • Tire clearance seems small - at 32mm. Might be difficult to get full fenders with a wide tire.
  • Decathlon RC500 (INR 60K)
    • Bit on the expensive side, but good balance of components - similar benefits as RC120 above
    • Solid 2x9 drivetrain (11-34 casette and 50-34 crank): Good range, may lack the very low gears; can be fixed with a different crankset
    • Sora shifters should feel nicer than the Microshift ones on the RC120
    • Tire clearance will likely be an issue with fenders
  • Decathlon ST500 (INR 18K)
    • Good for the price but will need some work.
    • Swap out the cassette (or is it a freewheel on this bike?) for something with a bit more range, may need to swap the derailer too
    • Switch the chainrings to a triple 44-32-22
    • Optionally, switch out the entire system for a 9-speed setup with a new rear hub and cassette and derailer.
    • The fork is going to be a bit of dead weight, either live with it or swap for an expensive suspension corrected rigid fork like the Surly troll fork.
    • Add fenders and switch to slightly thinner tires.
  • Marin Nicasio (INR 68K)
    • Not much to say, ticks almost all the boxes, available locally
    • Only potential downside is that the drivetrain is Shimano Claris 8 speed, which might seem a bit cheap for the sticker price.
    • If you can stretch your budget further look at the Marin Four Corners
  • Scolarian Kettle Express
    • Having seen Scolarian bikes go from strength to strength in the last 10 or so years, I truly believe this looks to be a great build.
    • It is a bit more expensive at about 115K, but I guess you get what you pay for…
    • [Link]((https://www.scolarian.com/kettlexpresstouringdropbar)
  • Mach City Montreal (INR 17k)
    • Looks like a bargain, frame and fork is probably good, sensible overall
    • nameless discs may need to be upgraded eventually
    • might become a good setup for under 50k total.
  • [Posst Oberron]
    • If money is no object, this beauty from Posst/Scolarian is available as well
  • Batallion Frontline
    • Hororable mention, new brand, seems very sensible. 2x8 Claris, seems ok for the price