Many people don’t realize it but Chengdu happens to be an important place in the world of bicycle touring.  For many Chinese it’s the starting point for the fabled 318 journey Lhasa.  For a large number of foreigners visiting China, Chengdu is the perfect midway point.  Whether you’re riding the trans-Asia trip from Europe to Australia or just looking to explore the western reaches of China, Chengdu is the place to be.

For the past 3 seasons we’ve had the joy of meeting all kinds of bike tourists.  A trickle of riders in spring eventually gives way to a deluge by mid-summer.  The days are long and the weather’s perfect for long-distance bicycle touring.  With the breaks in school and work, people want to get out and explore the world by bike.

We always try our best to support these adventures.  We’ve done a variety of touring rigs in the past, but have constantly looked for ways to expand our offerings.  This bike is a perfect example of the ultimate in touring rigs.  A solid TIG-welded Chromoly frame with a durable 5 layer finish, it has every single feature you could look for in a bike designed to ride around the world.

Ultra heavy-duty fork, extra bottle mounts and fittings for front and rear racks aren’t all.  It’s also got the braze-ons necessary to run either mountain bike rim brakes or disk brakes, mounts for fenders and the room to be built up using any parts package you could dream up.  This build was done to the “T”, matching the easy function of Shimano Tiagra’s 10 speed brake shifter levers and Deore’s most recent 10 speed gearing options.  The icing on the cake is every world tourists’ necessities: Schwalbe Marathon tires and a Brooks B17 leather saddle.

The happy new owner of this bike is looking to get started in his exploration of China.  How about you?  If you’re curious what kind of options we have available for touring bikes or just want to ask where great places to ride are, stop in the shop and chat us up!