Our touring bike of choice is the Trek 520 disc. We bought these about a year before our Southern Tier ride and have loved them since we got them. Trek has been making the 520 since 1983. They came out with disc brakes in 2018 or so. These touring bikes are steel framed so they weigh about 30 lbs. (not light!) Because they are steel framed they can carry a heavy load of gear. The touring frame geometry is made to carry a heavy load and to be rode long distances. Built for comfort! It is the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden and I’ve had several in my lifetime. It is my bike of choice on paved roads…far more comfortable than my carbon frame bike. It can easily ride gravel too with the right size tires.
- Trek 520 disc. Gear ratio: 19 (climbing) to 119 (downhill)
- Tires: Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 1.6 in tubeless
After Part 1 of the Southern Tier ride I changed my handle bars to a wider, flatter geometry. I had had some trouble shifting my rear derailleur and eventually figured out it was due to my left hand ulnar nerve causing muscle weakness in my left hand. Anyway, there is a whole post about that experience, but I resolved it with the handlebar change to thumb shifting similar to a mountain bike. I bought a handlebar from Velo Orange called the Crazy Bar. Works much better for my hands shifting and also helps me ride more upright so my neck and back are happier as well. Now I really, really love my Trek 520!! I love it so much that it brings me to tell you about what happened to my bike when it was shipped home from St Augustine, Florida in May of 2022…
Saga of my shipped bike fiasco
Now that you know a little more about what is involved in packing a bike for transportation, I’m going to give you some history of my bicycle’s return from Florida. As a reward for a trip accomplished, we decided to spare Jim the time and energy of disassembly of our bikes and to pay a bicycle shop in Florida to pack them up. There is a company called Bike Flights that will pickup and deliver bikes (for a fee). Perfect… right?!! For some yes, for me? Not so much.
Jim and Curt both received their bikes within a week and in great shape. Mine took at least another week to arrive… ie.. a little more handling (or dropping as the case may be). Anyway, everything looked okay upon arrival but upon assembly we discovered the top of the headset (headset cap), for the handlebars would not fit into the frame tube. The frame tube had a very slight bend in it, in other words it was not round anymore!
I had insured the bike, but not enough to buy a whole new bike! Bike flights would only reimburse for a new frame. The search for an identical cherry red Trek 520 frame was on! Locally it was not possible to get a frame or a bike. In addition, Trek did not sell just the frame in the USA. San Diego had the whole bike my size but… it was going to cost me. As luck would have it, a local Billings bike shop found my size frame in cherry red at a bicycle shop in Italy! 😊 Great! Now I just had to figure out how to purchase it.
I did, in fact, purchase it from a small bike shop in a small Italian town. They would NOT ship to the USA but would ship anywhere in Europe. Luckily my niece lives in France and received it within a couple of days! From there I arranged for Bike Flights to pick it up at her house and ship to me. Yahoo! My new frame arrived intact and my local bike shop put Humpty Dumpty back together again 🥰. So my bike is brand new and shiny. Altogether with the insurance I was out about $100 for the cost of reassembly. Lesson learned… we will most likely be packing our own bikes for the return.
I have since come to learn that Trek has discontinued the 520 😢. That is why I had such difficulty trying to get just the frame. It is now the Checkpoint (which I hear is a really nice bike) but will cost you at least $1000 more!
Tomorrow is travel day. Montreal, Quebec, Canada here we come🙌🇨🇦
cinnicrew 