Trek 520 - The Bike

After much debate, I have finally purchased my touring bike for the trip. Luckily there are not a whole lot of options for touring bikes for it was narrowed down to two quite quickly. The Surly LHT aka Long Haul Trucker and the bike of choice the Trek 520. Firstly I considered the names, I mean Long Haul Trucker, that's justs fantastic, whoever came up with that is a genius. It's such a perfect name for a touring bike especially compared to the 520, so plain. Next came the color. The LHT comes in a matte beige color while the 520 is a shiny copper/brown which obviously looks way flashier. The first time I went bike shopping, my dads first comment about the bikes was something about how he didn't like the colors. I was not expecting my dad to have an opinion about color, I was thinking more about durability or safety. But that man can always surprise. So after all the superficial details I moved on to price. Both were similar in price so then price was removed from the decision making. Then I looked into shifter types, frame material, brake type and components. Becuase of shifter type and frame material, my options decreased down to two quite quickly. I decided on bar end shifters because they are much simpler. If they decide to malfunction somewhere in Europe I will be more likely be able to repair them or at least be able to make some kind of adjustment to get me to the nearest bike shop. It was steel or aluminum frame. I decided to stick with a steel frame due to my body weight, although it is slightly heavier it will be more of a comfortable ride. The rest of the components were very similiar.

I found the staff at the BSP in Langley to be very helpful and they only carried the Trek 520 so that was the deciding factor. I am the proud owner of the Trek 520! Now to start the training. I'm looking to get a cycling trainer so I can train indoors for weeks like this one when the weatherman is predicting snow.