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Touring BicycleA touring bicycle is a bicycle designed for long-distance travel, and especially bicycle touring. Typically, touring bicycles are a mix of mountain and racing bicycle components, with special, heavy-duty frames designed to carry specialized luggage and other components specific to long-distance riding. Some cyclists prefer recumbent bicycles for long-distance travel. Touring bike specifications bicycles are usually equipped with luggage racks front and rear, designed to hold panniers or other forms of luggage. Because of the increased weight requirements and reliability demands, touring bicycles typically use road handlebars and saddles for long-distance comfort, combined with rugged hubs, heavy-duty rims and 36-spoke wheels to provide the durability, reliability and wide gearing essential for loaded touring. Sometimes instead of panniers bicycle trailers are towed behind for carrying the gear; these are often preferable as they provide a low center of gravity and can be detached easily. Touring bicycle frames typically have a long wheelbase and stable steering geometry, with numerous attachment points for luggage racks, fenders (mudguards), lights, water bottles, tools and spare parts. Chainstays must be long enough to accommodate panniers without interfering with the rider's heels during pedaling, and the entire structure must be stiff enough to safely handle long, fast descents with the machine fully loaded. For gearing touring bicycles traditionally employ wide-ratio derailleur gears, often with a very low-speed "granny gear" for loaded ascents. However in recent years, because of their robustness and very low-maintenance, internal-geared hubs have become popular. Touring bicycles require stronger brakes than typical road bicycles, so they are often equipped with cantilever or linear-pull brakes, instead of the caliper brakes used on road bicycles. Some newer touring bicycles use disc brakes, because of their superior stopping power and improved performance in wet weather. Thus, touring bikes trade off some speed for extra utility and ruggedness. This combination of features is popular with commuters and couriers as well.
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