Like probably a lot of people, I have dreams of quitting my job and traveling. Whether or not that'll happen or not, who knows? But if it does, I think bike-touring would be a great way to do so. Unfortunately on my first small tour a couple months ago I found some shortcomings with my vintage touring bike from 1984. REI's touring bike is heavily discounted right now, and seems to be pretty well specced for the money, so I figured it would be a worthwhile purchase.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test ride it at the store due to poor weather, and upon arriving home, I've discovered that it has almost zero front brakes… so my excitement is a bit spoiled by needing to now return to the store to get it fixed.
by gregn8r1