Bike Purchase

Enterprise_1701C

Find an independent bike shop and go and have a chat.

I bought myself a very cheap bike from a local shop, a Claud Butler, but changed the saddle to a gel one. I don't cycle long distance (max 10 miles or so) but it seems to be a hardy enough bike. Also, I lock it up in town centres so did not want one that was attractive to thieves.

The advantage with a local independent bike shop was I could go and try as many as I wanted, and I was encouraged to take the bike out of the shop and give it a go round a small area. Not sure you could do that with Halfords!

AndyBSG

Definitely need a bit more info before anyone can really offer any decent suggestions

- Are you looking for traditional flat handle bars or road bike style dropped ones(In the UK most tourers are drop bars but everywhere else in Europe they prefer flat bars)?

- How much off road are you planning? If it's just a few dirt tracks and fields then you don't want suspension.

- You say it's for touring so do you want one that can mount panniers?

Does the 1K budget include accessories like lights, padlock, etc or is that just for the bike itself?

The Specialized AWOL is a great bike but right at the top end of your budget.

Something like the Giant Escape gives touring options but is much better in terms of speed and performance.

Specialised Sirrus gives a nice all rounder that can be used as a tourer but also a decent commuter bike

The Rayleigh Pioneer Venture and Ridgfeback Voyager are also worth a look