Are two bicyclesnecessary?

I'm on a budget but want to get back into cycling in a
big way.

I need a bike for long distance touring and commuting.

And also can see myself doing some light off road
cycling such as dirt trail and roads.

Is it impossible to have only one bike do it all above?

Is it necessary to have a touring AND a MT bike with
front shock?

wrote:
I'm on a budget but want to get back into cycling in a
big way.

I need a bike for long distance touring and commuting.

And also can see myself doing some light off road
cycling such as dirt trail and roads.

Is it impossible to have only one bike do it all above?

Is it necessary to have a touring AND a MT bike with
front shock?

Well, you surely do not want to try to do long distance touring with a
shock absorber fork.

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:45:47 -0600, wrote:

I'm on a budget but want to get back into cycling in a
big way.

I need a bike for long distance touring and commuting.

And also can see myself doing some light off road
cycling such as dirt trail and roads.

Is it impossible to have only one bike do it all above?

Is it necessary to have a touring AND a MT bike with
front shock?

I've ridden everywhere on a Trek 7500FX (no suspension) bike, including
some bumpy trails. No stump jumping, but do you really need to do that?

For the sandy, muddy stuff I just use a 35C tire in the back, 32C in the
front, basically slicks. I've even ridden my road bike with 25C slicks in
sand and dirt, no problem, but not going up slippery wet hills on trails
with mud and leaf cover. For that you probably need knobbies.

So it's really about the tire selection, not the bike frame in most cases,
imo.