Need a bike

[ArchoocRindle]

Need a bike

Hey guys, I need some help. Here’s the dilemma I’m 6 foot135 pounds and usually ride a 56cm. I mostly do road biking, but I recently challenged myself to ride a six day ride from Canada to Manhattan. This is going to be on the empire pathway, and will mostly consist of asphalt and pathway, but there is a good amount of gravel so I’ve been looking into a touring bike, I will more than likely not be using this bike again, but I need something to be comfortable, not too expensive, and carry everything I’ll need. we will be staying in hotels every night so I won’t be needing overnight equipment just cloths and gear. I’ve looked into the Salsa which is very hard to find. The Fuji disc. I would like to be under $2000 with all gear and bike. Also I’m going to need a big tire because there’s going to be gravel in the equation as well. Any recommendations would be super helpful thanks.

[John Nettles]

First, welcome to the forums.

You do not say what bike you have currently but if the bike can handle wider tires 38mm minimum you might be ok.  While I know of the Empire trail, I am not overly familiar with its conditions. You might search journals over at CrazyGuyonaBike.com or CycleBlaze.com and see if any journals provide info on trail conditions since "gravel" can vary between finely crushed gravel (totally fine to ride on) to ballast (gravel sized 3-4" a piece).
If you need to buy a bike, I would strongly suggest you buy a used bike, something along the lines of a Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT).  Decent bike, better than average at holding resale value, and a dedicated touring bike that can accept wide tires.

Tailwinds, John

[jwrushman]

I did the Erie canal path in 2017.  For much of it, I ended up doing the roads that paralleled it, mostly highway 31. Too much dust dirt and mud for me. But for the sections I did do on the trail, my Surly Disc Trucker was fine as were my Schwalbe Marathon 26x1.5 tires were fine.

[canalligators]

The unpaved parts of the Empire State Trail will be rolled stone dust, not gravel or dirt.  I agree that somewhat wider tires on a road bike would be adequate.  40mm tires will be fine, even 32mm would be ok.  I have ridden a lot on rolled stone dust (on the Erie part of EST), mostly with 40mm hybrid tires, and I never had any traction issues.

But to actually answer your question… you might look at a medium to high end hybrid such as the Trek FX series.  The 1x gearing is adequate, and they can be fitted with racks.  I outfitted my FX5 with rear rack and handlebar bag.  On a trip with indoor lodging, I use two small panniers, racktop bag and a medium handlebar bag.