Inexpensive bike for long trip

[josh.rubin.92]

Hey there everyone, I am looking to buy a relatively inexpensive bike for a weeklong riding and camping trip. Most of the ride will be on the road, if not all of it, but gravel is a strong possibility for some of the trail. Any thoughts on how to go about finding a bike? I've only bought a chari in Japan, so any advice at all would be very helpful and much appreciated.

 

[hat and beard]

How inexpensive is inexpensive? Are you only going to use it for one camping trip? How much gear are you going to carry?
Something like Surly's Long Haul Trucker would be nice if you're planning on doing that kind of riding regularly. Quite a few shops around Tokyo sell them.

 

[microcord]

If you're less than 175 cm or so, it should be fairly easy for you to find in Yahoo Auction an example of the kind of bike that the Surly LHT re-creates. Look for an auction whose seller provides a great number of photos and thus shows that they're proud of the overhaul work. I'm 184 cm (I think) and was happy with the (overhauled, adjusted, lubricated) bike I got for 36 thousand including takkyuubin. I needed some new parts but these added less than 10 thousand to the price.

As an illustration, try this. (NB it obviously has not been overhauled, I haven't read the details, and I'd want to be sure that the reason why the saddle is in that silly position is not just that this is where the previous owner put it and corrosion now makes adjustment impossible.)