Choosing between a touring or a city bike: the complete how-to

A city bike is about bringing ease into your everyday. Weaving through traffic, rolling up to the bakery, or commuting without worries. And a touring bike is built for long distances on the open roads, for your weekend treat all while carrying the picnic and the kids. Whether you’d like a city bike or a touring bike depends on what you want from your future.

What is a touring bike? A touring bike is for you if you love a leisurely ride on mixed terrains. Touring bikes normally have an upright riding position for all-day comfort. Wide tyres give you plenty of traction. And suspension forks provide stability off-road, or when riding over pesky potholes. 

Canyon touring bikes are well equipped with plenty of mounting points for racks and your pannier bags. These are engineered to carry extra gear without compromising handling. The more things you can carry, the more time you can spend exploring.

Touring and bikepacking can sometimes be confused with each other. They’re both ways of travelling long distance on your bike, but there’s a difference in style, the gear you take, and the general philosophy behind them. 

Bikepacking blends mountain biking and multi-day rides with minimalist style camping. The bikes are built to handle tough terrains and your overnight gear strapped directly to the frame, handlebars, and seat post. This makes your whole setup lighter and more compact, so you can get further faster. 

Touring is all about leisurely day trips on paved roads. When looking at bikes online, you'll see a bit more emphasis on how stable the bike is while you're fully loaded up with snacks and supplies, and the benefits of a relaxed upright riding position. 

The Canyon Pathlite:ON SUV is a fine specimen of a touring bike, built for forest trails and gravel roads beyond the city limits. It offers an upright cockpit and suspension seatpost, which feel super comfortable during a long day in the saddle. The powerful Bosch Performance Line CX motor and long-range battery get you further faster. It combines power, comfort, and all-terrain capability, which makes it perfect for day trips.

What is a city bike? Essentially, it’s a bike that’s been built for short, frequent trips in the concrete jungle. To the store, to and from work, to visit your friends or to nip to the gym. With your groceries in the panniers and your guitar on your back. 

Things like a step-through frame makes a city bike easy to mount and dismount without losing balance when the baskets and panniers are fully loaded. Built-in practical features like fenders, lights, and chain guards. Internally geared hub protection, so the gear system isn’t eroded over time from dirt and rain. Low maintenance and low stress. 

So if you’re someone who values practicality and pragmatism, running errands smoothly, and getting places on time, then a city bike is your perfect sidekick.

At first glance they seem similar. 

The key differences are that a city bike is optimised for short, frequent, and efficient trips, whereas a hybrid bike is a road and mountain bike in one. So hybrid bikes are designed to be more suited to both in and outside of the city on mixed terrains whereas city bikes do what they say on the tin. 

If a hybrid bike sounds like your cup of tea, you should check out the Hybrid Bike Buyer’s Guide.

Whether it’s the morning rush or a late-night detour, your days in the city are full of motion. The Citylite:ON is a great example of a capable city bike that’s made for a full schedule. It's as lightweight as city ebikes come, so weaving nimbly through city streets feels as smooth as butter. It's been thoughtfully designed to keep up and keep things simple. And it's easy to accessorise with a basket, a child seat or a trailer. 

Another example is the Precede:ON range. These are somewhat chunkier city bikes that make city riding effortless. With a one size-fits-all frame sizing, an upright confident riding position, easy-to-mount frame, and an adjustable fit, this bike fits like a glove. The mess-free, durable internal hub gearing, punchy Bosch motor, high-capacity 625 Wh battery, and advanced connectivity features are the cherries on top. 

If you don’t fancy an ebike and are on the market for a speedy bike at an affordable price point, the Roadlite should be the first place you look. With a high quality aluminium frame, carbon fork, and internal cable routing, this is a sporty hybrid bike that delivers unmatched speed at its price point. 

And finally, the Commuter city bikes are all about ride – work – ride. Whether you choose a Commuter with a motor or not, each morning ride and every errand turns into a daily moment to tune back in with yourself and the city around you. 

A city bike is about bringing ease and practicality into your daily routines in the city. A touring bike is about day trips out in nature at a leisurely pace.  

But there are key differences in the small details, too. 

Frame geometry – the way the bike’s frame is designed – affects how you fit on the bike, and therefore the riding experience you have.  

A city bike will keep you upright for visibility when you’re weaving through traffic.  

And a touring bike positions you ever so slightly forward. Slightly sportier, but still relaxed and supportive on your back and wrists.

Gearing:

A city bike will use a simpler gear system like 3-7 speed internally geared hubs, or single-speed setups. These drivetrains are excellent at fending off rain and dirt, which makes them the perfect low-maintenance choice for commuters. 

A touring bike will give you a wide range of gearing (think multiple chainrings and wide-range cassettes), which will make light work of steep climbs with heavy loads.

Brakes:

City bikes tend to use disc brakes. This is to handle the consistent stop-starting of city riding while you’re speeding around the streets. 

And a touring bike will use powerful disc brakes for heavily loaded descents. The weightier the overall bike load, the more the brakes need to handle.

You’ll see narrower tyres (28-35 mm) on city bikes, because they’re designed for frequent trips. With narrower tyres, the bike is nimbler and more efficient. You also get less rolling resistance to speed past rush hour. 

And touring bikes use wider tyres (32-40 mm) at moderate pressure for increased comfort and puncture resistance. The wider tyres give you versatility on different terrains, more load-bearing strength, and more control: the added contact patch improves traction when braking or cornering, even in the wet.

When it comes to touring vs city bike design, one of the main distinctions is their mounting systems. 

City bikes are designed around convenience, so the rack systems are simpler. You’ll need to cover the everyday essentials like a rack for shopping bags, a basket on the front, or a mount for a child seat. 

Touring bikes are built for self-sufficiency on long distances. Like having multiple mounting points for front and rear racks, extra water bottle mounts, and fender attachments. Because you’ll need a picnic, extra gear, and supplies for your journey. 

Basically, the difference between touring and city bikes is their capacity and your intent. Touring bikes are about carrying more for longer distances, and city bikes are about bringing just enough for the trip. 

In short, a touring bike would be strong and capable in the city, but a bit of a slog for short trips. And a city bike would be simple and comfy on a long-distance weekend trip, but it’d be limited to roads and won’t be able to carry much.

Of course. It’s not illegal. They’re extremely durable and comfortable on long distance rides. But it would come with trade-offs. They’re heavy creatures, so if you need to dash to the shops, it could become cumbersome when having to lock it up. They’re also less agile and a bit chunkier, so you’d take up more space on the road or cycling lane.

City bikes can handle moderate hills, no problem. But remember: their gearing range is built for the city, so steep climbs can feel challenging.  

Both bikes require a similar basic level of maintenance. But if you were to use your touring bike in the same way you’d use your city bike (frequently), their components will need replacing more often and their more complex gearing systems will probably need more regular adjustments. 

It depends on whether you prefer short frequent bursts of cardio (city bikes) or long days of cycling and steep hills (touring bikes). 

To wrap up, it essentially comes to choosing which style of bike best fits your lifestyle. Think about how you ride today and how you’d like to ride tomorrow.

If you want your rides to be built for convenience, comfort, and efficiency, you’re in the market for a city bike. They’re good for short, daily trips on paved city streets. Their setup is simple, practical, and low maintenance. And they’re available across all price points, with accessible paying options

If you want more from your weekends, you should choose a touring bike. With multiple mounting points for racks and bottle cages, stable and robust frames for carrying all your things, touring bikes are made to keep you rolling mile after mile. They require a little more investment upfront, but their durability and versatility make every penny worth it year after year.

If you’ve taken a look and are spoiled for choice, check out our bike finder tool. It’ll bring a bit more clarity to your bike search. With this tool, you can input filters to find your perfect match. 

You can also come and see the bikes in person in one of our experience locations. That way, you’ll know for sure.