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The New 2016 Traitor Wander Touring Bike

The New 2016 Traitor Wander Touring Bike

February 4th, 2016

Over the last few years I’ve been keeping my eyes on North American bike brand Traitor, and more specifically their ‘Slot’; a steel mountain bike designed for off-road touring. It’s a no-fuss rigid adventure rig with a wide gear range, cable disc brakes, 2.1″ tyres and provision for front/rear racks and fenders. It’s pretty rad. It’s now come to my attention that Traitor are producing a dedicated touring bike called the 2016 Traitor Wander and it’s made with seamless double butted steel tubing.

The 2016 Traitor Wander Touring Bike

2016 Traitor Wander

The 2016 Traitor Wander Touring Bike.

The geometry of the Wander is great for touring with a front and rear load.

The bike has a moderate fork trail of 68mm (learn what that means HERE) resulting in a slowish steering response, keeping heavy loads stable on fast descents. The bottom bracket is low and the chainstays are relatively long too – although the bike could be improved if they were a touch longer. The bike comes with rather narrow 32c Kenda Kwick tyres and will squeeze in 40c tyres without fenders (35c with fenders).

A strange specification on the Wander is the gearing.

The smallest gear on the Shimano drivetrain is 30x30t (27 gear inches). It is widely regarded that a gear this small is simply not enough for bicycle touring. If the bike was spec’d with a Shimano Deore 48-36-26 crankset and 11-34t cassette it could achieve a low gear of 21 gear inches. If you’re thinking this could be the bike for you, perhaps take into account the cost of these potential upgrades: up to $200 in parts.

2016 Traitor Wander

The 2016 Traitor Wander Touring Bike.

The Wander is available in fluro yellow, and comes spec’d with decent parts including a Brooks B17 saddle, Promax Render cable disc brakes, Microtech 9-speed barend shifters, their own branded 32 hole disc wheelset (Joytech hubs), a FSA Tempo crankset and Shimano gearing. Another improvement to this bike could be the provision for a third bidon cage under the downtube like on many equivalent touring bikes.

The bike comes in five different sizes and the range is great. It covers the equivalent of everything from 42-62cm on the Surly Truckers. The Traitor Wander retails for US $1299. You can get the frame/fork for US $499 too.

Want To Compare This Touring Bike With Dozens of Others?

Check out The Touring Bicycle Buyer’s Guide which compares touring bike steering, sizing, gear ratios, specification, pricing and more. This guide is updated annually with the latest models at no extra cost!

Bicycle Touring Book Sample Page 74-75

The Touring Bicycle Buyer’s Guide helps you compare touring bikes, side-by-side.

Helpful Resources

All About Touring Bike Brakes
Frame Materials for Bicycle Touring
How to Select Touring Bike Gearing
Understand Bicycle Frame Geometry
What’s the Difference between Cyclocross and Touring Bikes?

Touring Bikes Overview

2016 Advocate Lorax
2016 Basso Ulisse
2016 Bianchi Volpe and Lupo 2016
2016 Bombtrack Beyond
2017 Bombtrack Beyond
2016 Brodie Elan Vital
2016 Cannondale Touring
2016 Cinelli Hobootleg Geo
2017 Curve Grovel V2
2017 Diamondback Haanjo EXP Carbon
2016 Fuji Touring
2017 Fuji Touring
2016 Genesis Tour de Fer
2016 Giant ToughRoad
2017 Giant ToughRoad
2016 Jamis Aurora and Aurora Elite
2016 Kona Big Rove
2016 Kona Roadhouse and Sutra LTD
2016 Kona Sutra
2017 Kona Sutra
2016 Marin Four Corners
2017 Marin Four Corners
2016 Masi Giramondo
2016 Niner RLT9
2016 Rawland Ulv and Ravn
2016 Salsa Deadwood
2017 Salsa Fargo
2016 Salsa Marrakesh
2017 Salsa Marrakesh
2017 Salsa Vaya
2016 Specialized AWOL
2017 Specialized AWOL
2017 Specialized Diverge
2017 Specialized Sequoia
2017 Surly Troll
2016 Traitor Wander
2016 Trek 920, 720, 520 & CrossRip
2017 Trek CrossRip

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Alee Denham

Alee is a bike and travel addict who has cycled through 80+ countries and doesn't really have any plans of stopping. Along the way, he creates technical resources, in-depth reviews, inspirational videos, how-to guides and more. If you've learned something from him, you can support his mission to create the best bike travel content HERE.

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