Best bike to take?

hum3z
hum3z Posts: 23
edited January 2010 in Tour & expedition
Going on a long bike tour is daunting

So my question is what bike is best to take?

Is a mountain bike going to be the best choice because you never know what paths are going to take you off course?

I mean you down want to be lumbered w/ a specialist road bike when you're cutting across grass or mud or a canal or something do you? And Im sure this will happen.

But will the mountain bike be fast enough? I mean to cover the distances required to get from hostel to hostel and to do the distances recommended?

Your thoughts would be most welcome, and as always, second to none in the 1st hand knowledge stakes.

Comments

  • andymiller
    andymiller Posts: 2,856
    Horses for courses. Sorry if you wanted an 'x' is better than 'y' answer.

    If you are mainly touring on road then a road-oriented bike is probably the best bet - and provided you avoid a really specialised road bike it should cope with the occasional foray off road and a bit of towpath.

    If you are mainly riding off-road or on dirt roads then you might want to look at an expedition bike based on a MTB frame (but equally there are 'road' bikes that could cope with dirt roads as well).

    An MTB will be 'slower' in the sense that I bike with 26 inch wheels will be a bit slower than a bike with the same gearing with 700c wheels and pedalled at the same rpm. The wider tyres are going to present more rolling resistance (but to some extent this is compensated for by the reduced vibration). Ultimately I suspect the mot important variable is the fitness of the rider: a quick rider on an MTB is probably always going to be faster than a slow rider on a road bike. Certainly you can go fast enough on an MTB.
    Italy Cycling Guide
  • vernonlevy
    vernonlevy Posts: 969
    hum3z wrote:
    Going on a long bike tour is daunting

    So my question is what bike is best to take?

    Is a mountain bike going to be the best choice because you never know what paths are going to take you off course?

    I mean you down want to be lumbered w/ a specialist road bike when you're cutting across grass or mud or a canal or something do you? And Im sure this will happen.

    But will the mountain bike be fast enough? I mean to cover the distances required to get from hostel to hostel and to do the distances recommended?

    Your thoughts would be most welcome, and as always, second to none in the 1st hand knowledge stakes.

    You need to make up your mind about which surface that you are going to do the most riding on when touring and not touring and choose a bike to suit that surface and be prepared to compromise for the lesser used surfaces.

    For what it's worth I have used a Dawes Galaxy for LEJOG JOGLE and channel to med rides as well as 100km and 200km Audax day ride plus canla towpaths and the odd bit of green laning. I was prepared to accommodate the shortcoming of the Galaxy when riding off road sections but it coped admirably.

    I have also toured on a hybrid and found it to be a tad slower when doing unladen day rides on the road.

    I have also used an out and out road bike for touring anf found it a tad unsatisfactory because of its gearing.

    In descending order of preference for me based on experience:
    Touring Bike
    Hybrid bike
    Road bike (for flattish routes)
    Mountain bike

    Other's with differ in their choice. At the end of the day it's up to you and your personal preferences.

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