holiday

morleyman200

i have a holiday booked in the alps in august for 10 days.

i will be taking my own bikes. and it will be cross country and trail riding.

what do i need to take with me?
I was thinking inner tubes, loads of puncture repair kits, some muckoff for after the rides.

anything else im missing?

have all the cloths helmets camelbacks etc. just the little things that i need to know

tom

angry_bird

Someone posted a similar question a couple of days ago, and its easier to link to it than try and list stuff

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12700475

RealMan

Muc off you probably wont be needing, it should hopefully be dry and dusty, and not much point cleaning the bike if you're just going to ride it the next day.

Brake pads. Maybe a spare tyre.

Have a look here

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12700475

EDIT: Beaten to it

schweiz

morleyman200 wrote:

I was thinking inner tubes, loads of puncture repair kits,

Why? How many punctures do you normally get in 10 days of riding?

Anyway,

Some tools...proper sized spanners, allen keys and screwdrivers to you're not buggering about with multitools when you get back and have to do any maintenance. Make sure your bike is serviced before you go so that any potential faults (worn cables, low hyd oil levels etc.) are sorted and then you're not searching for a LBS.

A full size pump or track pump if you already have one but not essential with a MTB

a credit card just case you have to buy any major spares as it probably makes more sense to fix your bike than write off several days of holiday.

sara flowmtb

It depends a lot on where you're staying and what bike shops there are nearby. Plus of course where you're staying - are you in a chalet/hotel with a MTB workshop or an apartment where you need to take tools?

We always recommend bike specific spares, ie a rear mech hanger which can be hard to get hold of depending on what bike you have. And get your bike serviced and in top condition before leaving.

You should also be aware that most French retail prices are more than in the UK, so if you break something you may spend more than you're used to. That said you can't bring everything if you're flying so get details of shops in and near to where you staying so you know where to go if you need to. Expect more brake and tyre wear (and just generally everything wear!) with lift assisted riding.

Oh and contrary to popular belief it does rain out here and can do so very heavily! Come prepared for downpours as well as sun

P-Jay

RealMan wrote:

Muc off you probably wont be needing, it should hopefully be dry and dusty

Loving the optimism.

The OP doesn't say where they're going exactly, but it's a rare day in Morzine/LesGets when it doesn't rain at some point.

I take summer tyres (on the bike) a set of mud tyres.
A spare hanger
Spare tube (heavy Duty Maxxis DH tubes rarely fail)
6 pairs of pads and a fresh set on the bike (superstar jobs) – You’ll always use them at some point if you end up taking them home.
The means to bleed brakes.
My finest set of allen keys, some torx and star keys if your bike has them.
Chalet we use has tools included, but if not I’d take a track pump too, £12 Tesco job serves me well.

Next time I'll also take a spare derailier and some cables. I bust 3 derailers last time and they were 120eu's each in Morzine (wiggle were doing the same X9 SS for £65 at the time).

Before I go I'd get the fork and shock serviced, check all the barings, bleed the brakes and get the wheels trued up and basically make sure everything is tip-top.

As someone said it's "only 10 days riding" but we worked out in actual trail time our 8 riding day trip last time was the same as 6-7 months of DH riding time at home, that’s not factoring that the trails in the Alps are much tougher on Bike and Rider than the ones back home, so any weakness will exposed.
I don’t want to sound negative, but I’ve been a few times now, and sitting in a bar for a morning waiting for your bike to be fixed or banging away yourself back in the Chalet is no fun, especially if it impacts your mates as well, you won’t be popular. Best to minimise the chance of a ‘technical’ before you go TBH.

morleyman200

Thanks alot guys, great help, looks like ill need to do a bit of spending before i go
as for where im staying, im staying near Chambery in like a static caravan park, but will be riding at chamonix. its not an organized biking holiday, its one were doing it ourselves, hence the post

Im not doing serious downhilling, may do the odd time, but most of the time i will be doing all mountain enduro, and cross country.

Tom

sara flowmtb

If you're in Chambery you have good shops close to you. XSportshop in Aix les Bains (really close) is great. Not sure if Philip who runs it speaks English, but he'll def do his best to help.

There's also a Veloland in Chambery which is a kind of bike supermarket - but they do decent bikes as well as cheap ones. Service really varies depending on who you get, but if it's just to pick up some spares......

I'm sure there are others too, but those are the ones i know, There's an online forum for biking in Chambery so if your french is ok you could try using that.

In Chamonix go to Zero G, really helpful and great shop (mix of French and English staff), or secondly Legend.

And don't miss the other great riding in the area!

paul.skibum

If you are in Chambery you have access to some great riding in the Portes du Soleil, Grand Massiff and Chamonix - make sure you hit it all! Samoens and Morillon offers some beautiful long descents which dont fall into the true DH runs but offer some great technical and flowing terrain - you may need to ride up to them though!

Edit - sorry Chambery is quite a ways from Chamonix - second thoughts grab some of the local maps (the blue local maps which are effectively the OS Explorer type maps for france) and explore the local area. You could also head as a nearer option toward Tignes and Les Arcs which are supposed to have some good trails though I dont know the area at all.