Do I actually need a mountainbike for canal trails?

sandhun

Hello, I'm a leisure cyclist and am thinking of buying a new bike.

I plan on doing a lot more cycling across canal towpaths and trails over the coming year. I may also do a little bit of cycling on the roads.

Would a hybrid suffice for this purpose or should I really be considering a mountain bike?

Thanks.

The Rookie

Canal trails and similar gravel paths, no MTB needed, if the gravel is quite loose a road bike on skinny tyres can be a bit 'nervous' so consider a cyclocross bike or some form of Hybrid (some of which are effectively MTB's with road tyres and rigid forks).

sandhun

Thanks. Cyclocross or Hybrid it is then. One other question - would you advise buying from a retailer such as Evans or Wiggle?

VWsurfbum

anywhere you can sit on one and feel comftable, Local bike shops will be most helpfull and knowlagble compared with the klikes of evans/halfords etc

supersonic

WHat is your budget?

mrmonkfinger

Carrera Subway always looks like a good buy to me.

Slightly more MTB than road bike, decent spec, rigid forks (i.e. no cheap & nasty attempt at a suspension fork), MTB tyres.

blablablacksheep

Budget first then after that id suggest getting a cyclocross bike. or a roadbike with cyclocross style tyres, rather than mountain bike.

diy

You do seem to pay a bit of premium for certain types. Id keep a broad mind. My father uses a whyte 901 for this sort of thing. It does the job fine even if he is massively over biked for the task.

McWulf

For towpaths, I still use a Revolution hybrid I bought 6 or 7 years ago from Edinburgh Bike Coop for around £200. The chain and mechs have been replaced but otherwise it's absolutely fine. Even has a mudguard!

I see people on high end road bikes who seem comfortable on canal towpaths. Depends on the surface I guess. Near me they're tarmac or gravel but if you're on something softer then go for fatter tyres than the road bikers would use.

stubs

I was looking at a Boardman flat bar road bike in Halfords the other day and it looked like it could fit some fatter 700c tyres. Would make a brilliant fast road bike capable of doing light off roading. A bit more Road than a Hybrid but would probably be faster than a MTB or a Hybrid.

Anonymous

Canal trails vary, some are a bit more wild, have the odd tree roots across and at some points may just be a muddy path across a field. The Wey near me is like that at times, but gets more civilized in towards London though. Some aren't well maintained also.

P.S. Check if you're allowed to ride the towpath. Most are actually private property, some let you ride, many technically require a permit to ride, some forbid bikes entirely.

Aside from that you will likely encounter the very negative attitude from walkers on them, even if you are allowed there. Towpaths are their exclusive property, they hate bikes, and they'll rant if you don't have a bell. If you do have a bell and use it some will jump out of their skin despite having seen you and shout at you for going past slowly. Others just see you and block the path anyway even if you make your presence known.

cooldad

I would get an MTB. Then when you get bored with towpaths you can have some fun.

rickyrider

deadkenny wrote:

Aside from that you will likely encounter the very negative attitude from walkers on them, even if you are allowed there. Towpaths are their exclusive property, they hate bikes, and they'll rant if you don't have a bell. If you do have a bell and use it some will jump out of their skin despite having seen you and shout at you for going past slowly. Others just see you and block the path anyway even if you make your presence known.

This isn't fair IMO - I commute into central London on the GU canal towpath, and almost never come across what you describe above. Bell a definite requirement though.

Back to what bike question, I'd be another to recommend a CX - I ride the 9 mile stretch on a Kona Jake with touring tyres (marathons) and its ideal.

Anonymous

Depends if it's the kind of path that walkers use a lot, or a grotty old path that's normally used by bikes and drunks sheltering under bridges, and where you can get mugged by chavs and pikeys (thinking round my way, the Wey is much the former and bits of the Basingstoke canal the latter ).