Iceland! Racks and tyres?

rustncogs

Hi
I'm going to take a trip to Iceland soon to do some cycling and camping.
Of two bikes to choose from I'm thinking my hardtail MTB is a bit more suitable (the other one is a CX style single speed). The MTB has WTB Velociraptor knobblies on it now, I'm guessing these would start to be a real pain over any distance on road, the 1.0 slicks in the cupboard will be useless on gravel.

Due to lack of fitness and experience I'm not planning on crossing the interior or anything, but I'm not planning on spending the entire trip on Route One either. I was looking at Schwalbe Hurricane or Schwalbe Landcruiser (Marathons are too expensive), would either of these be worth changing from the knobblies? Can't decide which looks better. I don't care about wearing the knobblies out, they were cheap its more a question of hauling them along.

Will one of these go on MTB forks? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-alloy-front-rack/
I was also looking at the Tortec Expedition rear rack, but I'm trying to keep a tight budget here, would this do ok?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ventura-Adjusta ... 655&sr=1-2

Maybe I could get away with a rear rack alone, but I'd like to balance the weight out a bit, has anyone seen a Boris Bike style front basket that you could strap a tent or something onto?

Thanks!

Hoopdriver

I can think if a few things but if Marathons are already beyond your budget, I am not sure if I could offer anything within your budget framework...

rustncogs

I just don't feel the need to splash out on Marathons for one trip, if I was cycling to Russia or something I'd feel different.
I'm not going to cry if I get a puncture.

jalapeno

marathons are just bloody reliable, if the money is an issue sling em on ebay when you get back.. but you may want to do more touring in future, hang em in the shed till you need them again, they're not going to get cheaper.

andymiller

I switched to Marathon Duremes and 4,000 kilometres on they aren't showing any signs of wear. They also seem to cope well both on an off-road, in the wet and in the dry. Puncture protection is good too - IMO Marathon Supremes are OTT for touring. Compared to the cost of your trip they aren't that expensive.

From what I've heard Icelan is b@stard expensive (but things may have changed) - if money is tight it might not be' a good choice.

As far as front racks are concerned it's difficile to tell whether the ones you linked to are suitable. I would go for something like these:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/product ... y-lowrider

But I would think hard about whether you really need them - lots of people tour without front panniers.

Hoopdriver

andymiller wrote:

I switched to Marathon Duremes and 4,000 kilometres on they aren't showing any signs of wear. They also seem to cope well both on an off-road, in the wet and in the dry. Puncture protection is good too - IMO Marathon Supremes are OTT for touring. Compared to the cost of your trip they aren't that expensive.

From what I've heard Icelan is b@stard expensive (but things may have changed) - if money is tight it might not be' a good choice.

Iceland is expensiv all right, but Norway is worse!

familyonabike

We've just returned from a month in Iceland and I was shocked and delighted to discover that it's reputation for being expensive is out of date, at least if you're cycling touring and camping. After years touring in Europe it turns out to be the cheapest destination we've toured in for years. Camping is plentiful, cheap or free, coffee's about a euro a cup and refillable and supermarkets no more expensive than anywhere else (when you eventually reach one!) And with budget airlines now offering routes there's never been a better time to visit. It is an incredible touring destination, but not for the faint hearted! How did you get on rustncogs?

andrew_s

rustncogs wrote:

I was looking at Schwalbe Hurricane or Schwalbe Landcruiser (Marathons are too expensive), would either of these be worth changing from the knobblies? Can't decide which looks better.

Either of those would seem to be the right sort of thing. The Hurricanes would probably be a bit better off tarmac,and the Landcruise a little faster on it. For 3 or 4 weeks they will be fine. Start with new tyres.

A front low rider rack would really require either bolted attachment points on both the inside and outside of each fork blade, or a connecting loop between the two sides over the top of the wheel. If neither is the case, there is the risk of the rack/pannier twisting around the fork blade and getting into the spokes (uncommon, but has caused accidents).
Assuming no suitable bolt points, there's this Bor Yueh (?) copy of the £30 Blackburn FL1, and after that things start to get expensive.

I'd suggest this http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/madison-summ ... prod15298/ as a decent cheap rear rack. The rear stays attach a bit closer to the centre, which gives a little more side to side rigidity, and there's a second lower pannier rail that makes putting stuff on top easier.

satanas

^ Seeing the FL-1 racks break fairly often (IME), I'm not sure that I'd want to trust a cheaper version. Personally, I would only consider steel front racks (Tubus, etc) with the possible (but not cheap) exception of OMM. Alloy rear racks are much more reliable than fronts as they don't need to flex, but steel is still better.

With front suspension there are few options for a front rack, and none of the reasonable ones are cheap. You'd be better off using a barbag or smething like one of these: https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.c ... tegoryID=3