Bike Type Suggestion for Wildman Duathlon Series

g1ngerrevolution

Background:
I'm a six foot, 16 stone bloke, who as part of last year's New Year Resolution decided to set himself 12 challenges over the course of the year, mostly for fun, but to get fit too.

I bought a Cross bike (from Evans on the ride to work scheme, a Genesis Croix de Fer (http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/frames/adventure/croix-de-fer) ) at the start of the year, and have done a number of Wiggle Road rides, two triathlons, used it for commuting etc.

The choice of a cross bike was dictated by my weight, desired riding position, wishing to use it in all weathers for commuting (which includes some canal tow paths near Woking), relative indestructibility. All in all I'm very happy with it.

I've entered the Human Race off road duathlon series (http://humanrace.co.uk/events/off-road) which consists of three races in relatively tough conditions.

Questions:
- Does the hive mind think the Croix de Fer with some knobbly tires is going to be up to the job? The reason that I'm posting this is because I'm unconvinced. Front suspension would appear to be at least sensible, if not actually required. I've done some canal rides on it, and part of the reason I'm dubious is the way my wrists & shoulders were shaken about. I also don't wish to destroy it in the process, as it is my commuter.

Assuming the answer is "You'd probably be best off on a dedicated MTB"...

- Second option: "Diamondback and Specialized Mountain bikes for hire at £40.00 each"
- Third option is buy second hand (renting a bike per race (there are three of them) is £120 spent - would the depreciation of a second hand MTB in the £500~ range be anything like as much?)
- Fourth option is buy new.

If you were in my situation, what would you do?

I'm erring towards buying a second hand hard-tail in the region of £500 and then either keeping it because it's fun, or flogging it because it turns out I don't like mud.

cooldad

If the offroad is rough enough to need an MTB, and the most you've done is some canal paths, you might want to buy an MTB and get some practice in.

Myster101

I've done a couple of off road duathlons and you really will need a mountain bike. As Cooldad says, buy yourself the best you can (hardtail will do) and get some practice in. Second hand will do so long as you know what you're looking for and at

If the races are anything like mine were then your cross bike will probably be in bits half way round :twisted:

You could always rent for the first race and see how you get on.

njee20

I've done a few off road tris and duathlons, including a Human Race one, and a cross bike would be fine.

b0redom

I realise I'm late to the party on this one, but I'm also looking at Duathlons as I'm doing IM Melbourne in March, and I also have a cross bike (Tricross in my case).

The rules state:

• Ensure your mountain bike has been fully serviced.
• The use of cyclocross bikes will not be allowed.
• No drop handle bars
• Tyres have to be a minimum of an inch and half wide

njee20

So they do, probably wise, the standard is riding is so horrific anyway I'm surprised they don't mandate full face helmets and body armour. Would be quite an advantage on those I've done!

So yes, a light hardtail to suit your budget would be my choice!

g1ngerrevolution

Crikey. I'd decided to do it on the cross bike. Glad someone pointed out the rules to me! Thanks to you both.

Second hand hard tail it is.

big_southern_jesse

Another late one to join the discussion...

I've signed up to all three of the duathlons over this winter, as a bit of a challenge, and to keep me active and not let the winter weight build up again.

I am riding it on a rigid mtb. But it's a hardtail with carbon forks on a steel frame, on 29er wheels with some great big 2.4" Hans Dampfs on it. All that adds up to a lot of spring anyway. It was a singlespeed, but recently changed it to 1x9 specifically for these races.

If your budget extends to a new decent bike, or if you can hit the Cycle to Work scheme again great. If not, there are loads of options for decent 2nd hand bikes around £500.

We've just picked up a 2013 Whyte 529 - practically identical to this year's model:

http://whyte.bike/gb/models/crosscountr ... 9er/529-2/

for £380. I looked for that specific model at a decent price, and only took a couple of weeks. Anything like that is going to be spot on for these races, and a huge amount of fun too.

Whereabouts are you based? If you haven't done much off road stuff, then definitely worth looking for a bike soon, and getting some practice in. Doesn't look too technical, it's all singletrack, but a bit of practice with cornering in mud and getting grip while climbing will certainly help.

I think the races are going to be a huge amount of fun actually, wet muddy and exhausting, but quite a laugh! MY target for the first at least, is just to make it round. An offroad 10k run, then an 18km mtb on unfamiliar trails and get started on the 5k run before the 3hr cut off is going to be doable, but may still quite hard for me.

Jess.

njee20

I'd ditch the 2.4" Hans Dampfs, unless they've changed in the last couple of years they were very easy 'mountain biking'! Something faster rolling would do you better!

big_southern_jesse

Okay, that's quite interesting. I actually don't find them particularly heavy or slow. I have some small block 8s for summer dusty conditions, and the HD's for the mud and crap. I don't know the ground conditions at any of the venues really, so was going to sacrifice the little bit of speed for more grip in the wet, which I assume it will be.

If I'm feeling really competitive, I'll take the SB8's as an option to swap to pre race if it looks dry and fast. But as I said, my target is "completing" rather than "competing" for the first one.

But I'll have a think about it as we get closer to the date. Thanks for the advice.

The Rookie

If a CX bike would have been viable, then I'd suggest a Smart Sam, the near continuous centre means they roll well but you also have reasonable mud grip.

g1ngerrevolution

Whereabouts are you based?

--> Chertsey. So either Bracknell or somewhere around Peaslake are both possible with minimal effort for practice.

I looked for that specific model at a decent price

--> Where did you look? I've been watching the 'for sale' forum here but I haven't spotted anything suitable in my size / price range. I'm not an eBay fan.

big_southern_jesse

I searched around the web for a while. Found a lot of classified adds that were well out of date, or got no reaction when I enquired. Although I was trying to avoid ebay, in the end that's where we got it. Looked at lots of "completed listings" to see what sort of prices they were going for, and then had a reasonable idea of the market. I asked after several that seemd to have high reserves on them. I was usually pretty open about what I expected to pay. Most are listed as "advertised elsewhere" so a few disappeared early. In the end found one with good recent pictures, good tradig history and easy to communicate with, and just went with it. Perhaps we were very lucky, but I was relatively confident. Also, the price was good enough that I felt I could afford any one of a full service / new forks / new groupset / etc and still have a good price for the bike. But try to go local so you can see the bike.

curto80

I could be wrong but I'm fairly certain that cross bikes (or, minimally, drop-bars) are banned from that duathlon series. Seem to recall trying to enter one a couple of years ago and realising that my surly crosscheck wouldn't make it past the start line. I might be confusing it with another event but I'd definitely check the rules. Thanks for reminding me about this though, now I have a cheap and cheerful MTB I might revisit the idea.

curto80

Doh, should have read the whole thread before posting, sorry

big_southern_jesse

Curto80 wrote:

now I have a cheap and cheerful MTB I might revisit the idea.

Great if you do want to take part, but get yourself in gear if you want to do the first one, the entries close at midnight tonight!