Mountain bike set ups?
- Thread starter Dannytsg
- Start date
If you're looking for a new bike, it really depends what sort of budget you have in mind. Fat bikes have their place, but they can be a bit of a pain in less than extreme conditions. You can get some pretty wide tyres for other types of bike as it is, especially with 650b+ and 29+ stuff. But it'll all depend on exactly what sort of environments and uses you have in mind. I've been thinking about putting together a bike inspired by the sort of "all terrain touring bikes" that have become popular recently, stuff like the Trek 920, Genesis Vagabond, Surly Ogre/Troll/ECR and Salsa Fargo. Not that there's anything wrong with suspension if you're mainly doing off roading, but you have to be careful to get some that will actually do anything. The main thing for me is having some kind of non-flat handlebars, or at least bar ends. For multi-hour or even several day trips I find the wrists just get too uncomfortable. Easiest/cheapest way to do that to a normal mountain bike is probably just to get some butterfly bars and keep the existing brake/gear levers.
I like my bike trailers so i keep the bike totally free of clutter and anytime i need i can detach it and it is a normal bike in seconds, you do need to learn the ride with a trailer though which i hair raising now and then, I have 3 trailers
Got my extrawheel this exact model (there are many others), holds about 40kg safely once you have learnt to ride trailer (25kg max when learning trust me hahahaha), great trailer with a low center of gravity for your load, at high speed down hill as you break you can jackknife as it has no brakes so you learn to brake when you know you are inline and accounting for that always, this you learn quick hahaha sheeesh i nearly went full brown trouser time once or twice in first 20 mins
Got a BOB copy, solid noise cage you drag behind your bike on a wheel, holds about 35kg safely, i use mine for grocery shopping behind a full suspension bike, all the same good and bad as above trailer but noisey as a bag of bolts in a washing machine on rough surfaces
I have yet to try my newest trailer but i will be taking it out soon and for the first time videoing one of my cycle trekking adventures to share
Burley Travoy, looks great really well made (looking at it now), 2 wheels instead of 1 (not sure how this will play out) 45kg load weight and a higher center of gravity and supposedly much less drift during less than straight line braking, why have another trailer Bod? I'm glad you asked, the other two don't fit behind my fat bike and i could buy bits to mod them like an interchangable yolk system for each but they are so costly i thought might as well try a different type of trailer
whenever i get a bike trailer i don't pay extra for their bags, so far they have all been a joke, i use the proper rubber roll top dry bags used for kayaking and canoeing that are fully submersible and when sealed shut can act as flotation devices, otherwise your gear just get wet through with the first downpour
Cycling wild camping adventure coming soon, gonna be interesting trying to squeeze using the cameras into the hobby and record something worth sharing, best of luck with your cycling adventure plans as it really is a brilliant silent way to get out there, well unless you use one of my BOB copy trailers
Got my extrawheel this exact model (there are many others), holds about 40kg safely once you have learnt to ride trailer (25kg max when learning trust me hahahaha), great trailer with a low center of gravity for your load, at high speed down hill as you break you can jackknife as it has no brakes so you learn to brake when you know you are inline and accounting for that always, this you learn quick hahaha sheeesh i nearly went full brown trouser time once or twice in first 20 mins
Got a BOB copy, solid noise cage you drag behind your bike on a wheel, holds about 35kg safely, i use mine for grocery shopping behind a full suspension bike, all the same good and bad as above trailer but noisey as a bag of bolts in a washing machine on rough surfaces
I have yet to try my newest trailer but i will be taking it out soon and for the first time videoing one of my cycle trekking adventures to share
Burley Travoy, looks great really well made (looking at it now), 2 wheels instead of 1 (not sure how this will play out) 45kg load weight and a higher center of gravity and supposedly much less drift during less than straight line braking, why have another trailer Bod? I'm glad you asked, the other two don't fit behind my fat bike and i could buy bits to mod them like an interchangable yolk system for each but they are so costly i thought might as well try a different type of trailer
whenever i get a bike trailer i don't pay extra for their bags, so far they have all been a joke, i use the proper rubber roll top dry bags used for kayaking and canoeing that are fully submersible and when sealed shut can act as flotation devices, otherwise your gear just get wet through with the first downpour
Cycling wild camping adventure coming soon, gonna be interesting trying to squeeze using the cameras into the hobby and record something worth sharing, best of luck with your cycling adventure plans as it really is a brilliant silent way to get out there, well unless you use one of my BOB copy trailers
I've got a BOB Yak converted to a fat tyre.
I sometimes take it depending on where in going and the mood I'm in. You can see it on my blog. Works well, the fat wheel keeps it balanced and helps it from bouncing around. But it does add a fair bit of drag, so I tend to use it on shorter journeys only.
http://doricdiversions.com/2016/06/14/bush-biking-part-2/
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I sometimes take it depending on where in going and the mood I'm in. You can see it on my blog. Works well, the fat wheel keeps it balanced and helps it from bouncing around. But it does add a fair bit of drag, so I tend to use it on shorter journeys only.
http://doricdiversions.com/2016/06/14/bush-biking-part-2/
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Looks tooooooooaaaatally badassss too, i could be kitted up to the nines if you pedalled past on that the green eyed monster might just ram you off the road in a moment of jealous fury, nice bike too, i also have an awesome fat bike, love love love it
How do you find having a trailer off road? I've heard they can be a massive headache, especially if you have any sharp corners or trees to avoid. I would probably try to go with panniers and frame mounted bags as far as possible, and only consider a trailer if travelling with a pet or family but I'd definitely be sticking to roads or paths. In terms of specific bikes, it's hard to say without a budget and more specific use requirements, but if I was buying today I'd probably be looking at something like this:
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/voodoo-hoodoo-mountain-bike
As a starting point, at least spec wise. You could probably lose a few features and save some money, but it's got pretty much everything you'd want. Solid groupset, air forks, hydraulic discs. People fret a lot about wheel size but I don't think it's that big of a deal, 27.5" is supposed to be a bit better for rougher off road surfaces with rocks/obstacles, 29" is supposed to be a bit better at rolling over smoother surfaces but you can make do with either in most situations and not really know the difference. If you do change uses you'll get more out of just selecting some more appropriate tyres - slick 1.75s or so for road riding, or just better off road tyres. But slap a rack and mudguards on that and it's pretty much ready to go on a day trip.
As I say, for this sort of bike I'd be looking at some different handlebars for longer trips, but flat bars can affect people differently. Butterfly bars are often liked for carrying a lot of gear where the side positions can give you a lot of leverage over the bike when you're climbing steep hills, but they can change the reach of your bike (which may be a good thing if you want a more relaxed setup, but can be altered by changing the stem) and you might not find any one position especially comfortable. Short of changing to drop bars, which will generally require a whole new brake lever/gear setup which can get quite costly, the other alternative is just some swept back bars which give you a more neutral resting hand position. A lot of people rave about the Jones Loop bar, but that's quite costly too, you can get swept bars starting from £10-20, just about finding something that works for you.
And of course the other alternative is an adventure/cyclocross bike, which is essentially a road bike that's been adapted for off road terrain - wider tyres, more relaxed riding position, longer wheelbase, disc brakes etc. But they keep the drop bars which can be a huge help on longer trips, and retain a lot of the speed/efficiency of a road bike when on smoother surfaces. They can handle a surprising amount of different terrain, and are definitely worth considering if you see yourself switching between road and off-road a lot, and mostly sticking to existing trails when you do go off road. Stuff like the Specialized Diverge, Giant Revolt and a bunch of others would fall into this category.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/voodoo-hoodoo-mountain-bike
As a starting point, at least spec wise. You could probably lose a few features and save some money, but it's got pretty much everything you'd want. Solid groupset, air forks, hydraulic discs. People fret a lot about wheel size but I don't think it's that big of a deal, 27.5" is supposed to be a bit better for rougher off road surfaces with rocks/obstacles, 29" is supposed to be a bit better at rolling over smoother surfaces but you can make do with either in most situations and not really know the difference. If you do change uses you'll get more out of just selecting some more appropriate tyres - slick 1.75s or so for road riding, or just better off road tyres. But slap a rack and mudguards on that and it's pretty much ready to go on a day trip.
As I say, for this sort of bike I'd be looking at some different handlebars for longer trips, but flat bars can affect people differently. Butterfly bars are often liked for carrying a lot of gear where the side positions can give you a lot of leverage over the bike when you're climbing steep hills, but they can change the reach of your bike (which may be a good thing if you want a more relaxed setup, but can be altered by changing the stem) and you might not find any one position especially comfortable. Short of changing to drop bars, which will generally require a whole new brake lever/gear setup which can get quite costly, the other alternative is just some swept back bars which give you a more neutral resting hand position. A lot of people rave about the Jones Loop bar, but that's quite costly too, you can get swept bars starting from £10-20, just about finding something that works for you.
And of course the other alternative is an adventure/cyclocross bike, which is essentially a road bike that's been adapted for off road terrain - wider tyres, more relaxed riding position, longer wheelbase, disc brakes etc. But they keep the drop bars which can be a huge help on longer trips, and retain a lot of the speed/efficiency of a road bike when on smoother surfaces. They can handle a surprising amount of different terrain, and are definitely worth considering if you see yourself switching between road and off-road a lot, and mostly sticking to existing trails when you do go off road. Stuff like the Specialized Diverge, Giant Revolt and a bunch of others would fall into this category.
In reality, any bike will do to get you going.
I've used mountain bikes for years to get out into the hills and over recent years I've move away from high spec, lightweight frames and gone for good steel framed bikes. I have two Surly made bikes, a 1x1 as a light mountain bike and for trips away I use my Surly Big Dummy. I've had a good look at fatter tyred bikes recently and I have friends who love them. For my needs though, The 3" tyred I use on my 26" wheels do me fine.
Similarly, there are some great bag makers out there making lightweight frame bags for bikepacking, I think that this may be slightly limiting if you're using the bike for bushcrafting so I've stuck with panniers and saddlebags which give me a bit more carrying flexibility.
Unfortunately, Tapatalk isn't letting me load photo's at the moment, I'll try later.
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I've used mountain bikes for years to get out into the hills and over recent years I've move away from high spec, lightweight frames and gone for good steel framed bikes. I have two Surly made bikes, a 1x1 as a light mountain bike and for trips away I use my Surly Big Dummy. I've had a good look at fatter tyred bikes recently and I have friends who love them. For my needs though, The 3" tyred I use on my 26" wheels do me fine.
Similarly, there are some great bag makers out there making lightweight frame bags for bikepacking, I think that this may be slightly limiting if you're using the bike for bushcrafting so I've stuck with panniers and saddlebags which give me a bit more carrying flexibility.
Unfortunately, Tapatalk isn't letting me load photo's at the moment, I'll try later.
Sent from my SGP521 using Tapatalk
In terms of a middle ground between fat bikes and "normal" off road bikes, the Surly troll looks rather nice. It'll take a 3" tyre on the front and a 2.8 on the rear (why they didn't allow for 3" rear I'll never understand...).
As for how to carry luggage. I would take a look at how People like Helen Lloyd, Emily Chapel, Sarah Outen, or Lee Craigie carry luggage. Helen has cycled the length of Africa and crossed Siberia in winter (She wrote about them in Desert Snow & A Siberian winters tale). Emily Chapell has cycled over half way round the world and won the Transcontinental race this year (More on her in What goes around). Sarah Outen circled the world by human power, including cycling across Eurasia, and then crossing North America in winter (Her Book - Dare to Do). Lee Craigie Rode the Highland trail 550 this year.
All 4 rode very different terrains, on very different bikes. All 4 didn't use a trailer. Emily used a fat bike for her ride across Alaska in winter, Sarah did it on a Thorn touring bike. Her TCR ride was done on a road bike with Apidura luggage.
There's a lot to be said for the traditional 4 panniers and a handlebar bag, it spreads the load so it's nice and balanced, you can keep things organised, and you have well over 50 litres of luggage. But it can lead you to packing more than you really need, because you have the space. That said in winter I'm not sure you'd be able to carry enough stuff by the time you put a winter sleeping bag in one pannier (if it fits). That said you need to do more mods on the bike in winter as the grease in normal bike parts freezes at -20°C.
The other option that seems to be increasing in popularity is "bike packing" luggage. I really like the idea of it and will certainly be getting some on my new tourer once I've finished building it. It has the nice bonus of keeping all of the weight in the plane of the bike. But it can limit how much stuff you can take, as well as compromises if you have drop handle bars, or a compact frame.
This then brings us onto the question of "locations". The obvious direction would be Scotland plenty of trails, lots of open access. In the truly remote moorland you may want to rethink the hammock choice tho, not many trees on top of the mountains...
The other option I would suggest is the Netherlands. Sure it's not known for wilderness... or mountains... but it does have some rather pretty areas, great cycling potential *AND* there are options for free wild camping (Let me know if you want more info on this).
Failing that, get on your bike, pick a direction and ride.
Just remember, rubber side down.
J
As for how to carry luggage. I would take a look at how People like Helen Lloyd, Emily Chapel, Sarah Outen, or Lee Craigie carry luggage. Helen has cycled the length of Africa and crossed Siberia in winter (She wrote about them in Desert Snow & A Siberian winters tale). Emily Chapell has cycled over half way round the world and won the Transcontinental race this year (More on her in What goes around). Sarah Outen circled the world by human power, including cycling across Eurasia, and then crossing North America in winter (Her Book - Dare to Do). Lee Craigie Rode the Highland trail 550 this year.
All 4 rode very different terrains, on very different bikes. All 4 didn't use a trailer. Emily used a fat bike for her ride across Alaska in winter, Sarah did it on a Thorn touring bike. Her TCR ride was done on a road bike with Apidura luggage.
There's a lot to be said for the traditional 4 panniers and a handlebar bag, it spreads the load so it's nice and balanced, you can keep things organised, and you have well over 50 litres of luggage. But it can lead you to packing more than you really need, because you have the space. That said in winter I'm not sure you'd be able to carry enough stuff by the time you put a winter sleeping bag in one pannier (if it fits). That said you need to do more mods on the bike in winter as the grease in normal bike parts freezes at -20°C.
The other option that seems to be increasing in popularity is "bike packing" luggage. I really like the idea of it and will certainly be getting some on my new tourer once I've finished building it. It has the nice bonus of keeping all of the weight in the plane of the bike. But it can limit how much stuff you can take, as well as compromises if you have drop handle bars, or a compact frame.
This then brings us onto the question of "locations". The obvious direction would be Scotland plenty of trails, lots of open access. In the truly remote moorland you may want to rethink the hammock choice tho, not many trees on top of the mountains...
The other option I would suggest is the Netherlands. Sure it's not known for wilderness... or mountains... but it does have some rather pretty areas, great cycling potential *AND* there are options for free wild camping (Let me know if you want more info on this).
Failing that, get on your bike, pick a direction and ride.
Just remember, rubber side down.
J
I think it depends on the context of what you're really aiming to do to be honest. If you just want to go for a trip on your bike then sure, look at what most other tourers and bikepackers are doing. But if the bike is simply a tool to explore some new environments for practicing bushcraft then your requirements may be a little different. I'd be tempted to just see about strapping an normal bushcraft pack to a rear rack (although maybe not your main one, as it'll probably get quite muddy) and carrying bike related stuff in a saddle/handlebar/frame bag.
I've got a 29er hardtail with seat dropper. My pack weighs 8kg at the most with hammock, tarp, quilts, food etc - This gets me most places either wearing the rucksack or strapped to a rear frame that bolts to the rear axle if terrain is going to be rough.
The fat bike looks awesome, but heavy. Great if you are ultra fit (which i'm not), but a lighter bike and kit might give you a longer range over rough terrain.
either wearing the rucksack or strapped to a rear frame that bolts to the rear axle if terrain is going to be rough.The fat bike looks awesome, but heavy. Great if you are ultra fit (which i'm not), but a lighter bike and kit might give you a longer range over rough terrain.
the tyres on fat bikes are heavy but the frames are surprisingly light. No heavier than any other bike.
The first generation fat bikes were brutal as they were built extra heavy duty and from almost solid steel bars instead of pipes, i rode one about 8 years back and i couldn't hardly pop a wheelie it was so weighty, put me off them for years, now i have a lovely one like mrcharly said it weighs 1lb less than my full suspension mtb
