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#1
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Bike for outback trip
I am hoping to do the Treadlers ride from Broken Hill out to White Cliffs,
Milparinka and the SA border in July. Has anyone done that? Wondering what the roads are like- sandy and corrugated I suppose. Also, what bike would be a good choice? I have a trusty trek tourer but am thinking of a mtb for the trip. It is a supported ride (in aid of the RFDS) so wont have to carry a lot of gear. fb in sydknee |
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#2
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Bike for outback trip
On Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:31:48 +0000, Fractal wrote:
I am hoping to do the Treadlers ride from Broken Hill out to White Cliffs, Milparinka and the SA border in July. Has anyone done that? Wondering what the roads are like- sandy and corrugated I suppose. Also, what bike would be a good choice? I have a trusty trek tourer but am thinking of a mtb for the trip. It is a supported ride (in aid of the RFDS) so wont have to carry a lot of gear. You'll probably find it a mixture of corrugations and extremely fast, but short strips. Sandy in low lying areas. If you are looking for an excuse to shell out for a mtb, go ahead. {;-). Tyre size; go for a frame that will take 2.5"(?), even if you don't plan on using them all the time. Bigger tyres will smooth out the corrugations a little(number depends on amount of 4WD traffic and speeds) and spread your weight better over sand. Trade off is more weight and rollng resistance inthe wheels. For serious corrugations I'd recomend a triple padded handlebar; thorn proof tube, hardish foam and then tape and padded gloves combined with a loose grip. Let the handble bars rock in your hand whilst balancing on the pedals. The other approach is learn to ride in a very straight line. Funnily, most people had a lot of problems with corrugations because they ride through the worst of them. If you look closely, you can usually spot a route through with minimal corrugations. The cross over between two waves of corrugations is usally the best. Not conducive to riding size by size, so be a courteous ******* and let the other person go first. Then you can learn from their mistakes in path choosing. {:-) For sand; two options barge through or just spin through. Short stuff just speed it through and basically allow your momentum to carry you through, but if you wiggle you're stuffed. Far better is to drop gears to the lowest you can keep upright in and spin like crazy. Once you break the crust of sand, it will soak the energy out of your wheels like nothing. Try not to wiggle the steering either. Make sure you take sun protection. It is lovely weather now. Personally, I'd ditch the helmet asap and just wear a big floppy cotton hat for sun protection, unless you are plagued by support and other vehicles. For sand practise, Wisemans Ferry to Buckety via Ten Mile Hollow(convict road) would be great practise, from what I remember of long ago trips. Then you can head back to Wisemans Ferry via the downhill to St Albans and it is flat most of the way back (sealed too now I believe). Let me know if the locals still have the produce and jam store at the bottom of the hill. No idea of the current "atmosphere" of the St Albans pub. |
#3
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Bike for outback trip
Lash out and get a Rohloff hub for desert/semi-desert travel e.g.
http://www.mountainbike-expedition-t...bia/namib.html. Less exernal parts to wear and go wrong. My wife has one of these (after many years of touring on derailleur-equipped bikes) and reckons it's the best thing since sliced bread: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/ravensporttour.html. "Fractal" wrote in message ... I am hoping to do the Treadlers ride from Broken Hill out to White Cliffs, Milparinka and the SA border in July. Has anyone done that? Wondering what the roads are like- sandy and corrugated I suppose. Also, what bike would be a good choice? I have a trusty trek tourer but am thinking of a mtb for the trip. It is a supported ride (in aid of the RFDS) so wont have to carry a lot of gear. |
#4
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Bike for outback trip
Fractal wrote:
I am hoping to do the Treadlers ride from Broken Hill out to White Cliffs, Milparinka and the SA border in July. Has anyone done that? Wondering what the roads are like- sandy and corrugated I suppose. Also, what bike would be a good choice? I have a trusty trek tourer but am thinking of a mtb for the trip. It is a supported ride (in aid of the RFDS) so wont have to carry a lot of gear. I say go with a K-Mart Huffy. If you make it, you'll be able to skite about how it's all the man and not the machine. ;-) BTH (And if you fail, you can blame the bike) |
#5
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Bike for outback trip
"BT Humble" wrote in message ... Fractal wrote: I am hoping to do the Treadlers ride from Broken Hill out to White Cliffs, Milparinka and the SA border in July. Has anyone done that? Wondering what the roads are like- sandy and corrugated I suppose. Also, what bike would be a good choice? I have a trusty trek tourer but am thinking of a mtb for the trip. It is a supported ride (in aid of the RFDS) so wont have to carry a lot of gear. I say go with a K-Mart Huffy. If you make it, you'll be able to skite about how it's all the man and not the machine. ;-) BTH (And if you fail, you can blame the bike) Yep, it'll probably be the ankle, the knee, the hip or the neck that goes first! Looked at the Huffy Desert Explorer Carbon XTC and it seems good value. They are fitting a Rohloff and Desert Duellers. fb |
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