"People do ride the route on fully rigid bikes, usually cyclocross or rugged touring bikes, so it's certainly possible and I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying it. 2,700 miles is a lot of dirt road, however, and the vast majority of riders will be more comfortable on a mountain bike with front suspension. Some sections of the route are quite rough and others feature extended washboard (the bane of dirt cyclists everywhere) — all doable without suspension, of course, but if you want to enjoy yourself, ride with a front shock. If comfort is your priority, a full-suspension bike is a good choice. The added complexity means one more thing to possibly break, but there are plenty of bike shops along the way and nothing makes washboard tolerable like a plush rear shock." -- Aaron Teasdale, Adventure Cyclist Magazine, www.adventurecycling.org/features/greatdividegear.cfm
Companion Article: www.adventurecycling.org/resources/200807_Good_the_Badand_the_Beautiful_Teasdale.pdf Another opinion: www.adventurecycling.org/resources/divide_and_conquer.pdf On Oct 30, 12:10 pm, JoelMatthews <[email protected]> wrote: > > Washboard. Miles and miles and miles of washboard'd dirt road. That's > > about the worst you'll see from the reports I've read. If you can handle > > that on a rigid bike, you're set. > > I have not bought the maps yet, so cannot say for sure, but at least > the portion that goes through the San Juan wilderness area in Southern > Colorado as well as the wilderness areas in Northern New Mexico would > have to be trails. Unless there is a road by pass. But then you > would be missing arguably the most beautiful part of the trail (I have > not ridden, of course, but did hike the San Juans years ago. Cannot > imagine there are too many places that come close in scenic beauty). > > On Oct 30, 7:45 am, "Frederick, Steve" <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > Dustin Sharp Sent: > > > Thursday, October 29, 2009 1:05 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: [RBW] Re: Atlantis on the Great Divide Route? > > > >Plenty of people have proved you can do it fully rigid... > > >...From the pics, it seems like most of the route is dirt road--not gnarly > > >singletrack. That said, I'm sure there are a number of sections where > > >suspension would make the whole adventure a lot more comfortable... > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ----- > > > Washboard. Miles and miles and miles of washboard'd dirt road. That's > > about the worst you'll see from the reports I've read. If you can handle > > that on a rigid bike, you're set. > > > I just got my first custom bike, a 650b-wheeled, Softtail Curtlo. I think > > it'd be about perfect for the GDR (with a BOB trailer) > > > It's not a Riv bike, but pics are here for the curious: > > >http://www.flickr.com/photos/40738...@n08/ > > > Steve Frederick, East Lansing, MI --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
