Bike for outback trip

Fractal

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

terryc

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 bastard 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.

Nick Payne

Lash out and get a Rohloff hub for desert/semi-desert travel e.g.
http://www.mountainbike-expedition-...ibia/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" <fractalbugNOSPAM@aussie.yahoo> wrote in message
news:8s02k.8121$IK1.6137@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>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.

BT Humble

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)