Hi,

I’m aiming to do the end to end this summer with a couple of mates. I’d like some advice on bike choice.

I have a cove stiffee that I’ve done significant touring on before and a Dawes road bike. My mates are both going to be on road bikes and we will be staying in hostels/ B+B’s/ hotels with some gear.

The mountain bike- if i stuck some 700c wheels with 25c (ish) tyres and my aerobars on, would it keep up with the roadbikes on the current gearing (44 biggest at the front, no clearance for bigger, 11 at the back)

The road bike currently has flexy minimaly spoked road wheels on and a 52 big ring on a double chain ring.

Is it going to be more practical/ cost effective to alter the mountain bike (new wheels + tires) or the road bike (new compact chain set, possibly new front mech, possibly new wheels)

Thanks for any advice

Martin

Dunno about being able to keep up with road bikes, but my mate did LEJOG on a decathlon rockrider with slick tyres on and said it didn’t really feel like it was holding him back much.

I used a specialized Sirrus when I did Lejog with my father inlaw a few years ago.

I thought it was perfect, road bike wheels but with flat bars which I found to be comfier than riding drops.

flat barred tourer/hybrid/29r for me.
comfort overspeed is where it is at when touring.

so if you are comfy on your cove, slick it up and off you go.

The cove has never felt like its held me back either (normally on 1.95 semi slicks) but I’ve only ridden with folk on similar bikes.

Long distance, on road, on a MTB, even a slicked up one will be utter hell on earth. It just hasn’t got the geometry for that sort of thing and, while you might keep up with road bikes for the first 50 miles each day, they’ll soon lose you and you’ll be totally wrecked by the experience.

What’s the gearing on the road bike? Lowest gear? You probably won’t need a compact chainset unless you’re doing it fully laden. Buy a new strong set of wheels (ideally handbuilt, much easier to repair en route if they break) and (if necessary) fit a wider range cassette. It’ll be MUCH faster and much more comfortable.

The road bike is 52/40 13- 26. To be honest i’ve never been able to spin the 52/13. If the hill is big enough to spin that, I’m hanging on in terror! It will not be fully laden, my mates are not up for camping.

Its got a deore rear mech at the moment, so a 34 tooth sprocket is a shoe in.

The mountain bike has been fine comfort wise, epecialy with the aero bars for headwinds.

The memory of being in the bottom gear of my mountain bike and slogging for up repeated switchbacks somewhere in between inverness and edinbrugh, plus trying to stop in a hurry yesterday from 20mph on the road bike are pushing me towards the cove. Seeing people on tourers/ road bikes dissapear into the distance pushes me towards the road bike.

If your mates are on road bikes – use your Dawes. I’d change the chain rings though. Keep it as a double but go as small as you can. Being over-geared on a ride like this will hurt your knees and cripple your brain. Good luck.

Guessing that it must be quite an old road bike if it’s got 40/52 chainset on it?

Modern dual pivot brakes are VERY powerful, I can lock either wheel on my road bike even in the dry so effectively you’ve got as much stopping power with them as you have with discs (given that a locked wheel isn’t stopping, it’s just sliding).

What’s the longest distance on road you’ve done in a day on the Cove? Years ago I did a 200km road ride on my slicked up MTB and it wrecked me, caused a knee injury and was generally absolute hell. That’s in spite of the fact that I’d regularly do 50+ miles on it with no problems. What I’m getting at is that you might find the MTB OK for a 40 or 50 mile ride but doing double that distance, every day for 10-12 days is just going to be torture.

Road bike and lower gearing for that sort of distance! [especially as your mates will be on ‘quick’ bikes]
Did it on an allez with a compact chainset a few years ago. We were carrying camelbacks and a large carradice seat post bag thing. Even with the lower gearing of a compact one of my mates had some knee problems.
My bro in law bought a 105 compact chainset with BB for £70-£80 from Merlin this week…..

good luck doing the ride (i would love to do the same,but am waay unfit at present.don’t have the finances to do it at present either)

Crazy leggs-

The road bike is from 2000/ 2001. The front brake is a bit flexy, I doubt I could lock the front above 5mph, but i guess you are making a decent point no need for disks with tires that thin 🙂

I did a tour round central sweden years ago on the cove, couple of days back to back 120 miles due to not booking accomodation in advance and rode from Edinbrugh to Cork (via the ferry at Stranrar/ Belfast) that i did 150 miles on a few days fully loaded with camping gear.
At no point was i going very fast- just very long days.

julioflo – thanks for the tip!

Raceface- I’m not mega fit yet either. I’ll be doing it in 6/7 months, training started yesterday:) 100 then 200 then 300 miles a week is my aim building up over time 🙂

You should do it on the bike you’ll be happiest riding, but the road bike will be the best bike to do it on.
Go for a 60/80 ride with your mates one day, and see how you get on. if you can keep up on the Cove then go for it! if not, its a change of bike imho

I did LEJOG over 12 days, staying in B&Bs. Bear in mind that you’ll still need to carry a fair amount of stuff – I had two medium size panniers on a rack. The extra weight means that a) it’s difficult to get out of the saddle and b) you’ve got a handicap on the climbs. So fit some lowish gearing. I had a road triple with a 12-27 cassette. 1st gear was just about low enough for the slog over Dartmoor, but it was hard going. My bike was a Thorn Audax – a sort of halfway house between a road bike and a tourer. These sorts of bikes are built for comfort over long distance, take mudguards and a moderate amount of luggage. I thought it was just about perfect for the LEJOG.

As for fitness, I wouldn’t worry too much. Make sure you can do 70 odd miles without too much difficulty, and do short distances for the first couple of days. You’ll ride yourself into fitness after that. The great thing about cycling everyday is you can stuff yourself with pie and chips every evening, washed down with a couple of pints. You’ll sleep like a baby and burn off all the calories the next day.

Here’s the bike I used:

just if it helps, my best mate and i are doing this in April

you can take a look at our proposed route on bikeroutetoaster (dead useful tool for route planning)

Route:
Day1 to day 8
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194914

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194934

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194932

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194555

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194936

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194939

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194941

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194944

works out to be 860ish miles

I did it in 2002 on a fully rigid Cannondale M900 (from 1996) mountain bike with 1.5″ slick tyres and rear panniers. I’d advise that you ride whatever you find most comfortable and take it from there.

you need a comfy bike, with low enough gears to let you climb without ruining your knees, if you feel more comfy on the cove then use that with some slicks on.
maybe some bar ends, for a change of hand position.
test everything thoroughly, before you go.
do some training rides with all the kit you plan to take with you.
be utterly ruthless about kit, dont take anything you dont need, you are the one who has to pull it over every hill in the country.
and have fun.
lejog is on my ‘to do’ list.

yer use a decent bike..

though Steve and I are using our 2 speed Bromptons……. though will are to lower the ratios.

They were fine on the c2c.

I did it in 1996 linky here the bike was a raleigh equinox – a race bike, my mate had a tourer. I really found my bike horrible with panniers on, the geometry didn’t really work with the dead weight – my mates Dawes appeared almost unaffected in feel.
Gearing I used a 42:52 on the front and MTB rear cassette (a 34 the biggest cogI think but its a long time ago) and was ok with most stuff, the bit I remember being really hard was the Cornish Coast – I could just about climb a 1:6 but no steeper.

If I was to do it again (& I plan to) I would go with something like the Thorn Audax ^^^^ up there.

In your shoes I would go with the road bike but lift the handlebars as high as you can, I suffered most with sore shoulders, and change the rear cassette – then don’t espect to pedal every single meter but 99.9% will be better

I’d recommend a Ducati for style.

or a Honda Goldwing if you want comfort.

or even better, try a car of some sort…

Can you fly?

I did it a while ago on my Dekerf with slicks, it really depends on the route you take and how many miles you do and are used to doing.

We did 1013 miles in 13 days averaging around 70-80 miles per day. Cornwall was hard with the rolling hills, but we also went through some of the scotish ski ranges. It is amazing what speed you can get up on the downs up there!!!

Look at your route and how fit your mates are, it might be easier on the Cove. Decent set of thin slicks and a flat bar with bar ends should be fine

I lent my flat bar Roadrat to a friend who was doing LEJOG. He’d not really ridden a bike since he was a kid (but had a high level of fitness), he managed just fine with a 39/32 as his lowest gear (53/39 with an 11-32 cassette). I’d use whatever bike you feel most comfortable on.

Enjoy 🙂