First post. Woot.

In brief I am looking for advice on a bike and other equipment I should purchase for a planned bike journey along the famous Coast to Coast walk in England.

A good mate and mountain bike enthusiast suggest I start here for advice.

As a bit of background I am pretty amateur when it comes to cycling. I’ve done a few triathlons, bike leg always my weakest, and a dozen or so mountain bike weekends and day trips in places from Australia to Bolivia, the USA and Guatemala. So all in all I’m pretty new to this. I’ll probably ride the route with my mate who referred me to single track but I’m going to have to do the majority of training on my pat malone.

So then. Any advice for starting out? In particular I am looking for some info on the type of bike I should buy to get me started. I don’t mind buying second hand. I just need something to train on and that will get me over the 200 odd miles of route.

Cheers
Huw

Folk do it on top end road bikes. They do it on shonky old shed bikes. They do it on hybrids, tricycles, retro-mtbs and I’m almost certain it’s been done on a unicycle.

Training really not required unless you plan to do it in a day.

That said, I do have a singlespeed Cannondale for sale which would be completely unsuitable. PM me for details.

User removed, I think your mistaking the Whitehaven to Sunderland route with the St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay.

Huwtindal, which one are you doing?

Some good info here
http://www.c2cpackhorse.co.uk/cycle.htm

If you are doing the one that runs from St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay, which is the one that most closely follows the Wainwright walk, then you are in for a good initiation into mountain biking.

You can’t follow the exact Wainwright walk because a fair bit of it is on public footpaths. However, there is a route that follows it quite closely, mapped originally by Tim Woodcock. Try putting Tim Woodcock, Coast to Coast and Wheelwright’s into Google and you may even come up with a second hand copy of his book. The book itself is probably a couple of decades old now but the route remains and the advice given still stands.

I first rode the route in the early nineties on a rigid, mid-range MTB, wearing walking boots and camping on route. I would suggest that today the advice to go for a mid-range mountain bike would hold true. Full suspension may be preferable for all day comfort but it would be possible on a hard tail to complete the ride and still not feel as beaten up as we did back then.

Be prepared for carrying the bike a lot across the Lake District. Particularly up Black Sail Pass. Consequently you may wish to consider wearing fabric walking boots with flat pedals or the more leisure orientated SPD shoes that you can walk in rather than race type SPD shoes. And given this year’s weather a decent set of waterproofs are a must. Treat it as an expedition rather than a bike ride and you should be about right.

Alternatively, if it’s the Sustrans route then ignore all the above.

There’s a write up on crazyguyonabike for the c2c off-road, although it’s quite a few years old now.

It’s on my list of things to do at some point too (or another long distance “path”).

CTC article

A few pics to inspire! Tried to do it in 3 days but the weather beat us on the 3rd day so took another 3 hours on the forth!
Day 1 St Bees to Grasmere YHA 10 hrs riding 6 pints
Day 2 Grasmere YHA to Reeth Dales MTB centre 10 hrs riding 4 pints
Day 3 Reeth to Glaisdale 9 hrs 6 pints
Day 4 Glaisdale to Scarborough 3 hrs
Only booked the first Bnb in St bees and winged it on the rest would recommend Dales mountain bike centre as they left keys for us as we did not know what time we would be getting there.
Only one guy did it on a full suss the rest on hardtails which is probably the best option.Planning on doing it a SS in the near future.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/sets/72157624943948623/with/5040576499/

St Bees Beach by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Are we nearly there yet! by Richard Munro, on Flickr

58098_480364110394_660125394_7412488_2940250_n by Richard Munro, on Flickr

bogtrotting coast to coast! by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Walna scar Rd by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Tan Inn help yourself! by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Not a good time for a puncture! by Richard Munro, on Flickr

The End by Richard Munro, on Flickr

I’ve got the Tim Woodcock book – it’s done the Coast to Coast several times with various different friends, I’ve lent it to folk off here before. The irony is, I’ve never done C2C!

You can borrow it if you want provided I get it back. Reply back on here if you’re interested…

As mentioned, the book must be 20 years old now and some of the route isn’t what I’d choose but it’s a good benchmark.

Here are some slightly older (1994 IIRC) pictures to compliment Rich’s:

St Bees obligatory beach shot.

Walna Scar Road at a very similar place to Rich’s one above.

Tan Hill Inn.

No shocks but still smiling.

First up thanks for all the cracking good advice so far and the inspiring pics guys. I am attempting the St Bees to Robin Hood route btw.

My first reaction is that I will clearly need to do some hard training if I am going to make this route (a) in a half decent time and (b) without carrying my bike half the time. Looks like a bit of a challenge, and that’s exactly what I am after.

@postierich – Did your team do the full 210 mile Tim Woodcock route? It suggests 5-6 days…doing it in 4 sounds pretty intense. Given my lack of ability (at the moment) it sounds like I should plan for a longer time on the trail. Also, loved the pint count. Didn’t realise the route went through Tan Hill! Now I’m exited. I’m a bit of a beer connoisseur (geek) and pub fan so may have to schedule in an extra day!

Alright. So my first major decision is the bike. I am really having a hard time deciding between a full suss and a hard tail. I could get a top of the line hard tail for the same price basic full suss.

Few of options I was thinking about:
(a) Buy an intro/cheapo full suss bike and upgrade the sh!tty stuff like the rear suss.
(b) Look at a second hand full suss and get it serviced and fixed as required.
(c) Buy a basic bike for training and rent a quality bike for about 40 quid a day while doing the C2C.

I don’t have the greatest budget so price will definitely play a part. Any advice on this would be great.

OK, apologies, I assumed you were doing the traditional C2C. For the off-road venture, I’d recommend a hardtail. Why? Easier to fit panniers, easier to push / carry, weighs less, you’ll get more use out of it after the EPIC trip, and finally, more bang for your bucks.

Having recently walked a few sections of the Southern Upland Way(a trip I fully intend to undertake on a bike, and quite similar to your proposed trip), I was reminded of the necessity of carrying a bike over boggy sections and rocky ascents. It hurts.

I’d be on the lookout for a geared retro-bike with half-decent forks.