All,

Having never been to the Alps before, the wife is taking me biking to Morzine to do some trails with Endless Ride. The riding we’ll be doing will be xc biased rather than downhill. Having never ridden in the Alps are there any kit recommendations for the following:

T*res, tubes, rotor size (180mm ok?), knee/shin pads, bike bag, day pack size etc any hints or tips would be well appreciated.

Have just got back from a long weekend in Scotland which was great, 24 days to go…

Cheers

Carbis

PS Taking the Turner which was built up from advice on here and is great.

flat pedals

No, if you don’t normally ride flats, don’t try to learn in the Alps.

180mm rotors probably OK, depends on your brakes and how heavy you are. Bigger tyres and downhill tubes are a good idea. Knee/shin pads as well – you’ll hopefully be getting help from chairlifts for the ups, so you might as well pad-up. Your normal riding pack will be fine otherwise, as long as you can fit a waterproof in it.

brake pads

bike

and a visit to Roberstons bar

I’ve done a few holidays with Endless, they’re a grand crew. There’s no real need to dress up differently (unless you intend to do a different sport) It’s still just riding a bike, the hills are bigger is all. Take a spare mech hanger and anything else thats specific to your bike you think you may break. Spare pads maybe, I used to take a handful and bed them in.

Have fun.

check out the ‘coyote’ bar 🙂 awesome for apres bike / ski, enjoy 😀

No, if you don’t normally ride flats, don’t try to learn in the Alps.

What?? “Learning” to use flat pedals? “Learning”? Am I missing something, or do people actually learn to ride a bike without using flat pedals?

So you are advocating using SPD’s for the inevitable steep downhill sections in favour of using the safest pedal for the terrain?

How many downhill bikes dont have flats?

(10 years experience of alpine MTBing BTW)

Yeah, you learn to ride a bike with flat pedals, but that ain’t tooling around off-road.
I’ve ridden spds pretty much since they came out – the few times I’ve ridden flats since my feet *really* don’t stick to them. Ride with what you’re used to. If you insist in relearning at least take both sets of pedals/shoes and have the option.

I did a more xc-biased holiday in Morzine some years back – really didn’t need pads, found it kinda amusing how one guy kept swapping ’em on n off all the time.

On the spd front I *did* manage to bust my fibula there (last day but one). But on the smooth, green run off between the bottom of a DH course and the pavement as the back end of the (heavier hired dh bike) slid out over the camber under light braking..about the only time I’ve not had the pedals release. And I could have done that bloomin’ anywhere..

Take the pedals you are comfortable with. My biggest problem has always been braking- I ride skinny tyres (2.1) and I’m a fat busturd, 100kg plus. Braking is an issue for me. I thus need to use bigger tyres and possibly bigger discs. I boil my rear (Avid Juicy 7 @ 185 rotor) unless I’m very careful. I take loads of spare pads with me just in case, plus a bleed kit!

Mech hanger- good idea. There are loads of very good and helpful shops in Morzine and Les Gets- but they do charge quite a bit. The shops at the bottom of the valley in Thonon les Bains are considerably cheaper if you can get there.

I’m assuming you are being guided- take a GPS to record your routes for next year when you won’t need the guides. (and send me the routes too 😉 )

Pad up if you want- not really needed for the XC stuff but it will fill you with confidence- so go for it.

Avoid the Pleney DH! Lemmings galore- up, down, up, down, up, down…

I’ve been out four times now- It’s a great place to go. Make sure you get over into Switzerland too, the trails based around the Mossette lift are sublime, Crossette too.

Have a Tartiflette for me- yummy food.

Have done it twice now, second time on a stumpy, I just put some high rollers and dh tubes on, spare mech hanger, knee and elbow pads, they are handy ‘cos i bet you will try the DH courses that are right behind Morzine, plus plenty of Aspirin for the hangover.

oh, and ‘cos I’m also 100kg, 200mm rotors, back and front, but then again i do ride my brakes because i’m not as brave as some.

OP said X-C based. So DH tubes not needed, pads not needed, flats not needed. Wake up people!

That’ll be Bar Robinson then

each time I’ve gone, I’ve ridden xc/dh about 75/25 split. I’ve just taken the normal bike with normal kit. Spares, I’ve taken my own mech hanger and my own brake pads. No need to beef up the brakes unless people think they’ll go faster because the hills are steeper. is the limiting factor to speed really the gradient?

As for pedals, I’ve always used spuds. Each to their own but the idea of riding some of those DH courses on flats scares the poop out of me.

Definitly don’t learn to ride flat pedals if you don’t already. And there is zero difference in safety! Go faster with SPDs anyway!

Take plenty of spare brake pads, spare mech hanger and suncream!

I’d take a spare mech hanger and good wet weather clothes, as sometimes, particually end of june/beginning of july the Alps often have massive thunder storms which can come very suddenly and the temperature goes from nice, to wet, cold and windy before you know it, which isn’t fun when your 3 valleys from your chalet and have to get back. I also love a decent front mudguard in such weather as it keeps the gritty morzine mud out of your eyes.

Other than that just ride your bike as normal and stop when you hear grinding brake pads or smell burning.

If you’re gonna stick to riding the XC stuff then just ride with what you’d normally ride with.

Bigger brakes won’t hurt.

Bigger tyres won’t hurt if you’re gonna use the lifts most of the time.

Pads not necessary but may help your confidence.

if you normally ride with SPDs then stick to them.

Basically you’ve got to weigh up the added weight of alpifying your bike vs the cost of any climbing you’re going to do.

Most of us out here that ride big days with lifts AND go off and do 1000m climbs and the long descents have one bike that does it all – Nomad / Alpine 5 / Patriot / Heckler type bike with 160 forks – weighing in around 30-35lbs. Seems little point in having a light weight bike to skitter down the mountains. No need for a full face helmet unless you’re downhilling. Pads are optional.

Don’t forget plenty of suncream.

haha,some great advice here, we’ve just got our bike delivery today, I could not help but take loads of pictures of the shinny beasts. All the pictures are here I’ve often mulled the spd/flat pedal question and have opted for “caged spd’s” almost the best of both worlds.

haha,some great advice here, we’ve just got our bike delivery today, I could not help but take loads of pictures of the shinny beasts. All the pictures are here I’ve often mulled the spd/flat pedal question and have opted for “caged spd’s” almost the best of both worlds.

I’d echo all the above (especially brake pads and wet weather gear) and also say to bleed your brakes properly before you go. Old fluid can make brakes overheat/have issues more easily, and chances are you will be braking more and for longer.

As for the pedals, whatever’s normally on the bike.

Whoever said most DH bikes use flats above I dunno. Most “freeride” bikes maybe, but go to a race and I reckon you’ll find it’s about 50:50 flats and spds. DH != FR…

No, if you don’t normally ride flats, don’t try to learn in the Alps.

What?? “Learning” to use flat pedals? “Learning”? Am I missing something, or do people actually learn to ride a bike without using flat pedals?

So you are advocating using SPD’s for the inevitable steep downhill sections in favour of using the safest pedal for the terrain?

How many downhill bikes dont have flats?

(10 years experience of alpine MTBing BTW)

Hey spongebob, yes, you’re right, we all learned to ride bikes on flats, but a lot of riders learned their technical mountain biking on SPDs (me included). When you switch back to flats, there’s definitely a bit of a changeover period which will mess with your head and, more importantly, temporarily remove any jump/hop skills you thought you posessed, so I always recommend to our guests to stick with what they’re used to. We did have a poor girl come out once who had a bloke who insisted that their trip to the Alps was the best time to learn to use SPD’s… 🙄

Stevo (only 3 years Alpine experience, but I do live here year round!)

Stevo (only 3 years Alpine experience, but I do live here year round!)

PFFFT! I’m not jealous! 😉

nice new bikes Gareth. now where are mine… damned GLS man is avoiding me I can tell 🙂

Still think the Alpine 5 looks nicer though!