Hey all, could do with some specific advice on bike choice…

I’m doing the Scotland Coast-to-Coast later this year. In addition to lots of running around and kayaking, there’s 65 miles of road riding and 16 miles of off-road which I think is mixture of firetrack and a short bit of singletrack. The obvious choice is a cyclo-cross bike, and the friend I’m doing it with is going to take his CC bike.

BUT… I can’t really afford the £££ for a decent CC bike and to be honest I don’t really want one as I won’t use it much elsewhere. Outside of this particular event I’m seriously considering selling enough body parts to get a 29er full suss trail set-up for around £2k which I’d get a lot of use out of. For that much money I should be able to get a pretty light one.

So, my question to you is, although it’s a bit overkill for the course, will the 29er wheels (with semi-slicks on) and light frame keep me near CC levels of speed or am I going to be left behind? If it helps, I’m the stronger cyclist out of the two of us, so I’ve got a bit of an advantage in keeping up.

Any thoughts really appreciated…

What you’ve got now with semi slicks.
Unless you are very rich.
Or buy secondhand cx bike and sell it on straight after

Or 700c wheels and road/cx. tyres which will fit on your 26er

I have done the coast to coast for the last two years – I also bring two sets of tyres – slicks for the first day – and then some fast rolling xc tyres for the second day (X-kings).

If you are strong on the bike you should be fine, I personally wouldn’t us a full sus for it.

Hi I raced this last year as the one day option on a cx which was perfect. If you don’t have a cx I’d go for a road bike with city/touring tyres (I had city tyres on the cx). 3rd option would be a hybrid if I had one. Failing these I’d go for a 29er preferably hard tail but a light full suss with lockout would be ok but critically I’d put on the narrowest tyres I could get on them.
Basically a 26er is a big no go – you’ll never keep up with someone on a cx. It also makes a massive difference working as a team in the cycle.
The singletrackworld isn’t much cop if you regularly ride mtbs (I’m no cycling god!). Hence I’d ride a road bike as a second choice to the cx.
All the guys at the front had cx but I did see 2 guys on hard tails, one was a 26 and another a 29. The guy on the 26 was immense, I struggled to keep with him!

If you have any queries get in touch, I love this sort of stuff.