[Closed] a bike to ride 100 miles offroad on?

Did SDW (half and back) and Ridgeway to Avebury and back (twice)plus the Manx 100miler on a Whyte 29C with bendy Syntace post (excellent) and found it excellent and mostly comfortable. The Manx 100 was 13.5hours in the saddle over very rough ground in places - I wasn't begging for a FS at 12hrs

Surly karate monkey singlespeed with carbon fork, and something like ikons to keep the weight down, works for me.

What would I use? Steel 456evo as it's what I've got. I was a bit unsure about it's suitability for an offroad century till I did a couple last year. If I could choose any bike it probably wouldn't be that one though.

I did the SDW on a '12 Five Pro but next time will do it on the Cotic Soul 26. Either are well suited to that distance....

I'd go for a big wheeled hardtail, and make it as comfortable as possible. 29ers are great for eating up the miles on that sort of terrain.

Whatever I was riding at the time 😀
I did 95miles on an old GT when I did the SDW 😀

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And in a bloody decent time too Crosshair !

100mm FS 29er such as the original Tallboy or a Krampus

Not a rigid single speed........again.
A rigid singlespeed with 29+ tyres....I learnt my lesson.

A Krampus or Genesis Longitutde

Cross bike, faster than the others on the gravel/flat stuff, fit some decent fatter tyres for some comfort. job done.

next?

I'd say a Swift with a nice carbon fork. Have done several 100 milers on mine. It sounds ideal for what you describe.

even with 47c tyres fitted, it will be too harsh for the route

in that case you are pretty much limited to mtbs, save for a few things (26" LHT being one of them)

I've ridden 100 miles on this - pretty comfy - and light.

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Absolutely suspension up front. Rigisd forks for 100 miles - stuff that. Bad advice. My choice would again be the 100mm 29er either ht or full sus. Light fast tyres at 40psi will help a huge amount if grip on tech terrain isn't a huge issue.

mondraker tracker. 120mm full sus 29er.

29er steel ht with 100mm fork *

*this may be tainted by STW tradition of recommending what you ride!

2x sets of bottle bosses will help take weight off your back.

A carbon hardtail 29er.

did a 100mile offroad on the CX last year noprobs, a lot of sustrans tracks tho, did a rougher 70odd mile mary townley ride and didn't feel too beat up by the end, a 100 with terrain somewhere between the two would be doable cx I reckon. I used the lightest shortest travel FS I owned (not [i]that[/i] light and 125mm) for Keilder which worked ok, would have preferred something sprightlier. I'm trying to get a short travel scandal 29er setup for this sort of stuff, which I reckon would be ideal, but I'm having difficulty, so far I can only do 20 odd miles before my forearms start wigging out, few different bar/stem combos tried....to be continued.

I did 120 on a Scott Spark with my usual lightweight saddle. I don't remember any issues or anything I'd change.

Orange Gyro or Segment, but then you don't like oranges?

My old Kona Manomano was a place I could sit in all day and just pedal, 80mm travel, light, nice ecclesiastical transportation. Just pop the shock on PP and spin away.

Any MTB should do it really, I think the most important thing would be that it's a bike you've ridden a lot and you are comfortable on it.

I'm planning to top 100miles on my SC Superlight later this year, with short stem, wide bars, dropper, 2.4 tyres, 120 forks and 2x9 gears. Not the best century bike on paper, but it'll do it with no trouble.

If you are doing the SDW challenge, the key thing is speed. If you are slow you won't make it to the check-points in time.

Training is the most important thing. Riding 50+ miles is very different from riding lots of 35 milers. Which is where I went wrong.

All the quick chaps seemed to be on carbon hardtail 29ers.

+1 for the Tallboy.
I bought a SC Tallboy to start stage racing last year and it just gets better and better. Expensive but over 7,000km later I still love riding my bike! And it seems to be quite quick and lot more comfortable than what most of the v serious racers ride.

And you've had the very best advice above, do it on a bike that you're comfortable with and do a lot of training. Then you will do better than expected, it will have hurt less and you will want to do more!

Jamcorse, I really like the look of the Tallboy, thinking of upgrading my Superlight frame to a carbon Tallboy later in the year, just trying to justify the expense!

Any chance you've ridden any single pivot SC's and can compare them to the VPP bikes?

My normal trail bike, you want the bike you are most comfortable on.

I did the 100mile South Downs Way in a day last summer on my 26" wheeled Blur LTc with 160mm forks on. All I did was take the dragy Hans Dampfs off and replaced them with some purgatory's.

Even if I had the free pick of any bike in the world I would have taken mine, because it's what I ride all the time and I'm comfortable on it.

my normal bike that I ride the most is a 24'' surly disc trucker, it is not suitable for 100 miles offroad on this route planned.
I have a k monkey which is set up pretty similar to the trucker, same seat height, same bar to seat measurements, same bar height.
thinking a nice pair of easy rolling tyres will be the answer fitted to the k monkey.

The surly KM is an awesome bike!

I run mine with 2.4 conti race kings with 35/40psi. Seems to roll well and absorb a surprising amount of bumps for a rigid bike.

It would be fine for 100 miles if I didn't have it set up SS.

I hope the Tallboy is the right choice for the SDW.... I'm using mine to do a double double over one of the May bank holidays.

One that you know will be comfy. Unless you are a whippet you are going to be spending 10+ hours on the bike so it's probably more important that you know you it's going to be as comfortable as possible. I did the Keilder 100 on my Soul and it was fine, for the small values of fine that result from riding 100 miles off road.

In comparison I did one of the Gorrick 4 hour things just before xmas on a borrowed rigid 29er and it was not fine mostly because it did my back in as it was a bit on the long side. Plus, you know, rigid.

I think for most people doing that length of ride it's more about the head than the bike or being super fit.

Oh, and having enough gears that at the end of the ride you have a low enough one to grovel up the climbs.

Probably a Spesh Epic, super light, full sus, good efficiency.

I've done the Lakeland Monster the past two years - that's 65 miles, mainly off road and with some nasty hills so not too dissimilar to what you describe…..

First year I did it on a Spesh Crux CX - it was slightly too big (it was a 56…54 is too small….and they don't do a 55!) so my position wasn't quite right - on top of that I had really narrow 30c cx race tyres on - - I suffered!!! Mainly due sot neck and back issues rather than leg problems!

Anyway, last year I did it on a Spesh Stumpjumper Evo 29er hard tail - and knocked 50 mins off the previous years time and felt fresher at the end!

I've already acquitted this years bike (Giant XTC SLR cross bike), with a proper fit, wider tyres and some nice low gearing I'm planning on going a good half hour faster still this year…..

I reckon comfort comes first, which means riding position, tyres and gearing more than suspension and weight…..that's my twopenneth anyway!!

🙂

double double

Really 4 times in one go? Of the SDW?

Edit: just googled your name, I'll take that as a yes! Good luck!

Really 4 times in one go? Of the SDW?

Edit: just googled your name, I'll take that as a yes! Good luck!

The final chapter of Richard Sterry's SDW triple book suggests a quad attempt might be the craziest thing since a crazy thing

I did the 105-mile Trans Cambrian Way last year on my On One rigid 26" singlespeed and I was perfectly comfortable throughout.

But then (a) I was going for the record, (b) it's my usual bike and (c) I'm well 'ard I am.

ton - Member
terrain would be long steady offroad climbs, gravel/limestone/grass, descents would be similar.
nothing to rough.

Rigid 29er with dropbars would be my choice. I have an 80 mile on/offroad loop I do like that. Singlespeed so nothing to worry about mechanically.

For a big lad, probably one of the 29er+ bikes like the Surly Krampus which seems to me to be ideal for a long cruise like that. Cushy tyres help the miles disappear.

If I was riding upright, I'd go for a sprung Brooks saddle (B73) - sublime comfort. 🙂

Ton, YGM.