Touring on a full suspension bike.

not mega long distance but day rides of 50/60 miles, taking in all offroad options, would you tour or have you toured on a full suspension bike.

Have I – no.
Would I – no. I reckon it would be ‘too much’ for touring.

Though if you wanted to, given your fancy full sus, then go for it!

DrP

I haven’t, but no reason not to.
Load carrying could be an issue but solved by using Freeride racks or good seatbags (Revelate etc).

i have yes. My only bike is fs so anything else not an option.

Longest day was 120km

thats further than i have ridden in a day in about 14 years.
i would consider a susser for that distance if i had (for example) back problems, as i am aware that the full susser lessens the stiffness i sometimes get post ride in my lower back.
not fully loaded though i dont think.

thing is, my electric susser is the only bike i could ride that distance on now….so it is my only option….and i am desperate to get away touring for a week or so.
i travel light so a 20ltr rucksack would suffice.

Probably making it harder work for yourself than it needs to be. Also depends what you want to carry.

I used to see it all the time in my old shop- people putting slick tyres, bodged full mudguards and bodged panniers onto swingarms. Total waste of time and money. You’d be better off spending a couple of hundred quid on a hybrid/trekking bike. It’ll be much nicer to ride, and is the proper tool for the job.

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my touring setup 🙂

Depends what you mean by touring. If it involves mainly road, carrying a tent, equipment etc…. Then probably not a good tool for the job.

If it’s ‘bivvy bagging’ then probably a choice worth considering.

I’m guessing that Ton doesn’t mean bivvying as he would need somewhere to recharge the bike overnight.

I’d say get a decent bar bag and seat bag setup and do it! If you are looking for ideas, I can thoroughly recommend Ardnamurchan and Mull.

deffo not bivvying, bnb’s or pubs, for a week, doing as much offroad to get from point to point.
ebygomm, that looks ideal…… 😆

if thats the only bike you have then you need to be looking at carrying capacity of said bike.
do it.
can it go 50-60 miles without recharge?

furthest i have do so far it 30 miles on some proper steep terrain, but i have 2 batteries.
charge time per battery is only 1.5 hours.
60 mile is ideal for a day if doing a fair bit of it offroad.

Serious question – what happens if you run out of battery power in the middle of nowhere? I assume you’ll just plan routes with a bit of a margin for error – and hope the last bit is all downhill ? 🙂

If you need the bike you have then you have to use it, simple. Try and get some of the kit on the frame/bike instead of in your backpack. You’ll be fine. where you planning to go, anything to do with your North Yorkshire question recently?

i will colin, i ran out of charge doing the dalby route last week, 2km from the finish.
i can ride on the flat and slight uphill with it, but anything steeper is very slow pushing.
the control on the bars has a range reading showing all the time. it re adjusts itself to the terrain/power being used.

wow, i didnt think they lasted that long.
do it, that trailer above looks pretty good, remember that any extra weight will eat into battery life too.
travel as light as reasonable would be my advice, but on a bike you would be doing that anyway.

mt, yes mate, i have a weeks route planned from leeds to whitby via the dales and nym.
yha, bnb and pub stops aplenty. 70% offroad too.

Ton – what electric bike did you get in the end? Photos would be good to see.

I know a couple who did a big trip around France this summer doing the same – and they were camping as well. A lot of superlight kit, custom made framebags, 30L rucksack and a roll (including sleeping bag) on the bars. Kitted up like that you can ride ‘real’ trails.

A mate used to pull his BoB trailer on his Cannondale full sus but it’s bridleways only then (and encourages you to carry more than you need). We did a B&B trip across Scotland with 30L rucksacks and 10L rolls on seatpost racks.

Depends on your priorities. A sus bike is definitely a compromise for luggage carrying but if you’re going to do riding where you’ll enjoy having that bike more then it’s worth it.

Ton, sounds bloody great, if you get as far as Swaledale drop in at Dales Bike Centre (nr Reeth). You’ll get a good shout there from Stu. Can you let us have the route as it sounds like a good trip.

Werent you looking at doing the Liverpool – Leeds canal once Ton ?
That would be a good start, plan a stop half way, see how it goes.

When I had a FS it ran Smallblock8’s most of the time. With forks locked & Pro-Pedal on it was no different to hustling along on a hardtail.

simons_nicolai-uk – Member

Ton – what electric bike did you get in the end? Photos would be good to see.

one of these mate………i did want the nicolai ebike, but did not have much joy when i enquires about one…… 😀

have a google for ‘haibike aldeburgh town steps’ for a video of what tons bike can do, its impressive.

Backpack and saddlebag, and you’re all set.
If you run out of space, a bar bag would also be no problem.

I did an overnight on my full suss the other week and it was fantastic. Hardly any slower than unloaded and no funny handling characteristics.

I just used Alpkit Airlok Xtra bags and a load of nice straps. (13L up front and 8L under the saddle)

philfive…..tan hill mate?

martymac…..hills are no longer a problem 😉

Yeah on day 2 of a coast to coast

The panniers are toppeak rx ones that fasten onto your seat post.

a google for ‘haibike aldeburgh town steps’

Very cool, though annoying it’s so compressed. Quality really poor.

Those xtra wheel trailers like the one pictured…
biggest pain in the arse of a trailer ever IMHO
avoid

Just did lands end to Durness on a full suss – Cannondale Jekyll with a lefty.Waaayyyy more comfy than me mates, able to handle what passes for roads/cycle paths in these parts, and all I did was fit 1.3″ tyres. Downside! – now this is a biggie. The lefty filled up with water over 10 days of ridiculous rain and seized the bearings (only discovered this after hauling it out of the shed after a week to throw some shampoo at it)
Would I do it again on a full suss bike – absolutely. I was just as fast as the boys on their racers – just had to work a bit harder thats all.

Also some Jekylls of that vintage have a handy rack mount on the frame, and the racks are still available from good ol USA.

Its my Specialized XC with panniers in Ebygomms picture further up the thread.
Old man mountain rack with panniers worked a treat on the full susser.
If doing anything again where its just road or hardpack i would change tyres to somthing like Contis town and country. Found having the suspension quite nice when on the rougher of the forrest trails that we biked on.