I only recommend and link to products I know and love. Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. If you found this article helpful, please consider sharing so more people can benefit from it: Great resource thanks! I wear them for warmth and wind protection in addition to rain. We mounted tires to 30mm internal diameter wheels. I recommend this one from Blackburn which I discovered later. Bandanafor wiping out dishes and other miscellaneous needs. RumbleRoller Beastie massage ball: I struggle with tight IT bands and this little guy was 100% worth the weight and space. If youre particular about brands or types youll definitely want to bring them with you and/or mail them in resupply boxes. One of these days Ill have to try that kind of setup. It's possible your local shop might even curse getting these inflated. The aggressive open tread is great in a range of conditions, but it's the new T9 rubber compound that's most impressive. My solo tent: Big Sky Soul 1P. VerticalScope Inc., 111 Peter Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2H1, Canada. This casing may not be supportive enough for super-aggressive riders. The Racers of the Longest Off-Road Cycling Race in the United States We also particularly like the 2-knob, alternating paddle tread running down the center of the WTB Vigilante. Held clothes, food, and sleeping pad. We found it provides excellent cornering traction across the spectrum of lean angles in all but the loosest of conditions. Now its your turn. Therefore, it is quite common to see riders opt for more aggressive tread designs for the front where their cornering grip and braking traction is a benefit, with less detriment to rolling resistance. It also allows . Good, predictable performance as a rear tire, The casing may be too supple for some riders. Like most cross-country tires, they are very fast rolling, but unlike a typical XC tire, they provide better cornering and braking traction than you might expect. We feel this tire provides a great combination of traction and rolling speed and has a huge bandwidth in terms of conditions. Tires with decent-sized knobbies are recommended. Click here to login, or start an account if youre not yet a member of the Bikepacking Collective. I replaced it halfway through with the womens version which is slightly warmer and shorter perfect for me. For help with other aspects of your Great Divide prep, see these other posts: These general bikepacking posts might also be helpful: Or, visit the bikepacking resources center for many more bikepacking guides and stories. The tread consists of lots of moderate-height lugs in the center and intermediate zone, with a fairly substantial row of shoulder knobs. The Maxxis Aggressor is a great rear tire with a versatile tread pattern that gives it broad appeal and functionality across a wide range of conditions. Again, many tires are designed to be lightweight and compromise durability. This native New Englander is particularly obsessed with tire choice and is constantly on the hunt for the elusive perfect tire. I estimate my fully loaded Fargo weighed around 55 lbs without much food or water. An avid racer, Benson competes in endurance gravel and XC races throughout northern California. The Kryptotal Fr impressed our testers and proved that Continental is back at the top of the game with their new generation of tires. This beefy model is one of the most popular tires of all time and is considered a benchmark against which all other tires are compared. Reroute for fire closure in Gila Mountains (FS150) Likewise, the Michelin Wild Enduro Front is a top performer in the corners. My hands get cold easily and when I need to ride in cold temps these are essential. How fast a tire wears out can be subjective and a function of how much, how hard, where, and what conditions you ride in. When backpacking we dont find it worth the weight, but on this bikepacking trip we absolutely did. Seat tube length: 508mm (center to top) Seat tube angle: 73 Top tube: 615mm (effective) Chainstays: 435mm Bottom bracket drop: 60mm Fork Offset: 43mm Wheelbase: 1093mm Standover height: 812mm Specifications Frame: 4130 chromoly steel, three bottle mounts, rack and fender mounts Fork: 4130 chromoly steel, rack and fender mounts, triple mounts The height, shape, and orientation of the knobs all play a role in how they bite into the trail surface as you apply the brakes. Those concerns aside, we feel this is a great, well-rounded rear tire for aggressive trail riding. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison. Copyright 2023 Exploring Wild, All Rights Reserved. The GDMBR route is not that remote and I dont think this is necessarily mandatory, especially for those riding in groups. If we were forced to pick one rear tire to ride for an entire year, knowing we'd be experiencing a huge range of conditions, trail types, and weather, we'd choose the Maxxis Aggressor. Headband and neck gaiter: Buff and/or bandana. It was originally called the Great Divide Race and followed a slightly shorter course along the original Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, starting in Roosville, Montana, at the Canadian border. I wouldnt have minded magically reducing my bike weight by about 5 pounds. Youll also want the ability to add another 3 4 liters occasionally, probably only a handful of times. The majority of our testing took place in dryer California conditions. Both of these tires really impressed us with their long-lasting tread and resilient sidewalls. TCS Light SG2 casing is much lighter than the Tough casing. There is less to bite into the soil, and on loose, dusty, or wet trails, these tires tend to slide under braking forces. It features 25% more pages with extra stories, bonus art and maps, and much more Issue 09 takes readers on trips through timeone to the early days of bicyclesand offers several reminders to be grateful for supportive friends and family, and strangers we meet along the way For Issue 08, we invited several contributors to return and pick up where earlier trips and ideas left off and also feature a handful of first-timers whose perspectives weve long been eager to share With the Tour Divide kicking off tomorrow, folks might be wondering how riders choose the best tires for the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, a long and intense ride that tests all bike components, especially the ones grinding along day after day. For this reason, the tires with the lowest profile center treads and the semi-slicks garnered top honors in rolling resistance or lack thereof. Those who want a relatively fast-rolling rear tire that maintains good cornering abilities might consider the Specialized Eliminator T7. Headlight: NiteRider Lumina 900 Boost with helmet mount: Rarely (never?) These tires put a fight to get seated, but once mounted we never had further issues. He brought our joint tent out with him to Jackson, and I mailed my solo tent home. I had to replace mine halfway through the GDMBR. We believe travel by bicycle has the power to encourage conservation, inclusivity, and respect for all people and cultures. It is one of the best cornering tires our testers have ever used. While neither of these tires is light, they're both impressive when the going gets radical. i can't attest to their load handling stregnth,as i just got my 1st 29er last week.i'm kinda a big fat n beefy tire kinda guy,so when i saw the nanorapters,i. Partial inclusion of GDMBR dirt route from Cuba to Grants 5. There are many different approaches to choosing gear for the GDMBR, and no one can give you the one perfect list. I said this at the beginning but it bears repeating: theres no single right way to pack for the Great Divide. The Maxxis Minion DHF is our top recommendation for a burly and aggressive front tire. need to know - Great Divide Route Bootlegger Bikes is a small, full service bike shop near Smugglers Notch in Jeffersonville, Vermont that serves the Jeffersonville, Cambridge, Fletcher, Fairfax, Johnson, Underhill, Jericho, and surrounding areas. Some first aid items I do find useful for urgent situations: Tums, Imodium, New Skin Liquid Bandage (great for keeping small cuts and scrapes from getting infected when youre out in the dirt all day), a few gauze pads, Celox clotting powder (never needed, but seems useful in case of crash). Thanks for reading! Squared-off edges and siping on tread knobs also help to grip and bite under pedaling forces. Note about toiletries: In the US its common for hotels, and even most budget motels, to provide small amounts of basic soap and shampoo. I suggest packing the same toilet kit you would for a wilderness backpacking trip. The Trail casing we tested offers a good blend of support and suppleness, and Vittoria's 4C Graphene rubber was surprisingly resilient with an above-average tread life. I discuss my repair kit in more detail here: Tools and Spares List for Bikepacking. Spare derailleur hanger not used (but has been needed in the past), A few zip ties and extra electrical tape used the electrical tape to patch my handlebar tape. Toiletries are pretty easy to find throughout the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Tent(s): Because I rode solo for the first five weeks and then was joined by my husband for the last four weeks, we used two different tents. Bike/La Bici - Requirements for Baja Divide Tour - Baja Divide I suspect this can even be used to patch bike tubes in a pinch, but Ive never tried it. While testing, we always felt confident that they would hook and grab hold when it came time to slow things down. These are mostly country roads that traverse Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management land. Shoe covers: Not used, even though my feet did sometimes get cold in the rain. The Vigilante's aggressive tread design comes with a slight penalty in the rolling resistance department. Let me leave you with two final tips that I believe will be helpful to almost everyone: Pack light-ish. As my wheels rolled along its roads, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) offered constant reminders that I was not alone. Pretty well. Some miscellaneous items that dont fit in other categories: First aid kit, lightweight and customized. Standard AA and AAA batteries are easy to find at convenience stores, so you only need to carry one spare set at a time. Down tube: Water bottle cage and tool pouch. The fastest men can complete the route in under 14 days, while most people who tour it take six to ten weeks. Trails were often loose, blown out, and rocky. Even the legendary Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which often crests above 10,000ft in its 2,700 miles, fits this category.Our selection of routes spans the whole spectrum, from short two-dayers in the desert, to properly long technical mountain routes, and woodsy adventures in . This tire relies on its aggressive tread pattern to do most of the work, with well-supported shoulder lugs and a supportive yet supple Gravity Shield casing. The Best Tires For The Great Divide? - YouTube I have limited tire-to-bag clearance on my small 29er frame but this system is pretty dialed. The even tread pattern of those tires also feels more predictable on firm ground as the transition across the tread is smooth the whole way through. Despite its somewhat aggressive appearance, the Specialized Ground Control is a very fast-rolling tire. (Update: Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite Womens Review). Other rear tire options will roll noticeably faster than the DHR II, but that's a trade-off you'll need to consider for a tire with the cornering grip and braking traction it provides. In terms of front tire braking traction, the more aggressive, the better, and tires like the Michelin Wild Enduro, Maxxis Assegai, WTB Convict, and the Schwalbe Magic Mary have got your back when you want to shut it down.
