Great Divide on a LHT

[rwwf]

Have you ever rode the Great Divide from Banf Alberta to New Mexico on a Surly? or a touring bike. I know most will do this route on a mountain bike with a trailer. I have looked through the route and most of the trail is mixture of gravel back roads, double track and single track with a few really rough passes. Can it be done - sure it can, but has anyone done it.
thanks

 

[vernon]

Have you ever rode the Great Divide from Banf Alberta to New Mexico on a Surly? or a touring bike. I know most will do this route on a mountain bike with a trailer. I have looked through the route and most of the trail is mixture of gravel back roads, double track and single track with a few really rough passes. Can it be done - sure it can, but has anyone done it.
thanks

You might turn out to be the Surly pathfinder.

Good luck.

 

[John the Monkey]

Have you ever rode the Great Divide from Banf Alberta to New Mexico on a Surly? or a touring bike. I know most will do this route on a mountain bike with a trailer. I have looked through the route and most of the trail is mixture of gravel back roads, double track and single track with a few really rough passes. Can it be done - sure it can, but has anyone done it.
thanks

Have you tried asking on the Surly Long Haul Trucker & Cross Check owner's group on google? There's a lot of USAian posters on there that might have, or know someone who has...

 

[mark]

A few years ago, I met a lady who had done the Great Divide route on a Bike Friday folding bike. She told me that the guides leading her group mostly used touring bikes. Much more recently I met a gentleman who had started the route in Canada on a rigid bike, but sold it and bought a dual suspension MTB in Montana because of the washboarding on the gravel/dirt back roads. I suspect that the gentleman who bought the dualie to finish his trip had more money than bike knowledge, but the quality of dirt roads can be extremely variable depending on how much traffic they get and when they were last maintained. I also suspect that the quality of the dirt roads has deteriorated since I met the lady with the folder, partly because highway departments don't have as much money and more people are using these roads.

Try posting on http://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php, it's a much more US centric forum.

 

[takeonafrica]

I'm doing the great divide, leaving next month - I'll be on my touring bike (Thorn Raven Tour) and my friend Lars will be on his (Surly LHT).
Of course it can be done - A mountain bike may be more preferable but really, does it matter? Doing it is the main thing.
I figure, if a touring bike can get you through Africa, it can get you through the US...

I'll be writing on Helen's Take On... if you want to see how it goes.

 

[takeonafrica]

Adding a few links on the Great Divide to my site and came across this.... BOB trailer vs. panniers on the Great Divide