Advice needed

[Cush]

Big decisions made yesterday, while I was doing a trial walk for a 20 mile challenge Walk (I have four to do this year to complete my bakers dozen). After this walking will go on the backburner, because as from the beginning of October I will be preparing for another End to End or in this case Haltwhistle –L.E –Dover – Haltwhistle in April2011 then Haltwhistle – Cape Wrath –JOG- Haltwhistle in either October 2011 or April 2012 and I have found in the past that you can not train for both serious walking and cycling together, as one will always dominate. So for walking it will be back to the local weekly RA plod, while I will be trying to get at least one 50-60 ride every week plus one or two spinning classes (If I can still stand a loud female P.T. I).

My bike is a six year old Khar – Kum that has been serviced by a LBS annually and I did the L.E to JOG on it five years ago. I have good panniers and a bar bag and will use Hostels, bunk houses and B.B’s for the trip.

Questions

(1)What Saddle is a good general replacement The one that is on is the original and is wearing badly (the bike also has to do day to day work)

(2) I don’t like drop bars but at times I feel the Butterfly’s that I have are unstable. Do I go back to flats with end bars or change to Moustache or is there another type.

(3) I have cheap pedals on.With clips. Is it worth changing to M424’s (again the bike will be used for a lot of local shopping etc)

Any answers, opinions etc will be appreciated

 

[Wobblers]

Big decisions made yesterday, while I was doing a trial walk for a 20 mile challenge Walk (I have four to do this year to complete my bakers dozen). After this walking will go on the backburner, because as from the beginning of October I will be preparing for another End to End or in this case Haltwhistle –L.E –Dover – Haltwhistle in April2011 then Haltwhistle – Cape Wrath –JOG- Haltwhistle in either October 2011 or April 2012 and I have found in the past that you can not train for both serious walking and cycling together, as one will always dominate. So for walking it will be back to the local weekly RA plod, while I will be trying to get at least one 50-60 ride every week plus one or two spinning classes (If I can still stand a loud female P.T. I).

My bike is a six year old Khar – Kum that has been serviced by a LBS annually and I did the L.E to JOG on it five years ago. I have good panniers and a bar bag and will use Hostels, bunk houses and B.B’s for the trip.

Questions

(1)What Saddle is a good general replacement The one that is on is the original and is wearing badly (the bike also has to do day to day work)

(2) I don’t like drop bars but at times I feel the Butterfly’s that I have are unstable. Do I go back to flats with end bars or change to Moustache or is there another type.

(3) I have cheap pedals on.With clips. Is it worth changing to M424’s (again the bike will be used for a lot of local shopping etc)

Any answers, opinions etc will be appreciated

I'm not sure how helpful anyone can be on finding a comfortable saddle - what works for someone will be torture for someone else! Perhaps the best suggestion I can give is to find out what other long distance cyclists use. Brooks saddles (many swear by the B17, others merely swear at it!), Specialized Body Geometry saddles and the Selle San Marco Rolls all have a good reputation. I've got both the Rolls and a Specialized BG Rival - both are good for comfort, for me at least. You'll probably have to try a few to see how you get on with them - finding the right saddle can be an expensive business! Brooks saddles need some time, typically 500-1000 miles, to be broken in should you want to try it. At least you have plenty of time to experiment.

I'm happy with drop bars, so can only suggest that if you go for flat bars fit Ergon grips. They make an immense improvement to comfort. My straight-barred Dahon has them and I've found it perfectly comfortable for long rides.

The Dahon also has M424 pedals. They do work with shoes that lack cleats but it doesn't feel particularly secure. For utility riding I far prefer toe clips and straps. No matter how unfashionable they may be now, they do the job perfectly well, with whatever shoes I'm wearing at the time. Much more convenient for utility pootling!