Best bike for tour

[headcoat]

I am planning a tour of Isle of Man, ok not a massive place, but we will be riding out every day, probably doing 8hrs at a go. I have two bikes a Kona Fire Mountain (with smooth tyres) or a Saracen Clever Mike.

Which one would be best to do the ride on? I will be riding with other who both have mountain bikes. Not sure if we will be carrying all our campign gear every day, but we will certainly carry it for some of the journey.

Thanks

 

[andym]

Bear in mind that most cyclists only buy a new bike every so often so we're not familiar with the specs for every bike on the market (or even a small proportion of them) - and very few people will be familiar with the bikes you mention. So you need to give some more information.

Are they mountain bikes? If yes, then if either or both is a hardtail with mounts for panniers then you're off to a good start.

 

[headcoat]

Sorry, more info below...

The Kona is a mounttain bike, disc brakes, front suspension, the Saracen is a Hybrid, no suspension, hub gears. Both bikes have pannier mounts.

 

[xilios]

More information would be nice, type of roads you plan to ride, weight of gear, what sort of riding you plan to do after the tour, etc.
But I think either one would be ok. Cycling around the isle of man (loaded some of the time) isn't exactly an expedition.

 

[andym]

I suspect it's a bit of 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

If your friends are going to be on MTBs presumably you are planning on going off-road as well as on-road. If you are then you'd probably be best off on the MTB (although maybe putting the knobblies back on). if you're planning on staying on the road then either will bike fine (I'm assuming that you don't have knobby tyres on the hybrid).

 

[Paladin - York]

Further to all the other helpful comments above, I have a Kona Firemountain which I use for all my cyclo-touring. If I'm going off-road I'll use my "knobblies" or if totally on-road, my "slicks". The gear ratio is 17.8 which suits me fine, I can usually stay in the saddle and do the "hills". Last week completed the "Roses" and didn't stand on the pedals once, there are of course no prizes for this but it does make the point that it is useful for the hilly bits, especially if you have a load on.

The "Yanks" seem to identify gearing more than us and it is, in simple terms, "the teeth on the small front cog divided by the teeth on the large rear cog x the wheel diameter.The Kona is Firemountain is 22/32 x 26 = 17.8. Good for uphills but it won't break speed records on the flat.

 

[vernon]

I am planning a tour of Isle of Man, ok not a massive place, but we will be riding out every day, probably doing 8hrs at a go. I have two bikes a Kona Fire Mountain (with smooth tyres) or a Saracen Clever Mike.

Which one would be best to do the ride on? I will be riding with other who both have mountain bikes. Not sure if we will be carrying all our campign gear every day, but we will certainly carry it for some of the journey.

Thanks

You are best placed to make the decision as it's probably only you that has the experience of riding both bikes.

You should know which bike is the most comfortable and which is the easiest to maintain a comfortable speed on.

 

[willem]

I would say the most important difference would be the gearing. The Saracen with its hubgear is unsuitable for more serious hills. The Kona will be quite ok for touring with some luggage. Don't take too much luggage (15 kg max, preferably less), as front racks on a suspension bike are not a great idea. Old Man Mountain do very good mtb racks (like their Red Rock) and so do Tubus (particularly the Cargo, if you have enough heel clearance).
Willem

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I did a few tours on my slick shod Spesh Rockhopper so I've voted for the mtb with a triple over the hub geared bike.

consider bar ends if you don't have them, just so you have alternative places to put your hands.