Bike advice - John o'groats to lands end

[Daniel Grimes]

Hi,

Myself and a friend are going to ride the route for a homeless charity, because of this we will be sleeping rough the entire journey. We'll need to carry everything needed for a 7 day trip.
Neither of us have a great deal of biking expeirence but are keen runners and are off above average fitness so the distance each day isn't a concern.

Our main concern is using the right kit and formost in our minds is the bike. We are setting ourselves a limit of £500 - £600 each.

We would love some advice from those that have been there and done it first hand. Any particular make? weight?, set-up etc.

All and any help would be very welcome

Many Thanks

Dan & Bob

 

[mcshroom]

Touring bikes are probably the most obvious answer to that question. I haven't done LEJoG, but I have done a two week camping tour round Scotland and I used a Dawes Vantage. There's a few tourers in the <£600 range, but at the moment the best deals I would say are on the Edinburgh Bicycle Coop bikes.

Their base model tourer (with similar equipment to my Vantage)is £360 (link) and their disk-braked steel framed one is £500 (link)

 

[RedRider]

Can't help with touring advice, there's loads here know more than me. I like your idea. Can you say the name of the charity?

 

[Daniel Grimes]

Mcshroom - Thanks for the reply. Yeah I have seen that bike mentioned a couple of times on various blogs etc, looks like a front runner so far!

 

[Daniel Grimes]

Red Rider - The idea is still in its infancy but most likely it'll be the charity Shelter

 

[David Dobedoe]

I did the trip about 20 years ago, on my own and camping each night / sleeping wherever I could find that cost nought. I would suggest you find yourself an old 531 Steel Dawes galaxy. Should get a really good one on your budget. It's designed to carry kit and is comfortable and stable for that sort of riding.

 

[oldfatfool]

Hi,

We'll need to carry everything needed for a 7 day trip.
Neither of us have a great deal of biking expeirence but are keen runners and are off above average fitness so the distance each day isn't a concern.

What do you call not a great deal? What is the greatest distance you have cycled and how frequently do you cycle?

I think your main concern should be getting hours and hours in on a bike, if you think 150 miles a day for 7 consecutive days carrying all your kit is just a matter of being fit then I am afraid you are in cuckoo land, there is a vast difference between being fit and being bike fit. All the best though and I hope you raise plenty of dosh, just don't underestimate your task because you will be on wheels

 

[David Dobedoe]

Another way of looking at this up to 12 hours a day on the bike, (what else are you going to do?) with average speed needing to be at least 11 mph ish depending on route. If your fit from your running the biggest issue will be getting adapted to the bike so your backside, hands, neck, back and feet don't get to sore and you can spend all day, day after day on a bike. Get a few 100 mile rides in as part of your build up.

I did a three day tour with some men recently that are not what I would consider fit, in bad weather and headwinds we were struggling with 70 miles a day so oldfatfool has a point.

Don't under estimate how important it will be to have the bike fitting well and having good enough cycle clothes. In particular make sure the shorts you using are up to the job. Some of the so called better shorts in the £50 area have a fabric on the padding that is to rough for those really long days. Once you loose some skin, well you've lost some skin and its spoils the fun.

Have an adventure!

 

[Jimmy Doug]

I have an Ediburugh Bicycle Cooperative Revolution and I think it's great! I've cycled several thousand miles on it now in Europe and I've never had an issue. Only trouble is the saddle - best replace it as you'll get sore very quickly on the one that comes as standard. Also, a kick-stand is a very good investment.
Now, as to your tour. Hmmm .... So you want to do Lands End to John O'Groats in 7 days? I cycled from Bath to John O'Groats in 7 days 20 years ago and I'll tell you that I was really pushing it (averaging around 120 miles a day). I too was a runner - and I was very fit indeed in those days (I'm still fit, by the way - thanks to cycling).
Thing is, fitness isn't the only thing that counts. For one starters, you might get lost in a town. That might sound a small detail but even with GPS it happens - and it can happen several times in a day. Then there's the occasional maintenance problem you might have - even with a new bike. Added to this are other factors like weather (wind will slow you down more than you probably realise), road surface (even worse than wind in my opinion), hills, rain, sore bottom, morale and other miscelaneous problems that might arise.
I'm sure you can do it in 7 days if you push, push, push ... but take it from me (a former push, push, pusher ...) it ain't much fun. In my opinion, you should aim to do less miles per day so that you can actually enjoy the experience and want to do it again.

 

[David Dobedoe]

Interesting that some people are in the 'go for it mindset' and others more cautious. I'm sure you can figure out a weekends cycling that would give you a good indication as to the viability of you project as opposed to the perceptions of others.

 

[robbiep]

Hi Daniel, Did an unsupported 9 dayer with a mate in 2010 on a specialized sirrus pro, straight bars with bar ends, great ride, very comfortable. Cycle rack sat behind with a bag that simply sat on top, had approximately 2 - 3 kg's of kit for a September attempt. Good weather luckily and a memorable experience. Decided in April to go left 2nd Sept, had about 4 100 milers under my belt. Like you I was a keen runner prior to, fuel up during ride (like running) use assos cream, and stick some mileage in before hand. It's a blast! Only real problem was during training, finding a comfortable saddle that didn't ruin my arse, sorted in the end!!

 

[snorri]

Looks as if the OP has had a rethink, 3 posts in 2 days, 3 months ago and no word since.

 

[Alembicbassman]

I am new to touring and looked at buying a new one of these for £399 as it ticked most of the boxes. Sreel frame, 36 spoke wheels, canti brakes, rack mounts etc... In the end I spotted this used one locally for £150. Took it to an airshow last week with my camera packed into the panniers, great fun ! It's not the lightest bike in the World, nor does it have fancy components but it does the job fine.

 

[Holly]

Trek pilots are great but are not made anymore. I found mine on eBay and was a hell of a bargin

 

[Paul Walters]

I did LEJOG in 2008 with my brother in law. He rode a Spesh Hardrock that someone had given him after they'd pulled it from a skip in their street. It had a sqeaky spoke and wonky wheel when we started and had the same squeaky spoke and wonly wheel 1103miles later. He changed the front indexed shifter for a friction shifter and put two mudguards on it and that was it. I think his panniers came from Aldi's... he had no problems with the bike at all.... I bought a Claude Butler Dalesman especially for the trip and had a chain snap, pannier bolts shear off, the cassette wore out and the handlebars came loose suddenly nearly tipping me over the front....... I also had 6 punctures in Glasgow on the same day.