We’ve spent hours and hours pouring over all the advice out there to try to find the best bikes for our cycle from Alaska to Argentina via the great divide, beginning in a couple of weeks time. We had planned to dip into the already tiny trip budget to buy a couple of Surly Trolls or Ogre’s however we’ve just been offered full sponsorship on a couple of Romet mountain bikes (I believe of our choice – still confirming) and could use the IBEX to lug along our stuff. Given we’re pretty budget sensitive but could fork out for a couple of Surly’s if absolutely necessary, please could you comment on what you think the best course of action is? I know people have done the Great Divide on penny farthing, and unicycles and so it’s ‘possible’ to do it on anything, but would the Surly’s really be worth spending a couple of grand more over Romets with a trailer?

Finally, the only take 26″ wheels or you’ll be stuck without parts for ages brigade has somewhat got to us but we’ve seen loads of people doing the same trip with 29ers. Does anyone know how available parts for 29ers are in Latin America

Cheers

You are absolutely right John. Too much racer influence in cycling, especially in US and Britain.

Hi Alee, I really like your website, its a great resource. I think you are right, everyone has their own preference for there ride, which is why I would like to see a custom category. I feel there is a lot of trickle-down from the popularity of racing bikes (e.g. in the Tour de France) which do not suit touring. If you are sat for 10 hours in the saddle it is essential that you find the optimum riding position, I do not think that is crouched down with your bum in the air, for one it puts weight on the arms creating arm ache and two it places less weight on the sit bones and more on the inner thigh and crouch, which is soft tissue and becomes painful after a while and three you cannot see the view 🙂

Hi John. There’s definitely no “right” geometry for touring bikes! Everybody is different and touring cyclists tend to like all kinds of setups. I’m really glad you’ve got your bike setup the way you like it, but it isn’t for everyone. I use road handlebars on many of my bikes, which I find the most comfortable. My handlebars are also much lower than most because I am rather flexible and have a strong core strength. It’s worth noting that it’s possible to modify almost all of the setups on the above touring bikes to get the bars higher or lower. Alee

That said an interesting read. Thanks for posting it.