London to Brighton off-road charity ride

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nematers
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Apr 2020, 3:41pm

London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by nematers »

Hi all,

I want to participate in this event https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help ... -bike-ride

I am quite comfortable with 50-60 mile rides on the roads with some patches of gravel or bits of off-road, and I believe if I keep riding regularly to get my fitness levels up even more, I should be able to complete the above trail without too much struggle. However my concern is my current setup.

My current bike is a hybrid with a rigid fork, and my current tyres are 42-622 tailored for all road/gravel/trail rides. I don't think this setup is good enough for the event, but am not too sure how to go about it.

Probably the easiest solution would be to buy myself a cheap'ish MTB, but the problem is I absolutely don't have any possibility to store 2 bikes where I live. So as an alternative I am thinking about buying myself a suspension fork and a pair of something like 45-622 tyres with a tread designed for a proper off-road.

I hope the tyre situation is not too much of an issue as I have found some that I believe would be ok (i.e. https://www.schwalbe.com/en/gravel-read ... -ultrabite), but the fork is where I need some advice.

My current bike is https://www.ridgeback.co.uk/ridgeback-v ... -varrb2107. Is it reasonable to try and find a not too expensive suspension fork and swap my current one for it? Is this be even possible and would it work without any side effects, i.e. issues with handling, etc?

Cheers everyone!
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RickH
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Joined: 5 Mar 2012, 6:39pm
Location: Horwich, Lancs.

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by RickH »

Assuming the photos on the rider's website are representative, I would say your bike should be fine. Maybe get some better tyres.

Most of my offroad riding is on a Kona Sutra with 40mm Vittoria Voyager Hypers (now unavailable) supple tyres but with no tread at all. They cope with most things apart from slippy mud which can get a bit "interesting".

Alternatively I run WTB Nano 40s which cope better without too much loss of speed on firm surfaces. They are supple tyres (no real puncture protection though) so, if you get the pressure right, take a lot of the sting out of small lumps (up to maybe 30mm). Frequent, bigger lumps you just have to slow down for. Their big test was trying to keep up with Mrs H's cousin on MTB trails over in Vancouver, Canada a couple of years ago. They were more-or-less his "backyard" & he was on a full sus MTB but I was pleadantly surprised how well I & the Kona coped.
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
VinceLedge
Posts: 565
Joined: 12 Dec 2020, 9:51am

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by VinceLedge »

Change the tyres and I would recommend a Redshift Shockstop stem, not cheap but really help to reduce the vibration through to the hands. Have fitted them to mine and partners road bikes as the roads are pretty rough round here.
nematers
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Apr 2020, 3:41pm

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by nematers »

RickH wrote:Assuming the photos on the rider's website are representative, I would say your bike should be fine. Maybe get some better tyres.


Thanks Rick. I agree the tyres would need changing and am looking at various options, but my concern is the fork. No suspension at all on a 70+ mile cross country trail might be a bit rough.

VinceLedge wrote:Change the tyres and I would recommend a Redshift Shockstop stem, not cheap but really help to reduce the vibration through to the hands. Have fitted them to mine and partners road bikes as the roads are pretty rough round here.


Cheers Vince. Never thought about the stem. Agree it's a good shout on rougher roads, but would that be enough on an off-road trail?
VinceLedge
Posts: 565
Joined: 12 Dec 2020, 9:51am

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by VinceLedge »

I am looking at doing a long tour in NZ which goes the length of both islands, 3000km , and mainly off road, so on gravel roads and tracks. In seems that about half do the route on a hardtail MTB and the other half on gravel bikes with no front suspension, so it looks like either would work!
mattsccm
Posts: 5101
Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 9:44pm

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by mattsccm »

Get some tyres if you need an excuse (I would but I think that you can't have too many) but if the pics are roughly representative I would ride any old bike. Stones the size of cricket balls and I would be looking at hefty tyres for my carbon CX bike or slick mud like greased ice might means some knobblies but otherwise why bother. (see my first sentence! :D )
Suspension forks worth having will be the same price as the bike was new. Cheap ones are not much cop and tend to be heavy and fragile. The geometry, and thus handling, will suffer as suspension forks will be longer as well.
Suspension stems and seat posts soak up small bumps not anything big and again, decent ones cost.
Save the money, maybe giving it to the charity concerned , and just buy some tyres and some baubles for the bike or you.
nematers
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Apr 2020, 3:41pm

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by nematers »

Thanks chaps, very valuable feedback.

I'm getting more and more convinced that I can make this trail on my current hybrid. Was a bit concerned to start with, but one thing I know is that I will go all the way, just not sure how yet. :) New tyres - definitely. The rest is still to be considered.

Suspension stems and seat posts still seem tempting. Not just for this trail, but in general, as the roads in London are not the smoothest, and I also like to go to some at least mild off-road rides now and then. But cannot really afford a 2nd bike (i.e. an MTB) purely from the storage/space point of view.

Btw, I've done my research on Gravel vs Hybrid bikes, and of course there are plenty websites explaining the differences. But I feel there is always at least a slight marketing pitch trying to sell you one product or the other. So to summarise (and pardon my ignorance) - is the only real difference between the two in the handlebars and tyres (both of which can be changed/swapped anyway)? But please look at this question from an amateur enthusiast point of view, not from a specialist pro rider. :)

Maybe with time I will be able to get myself a few different bikes which will be specifically tailored for different purposes. Now I just need something that allows me to ride long'ish distances without loosing too much speed/energy (so not an MTB), but also to have some fun on mild'ish trails (so not a roadie).
DevonDamo
Posts: 1036
Joined: 24 May 2011, 1:42am

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by DevonDamo »

mattsccm wrote:...but if the pics are roughly representative I would ride any old bike.


RickH wrote:Assuming the photos on the rider's website are representative, I would say your bike should be fine.


This is the key info missing here. Any chance of getting in contact with someone who knows the whole route to either get an idea of whether it's got any 'technical' stuff beyond what you'd want to do on a hybrid, or a recommendation on what bike/tyres/etc to use?
nematers
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Apr 2020, 3:41pm

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by nematers »

DevonDamo wrote:This is the key info missing here. Any chance of getting in contact with someone who knows the whole route to either get an idea of whether it's got any 'technical' stuff beyond what you'd want to do on a hybrid, or a recommendation on what bike/tyres/etc to use?


Thanks for your response. I think the organiser's website says that route details will be made available to all who sign up, but only closer to the event date. Unfortunately so far that is all I know.

I was hoping there will be people on this forum who have done this route in the past (hence the event name in the post title), as I believe this year is the 15th time the event is being organised, and assumed it always goes down the same route.
DevonDamo
Posts: 1036
Joined: 24 May 2011, 1:42am

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by DevonDamo »

nematers wrote:I was hoping there will be people on this forum who have done this route in the past (hence the event name in the post title), as I believe this year is the 15th time the event is being organised, and assumed it always goes down the same route.


This forum is weighted towards road cycling so you don't get much content relating to mountain biking. I've tried Googling "london brighton off road bhf route" and there are a few promising discussions, e.g. this one from Single Track World:

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bhf-london-to-brighton-off-road-bike-ride/

You'll see that hybrids, cyclocross and hardtail mountain bikes are all being suggested as suitable tools for the job, along with fast-rolling skinny high pressure tyres. (Although I'm assuming they mean 'skinny' from a mountain biker's perspective here - probably a fattish, hybrid tyre with enough grip to cope with a chalky surface.) Suspension not necessary apparently. There is mention of one tricky, steepish descent before 'Shere.'

If it were me, going on the above, I'd take my hard-tail cross-country mountain bike - just because it's both light/fast as well as having front suspension to prevent your hands getting hammered on lumpy surfaces. If you're going to take your hybrid, then it sounds like that should be okay, especially if you fit that flexible stem contraption as mentioned above. (I also highly rate those flared grips - if you get a decent quality pair of them and set them at the correct angle, the rubber flared section can take the weight of the heel of your palm, which acts a bit like suspension.)

The other thing I'd do, is a bit of prep for this steep section by finding some gentle local trails and practicing doing descents on your hybrid with whatever adjustments you're planning to make to it. Before you start the descent, drop your saddle as low as you can get it, so it's out of the way, and practice moving your bodyweight around the bike. You'll find loads of YouTube instruction videos, and here's one which gives all the basics you'd need, e.g how to control your speed down the hill without going over the bars. (From what I've read, this preparation probably isn't necessary, but I'd do it anyway as it's a safety measure and doing downhill is good fun once you understand the basics):

[youtube]RkTPBtWDsD8[/youtube]
nematers
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Apr 2020, 3:41pm

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by nematers »

Cheers mate. Some good food for thought there. Appreciate your feedback.
rareposter
Posts: 1989
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 2:40pm

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by rareposter »

nematers wrote:
DevonDamo wrote:This is the key info missing here. Any chance of getting in contact with someone who knows the whole route to either get an idea of whether it's got any 'technical' stuff beyond what you'd want to do on a hybrid, or a recommendation on what bike/tyres/etc to use?


Thanks for your response. I think the organiser's website says that route details will be made available to all who sign up, but only closer to the event date. Unfortunately so far that is all I know.

I was hoping there will be people on this forum who have done this route in the past (hence the event name in the post title), as I believe this year is the 15th time the event is being organised, and assumed it always goes down the same route.


I've done it a couple of times both as part of the event and as a regular ride. Also, parts of the route form the Ride of the Falling Leaves that went out from Herne Hill velodrome onto the North Downs and used various off-road paths.
I used a normal CX bike, 35mm tyres. No suspension, no bouncy stem or anything. Some people were on MTBs, a few on hybrids and always a couple of hardy souls on touring bikes with slightly wider tyres. They'd be the ones pushing through the muddy bits! Bear in mind that when I did it it was before the whole "gravel bike" thing so there wasn't really much choice.

There's almost always a few muddy patches, usually going off the North Downs and if it's been very wet in the run up to it, some of the trails will turn to a slippy clay mess. As a general rule though the best tyre is something with a slight file or "low knobbly" tread otherwise it'll drag like hell on all the road sections and the off-road isn't tech enough to require full-on knobbly tyres.
Marcus Aurelius
Posts: 1903
Joined: 1 Feb 2018, 10:20am

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by Marcus Aurelius »

It irked me a lot when BHF became the ride’s main thing. However, it’s still a giggle. People do it on all sorts of things, a Hybrid on 42s is not unusual. If you do a few regular rides of 30 to 40 miles, you’ll be fine with the L2B ride.
nematers
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Apr 2020, 3:41pm

Re: London to Brighton off-road charity ride

Post by nematers »

Marcus Aurelius wrote:It irked me a lot when BHF became the ride’s main thing. However, it’s still a giggle. People do it on all sorts of things, a Hybrid on 42s is not unusual. If you do a few regular rides of 30 to 40 miles, you’ll be fine with the L2B ride.


rareposter wrote:I've done it a couple of times both as part of the event and as a regular ride. Also, parts of the route form the Ride of the Falling Leaves that went out from Herne Hill velodrome onto the North Downs and used various off-road paths.
I used a normal CX bike, 35mm tyres. No suspension, no bouncy stem or anything. Some people were on MTBs, a few on hybrids and always a couple of hardy souls on touring bikes with slightly wider tyres. They'd be the ones pushing through the muddy bits! Bear in mind that when I did it it was before the whole "gravel bike" thing so there wasn't really much choice.

There's almost always a few muddy patches, usually going off the North Downs and if it's been very wet in the run up to it, some of the trails will turn to a slippy clay mess. As a general rule though the best tyre is something with a slight file or "low knobbly" tread otherwise it'll drag like hell on all the road sections and the off-road isn't tech enough to require full-on knobbly tyres.


Thanks Marcus and rareposter (love the name :) )

I think I am now almost 100% confident that I will go on my hybrid, and most likely without any upgrades to suspension, etc. Maybe just chuck a pair of 45 knobbly "boots" onto my rims.

Cheers guys, appreciate the input.
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