Riding in Dubbo (Taronga zoo and other places)

[htleung88]

Hi guys,

I'm heading down to the zoo at Dubbo on the weekend. I understand that a lot of people use a bike to ride around the zoo itself.

For those who've done it - can/should this be done on a carbon road bike, or do I need to bring something a bit more rough and tumble?

I've got a mountain bike with a mate so I could get it back if I need to, I'm just not sure whether I will have time do it before the weekend. I would much prefer to ride my road bike since I like it more, but having said that I'm not going to do that if not appropriate with the bike path/road conditions in the zoo (not going to race around, but clearly if the paths are rocky I don't want to be fixing punctures all day).

Cheers.

[markusm]

Definately not, that is unless you are willing to get off and walk up to the enclosures. There is a nice roadway through the park but a lot of the enclosures are down a gravel or dirt path so you would be getting on and off too much

[Nate]

Its the Western Plains zoo... Taronga is here in Sydney

from memory its a dirt path, but its well maintained as everyone is walking on it - so if its full of holes its a liability etc.
It should be fine on a roady.

Also the zoo was a terrible let down, the animals are in their "natural" environment = which means they're under a tree 3 kilometers away and can barely be seen.
enjoy the cycle

[scotto]

my experience with dubbo zoo (well my brother in-laws) is that your fancy bike will be stolen overnight and later found being ridden on the streets by local children with their parents saying "its theirs, they didnt steal it"...

[stevecassidy]

I took my road bike on a trip to Dubbo last summer, the rest of the family had bikes too. I mainly wanted to do some rides around the area while we were away but we wanted to ride around the zoo together as well. The road bike was ok but not ideal for the zoo, you get on and off a lot and so need flat shoes - I just did without cleats for the day. You need to lock the bikes up often and walk around various parts of the zoo. There's not a lot of riding to do, but it's good to have a bike to get around the different parts of the zoo, much better than walking which we did the first time we visited.

So, if you just want to ride around the zoo, take a MTB, but if you want to ride around Dubbo as well, take the road bike and compromise for the time you're in the zoo.

Steve

[Xplora]

my experience with dubbo zoo (well my brother in-laws) is that your fancy bike will be stolen overnight and later found being ridden on the streets by local children with their parents saying "its theirs, they didnt steal it"...

I think the Ulock is for the beatdown after this conversation. Honestly, you're just forcing your kids to become future playthings of the local jail's bigdogs

[Christine Tham]

Kitty at Dubbo zoo (I refitted city tyres back onto it for the trip):


Personally, I would not take a road bike. It's only a 5km (flat) loop, and as someone points out there will be a lot of stops and starts and walking so don't bother with cleats.

There was also a bike path all the way from our hotel to the zoo.

Security is not much of an issue - I didn't even bother locking the bike some of the time and no one touched it.

[hewey]

I wouldnt take a high end roady to the zoo, for the previous bike locking issues and what have you. Plus when we went there we lost count of how many bindies and cats heads we got too

Its the Western Plains zoo... Taronga is here in Sydney

Its run and operated by Taronga Conservation Society and is officially called Taronga Western Plains Zoo
http://www.taronga.org.au/taronga-western-plains-zoo

[martinjs]

Its the Western Plains zoo... Taronga is here in Sydney

from memory its a dirt path, but its well maintained as everyone is walking on it - so if its full of holes its a liability etc.
It should be fine on a roady.

Also the zoo was a terrible let down, the animals are in their "natural" environment = which means they're under a tree 3 kilometers away and can barely be seen.
enjoy the cycle

They renamed it. It's name is now " Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo" go figure.
All owed by the same group now.

Martin

[martinjs]

I wouldnt take a high end roady to the zoo, for the previous bike locking issues and what have you. Plus when we went there we lost count of how many bindies and cats heads we got too

Its the Western Plains zoo... Taronga is here in Sydney

Its run and operated by Taronga Conservation Society and is officially called Taronga Western Plains Zoo
http://www.taronga.org.au/taronga-western-plains-zoo

Woops, I'm a bit late.

Martin