Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Howdy...

A work mate invited me to join him to ride from Warburton to Lilydale tomorrow... It will be his first time as well hence he doesn't know what sort of surface the trail has. Besides, it won't bother him too much as he rides an MTB.

Anyone knows whether it's a compacted dirt or bitumen? Kinda hates ride on compacted dirt as it makes my chain dirty.

Many thanks... happy long weekend and ride safe to everyone!

Showers forecast, yer gonna get a dirty chain anyway
Perfect motivation for N+1...

It's Lilydale toppings, which is essentially a fairly fine compacted gravel. Grades are gentle so it doesn't turn to mud or wash out. People do it on roadies but some extra tyre width makes it more relaxing.

Mulger bill wrote:Showers forecast, yer gonna get a dirty chain anyway
Perfect motivation for N+1...

LOL.. I know... especially after today's gloomy day...

grasshopper wrote:It's Lilydale toppings, which is essentially a fairly fine compacted gravel. Grades are gentle so it doesn't turn to mud or wash out. People do it on roadies but some extra tyre width makes it more relaxing.

Thanks grasshopper... I use 700x25... should be okay-ish?

kimmie wrote:

grasshopper wrote:It's Lilydale toppings, which is essentially a fairly fine compacted gravel. Grades are gentle so it doesn't turn to mud or wash out. People do it on roadies but some extra tyre width makes it more relaxing.

Thanks grasshopper... I use 700x25... should be okay-ish?

Yep. Just shift your weight back a bit for any soft sections and you should have a ball.

Mulger bill wrote:Showers forecast, yer gonna get a dirty chain anyway
Perfect motivation for N+1...

The warburton trail was the reason I purchased (well its on layby) a MTB, no way I am taking the Felt on anything but bitumen or concrete

End of July I will have it paid off and first weekend after that, home to warburton & back is on the cards

Have ridden it happily on a 25mm road tyre. Even coming home the last 20ks at night. Just the one bridge over Woori Yallock Ck that was a bit uncomfortable with rough transverse timbers.

No punctures, no worries.

I've ridden it several times using 28C tyres (Marathon Plus). Agreed re: the comment on the long,bumpy bridge, where I usually slow down to 10km/h . It's a good alternative to the Warburton Highway, which is pretty cyclist-unfriendly in parts, and of course, being on an old rail line, the grade stays under about 2% for most of the trail. I enjoy this route to Warburton, because it doesn't challenge my legs too much, and so I have more energy for the Mt Donna Buang ascent!

Cool, just found that someone has already posted this.

Will be doing this trail overnight in a couple of weeks where my missus and I both have steel framed roadies with 28C slicks. I'll set the pressure down to 50-60psi and it should be happy days? Anyone else with other advice.

Also we're 30-31yrs so we shouldn't need a spoon full of cement to harden up for a roadie on this trail

Saw a few roadies on it last Friday. Hard pack Lilydale toppings are pretty smooth. A few small ruts and bumps and soft edges here and there. Yes, that bridge makes a nice walk! Watch for some other bridge/trail transition ridge/bumps. 700 x 25 non-race type tyres should be ok

Dirt on your bike? Try and avoid the horse poo if you can!

It's a breeze on a road bike. It's a hard packed gravel surface pretty much the whole way. Shouldn't need to lower tyre pressure. It's also relatively flat so you can fairly rattle along some of the straights, just beware of the horses, families on bikes and dog walkers!

Did the ride a few weekends ago with nice weather where we stayed overnight in Warby. 23c tyres were fine as long as you don't mind a bit of dust and horse poo around.

The main challenge is not to stop at too many wineries on the way, otherwise the food and wine makes the ride feel a bit sluggish

I did lilydale - warburton - lilydale on Friday. Its a great ride and can I say the egg & bacon sandwich on turkish bread at cogs cafe is delicious

If it wasnt for the bloody head wind all the way home it would have been the perfect friday morning