Tour bike adjustments for Munda Biddi

[Raffky]

I'm planning a five day ride of the Munda Biddi trail later in the year with a mate. I'll use my touring bike - a Surly LHT with dropbars and I need advice about adjustments. Tyres come to mind, and maybe even switching to trekking bars, or inline brakes etc - just not sure. I've read Coops and Aushikers stories' about Munda Biddi and they've been very helpful. I know it's MTB territory but on CGOAB some do it on their touring bikes. My mate will have his MTB. Maybe I just need different tyres? We're thinking of starting at Collie and heading south. I like the idea of transforming my LHT but I want to get it right. Thanks.

[rifraf]

Drop Aushiker a PM and I'm sure he'll offer some advice for the journey. I seem to remember his blog talking about a lot of pea gravel so I'm suspecting that some knobbly tires would be the order of the day instead of road tyres. The rainy season will be starting soon I imagine so dont forget a good jacket. Dont do what he did and leave it on the trail somewhere. His yellow Showers Pass Elite 2 was very pricy on the day so it would have been a bitter pill to swallow.

[il padrone]

Friends of mine toured it last year on MTBs. They reckon they needed the MTBs and would not have enjoyed it much on their tourers. Quite a lot of sections of narrow and at times rough or steep singletrack type riding.

[Aushiker]

I know it's MTB territory but on CGOAB some do it on their touring bikes. My mate will have his MTB. Maybe I just need different tyres? We're thinking of starting at Collie and heading south. I like the idea of transforming my LHT but I want to get it right. Thanks.

Sounds like fun. I haven't ridden the Collie to Donnybrook section so really cannot comment on that aspect but for Donnybrook to Nannup I would be okay with taking my Surly Long Haul Trucker. For sure not the best choice of weapon but this is not an overly technical section and really the Munda Biddi is not a technical ride even though it has single track at times.

Looking at the map, it looks like there is a fair bit of "road" riding between Collie and Donnybrook and 52 km of the 73 km is marked easy. That said there is the fun part around River Road which is marked challenging. I suspect that is because of the hills there and I am sure there will be some single track as that is the home of one or two mountain bike circuits.

This video gives you a tate of the Munda Biddi around Collie:



Myself and rifraf rode the Waterous Trail which is a little further north and takes in some of the Munda Biddi and rifraf survived that fine on his Moulton.



So I would fit the best grippest tyres I could to your bike and go have fun and let us know how it goes

Andrew

[il padrone]

Trail opens today - full length.

[Aushiker]

Trail opens today - full length.

Yeah. I thought the ride started Sunday but, the Munda Biddi Epic 1000. Still waiting for the last of the maps to go sale but to a get a feel for the new sections. Hope to complete my end to end of the trail in July. Just have the Collie to Donnybrook, Nannup to Albany sections left.

Andrew

[Aushiker]

One of the riders on the Munda Biddi Epic 1000 is blogging at http://mundabiddiepic1000.blogspot.com.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Andrew

[jemo27]

On my world randomeur with 700 by 35c tubes on, have cycled some of the Muddi south of Goodwood rd and the Sidings rail trail to Nannup. I would say you need wider tyres, was slipping alot. Found some of the trail really steep for climbing with a loaded gear, maybe different on a MTB. I did the Mawson trail last year was very similar.

[mitzikatzi]

I just rode the Munda Biddi from end to end. I am rider 15 of the Munda Biddi Epic 1000,

A rider took a Surly Troll (29er,rigid fork) with a Rohloff and 2 inch wide tyres. Depending what sections you plan to ride I would consider a bike like that the minimum.
There are a number of sections that were challenging on my steel hardtail with a good fork.
There was a number of very eroded downhills.
I would recommend a proper mountain bike. With 1.95" tyres a minimum.
The newer campsites have good water in the tanks but some were very low and a couple were empty 2 weeks ago. Many of the older camps the water in the tanks was brown with leaf matter (tannin?).
The maps contain mistakes. However the route is very well sign posted. I would take a GPS to be able to find my position on the map if lost.

[Raffky]

Thanks for all your posts. I did the ride just after Easter and had already made the type of adjustments to my Surly Trucker that many of you mentioned. I switched dropbars for flatbars and Continental Contacts to Schwable Landcruiser 1.75s. They worked great. My ride partner got sick so we only did about 200k but even for that distance, I was very pleased I'd made the changes. The flatbar handle and close gears were were a lot more responsive on the single track and the slippery pea gravel sections. Same for the wider tyres. I was a great ride but I agree that a long stretch would be best on MTB. If I can figure out how to do photos, I'll add a link.
Mitzikatzi, congatulations on the Munda Biddi 1000.

[jet-ski]

mitzikatzi, nice to know, I have a katydyn mini filter for the trail, I shall be heading off on my 97 fatbike on Saturday aiming for the full distance but have a backup plan if I run out of time. I think I will be able to keep pedalling through whatever gets thrown at me with 3.9 inch tyres hehe