Sydney to Adelaide

[graeme1957]

Hi guys,

Just back from a 14 day tour on my Bacchetta Corsa Recumbent. Started in Windsor (Sydney) and rode to Adelaide with stop overs at Mittagong, Goulburn, Yass, Gundagai, wodonga, Shepparton, Bendigo, Ballarat, GlenThomas, Mount Gambier, Millicent, Kingston, Meningie, then through to the Baroosa Valley and back down to Adelaide. We had a wedding to attend in Adelaide so took the opportunity to ride the distance while my wife flew down. I used Ortelieb bags (underseat rack). Being a regular rider of standard mountain bikes as well as road bikes, the recumbent was beautiful to ride for the long distance tour. I would not tour on anything else. The underseat rack kept the weight low and the extra 14 kg of weight (my stuff) didn't affect the balance and handling of the bike. No aching bits at all. The only problem was on the longer days (190 km or so) the toes started tingling at about the 150 km mark. Got off the bike for 5 minutes and the problem was fixed. The ride was a blast and I'm looking to a future plan to do the full lap. Worst day was Millicent to Kingston with howling head winds the whole way. I was able to reduce the effect of the head wind by reclining my seat a few more notches. I've been riding the recumbent for about a year now and I'm a convert. Looking to get one a bit more suited to off road stuff. Beautiful way to see the country.

Cheers

[Joeblake]

Soopa cool.

Piccies or it didn't happen ...

Joe

[}SkOrPn--7]

Sounds like a great trip and fun was had for the most part so did you ride home or package up the bike and fly with the misses back home?

[graeme1957]

No worries. I'll download a few. Cheers.

Soopa cool.

Piccies or it didn't happen ...

Joe

[graeme1957]

I would have loved to keep going but unfportunately work beckoned and had to package the bike and fly back.

quote="Joeblake"]Soopa cool.

Piccies or it didn't happen ...

Joe[/quote]

Sounds like a great trip and fun was had for the most part so did you ride home or package up the bike and fly with the misses back home?

[Hotdog]

Sounds great Graeme, I'd love to find some time to do some touring on my own Bacchetta (a 2006 Giro 26, converted to 700C). Looking forward to the pictures and I'd like to hear a bit more about how you packaged the bike up for the return journey by plane. Any hassles with the airline?

[graeme1957]

Hi,

The packaging was quite easy. QANTAS sell a bike box for about $16.00. I took the seat off the bike, removed handlebars, pedals and wheels. The box was large enough to fit the bike, saddlebags, and all my other stuff such as helmets etc with room to spare. Filled the empty space with bubble wrap.

Cheers

Sounds great Graeme, I'd love to find some time to do some touring on my own Bacchetta (a 2006 Giro 26, converted to 700C). Looking forward to the pictures and I'd like to hear a bit more about how you packaged the bike up for the return journey by plane. Any hassles with the airline?

[graeme1957]

BTW, forgot to ask. Does the GIRO 26 have adequate clearance to fit standard mountain bike tyres 1.5 or 2.00 with nobby tread?

Thanks,

Graeme

Sounds great Graeme, I'd love to find some time to do some touring on my own Bacchetta (a 2006 Giro 26, converted to 700C). Looking forward to the pictures and I'd like to hear a bit more about how you packaged the bike up for the return journey by plane. Any hassles with the airline?

[}SkOrPn--7]

Graeme you wasted your money packaging the bike up and posting home I would have given it a free home to save you the money and you would have been welcome to come ride on the next trip.......

Graeme if my memory serves me right I asked this very question to Graeme AKA Kalgrm when I was looking at one of those suckers and I think the biggest you can fit is 1.75 with very little room left but don't quote me on that Graeme or anyone with it will soon chime in and spill the beans or correct me.

[Hotdog]

BTW, forgot to ask. Does the GIRO 26 have adequate clearance to fit standard mountain bike tyres 1.5 or 2.00 with nobby tread?

With 26" wheels and the stock fork you can fit fairly wide tyres into a Giro 26. It's not something I've done myself though, aside from 20m of gravel driveway at the work end of my commute I only ride my Giro on-road. A bit of searching on the Bacchetta forums confirms that 50mm Schwalbe Big Apple slicks will fit both front and rear, but they're close to the limits for clearance (there's a bit more space in the rear than is in the stock fork). Anything with tread might need to a bit less than 50mm nominal width to avoid rubbing.

I know some people switch Corsa's from 650C to 26" wheels in order to fit slightly wider tyres, but that doesn't buy you very much more clearance.

[graeme1957]

I've done that with the Corsa (26") but no way to fit nobby tyres. I'm interested in riding the Bicentennial National Trail - mostly fire trails etc - and I'm after a recumbent that will allow MTB nobby tyres with good clearance. Also, a number of my fav local rides are OK I think for an offroad recumbent. I'll keep investigating.

BTW, forgot to ask. Does the GIRO 26 have adequate clearance to fit standard mountain bike tyres 1.5 or 2.00 with nobby tread?

With 26" wheels and the stock fork you can fit fairly wide tyres into a Giro 26. It's not something I've done myself though, aside from 20m of gravel driveway at the work end of my commute I only ride my Giro on-road. A bit of searching on the Bacchetta forums confirms that 50mm Schwalbe Big Apple slicks will fit both front and rear, but they're close to the limits for clearance (there's a bit more space in the rear than is in the stock fork). Anything with tread might need to a bit less than 50mm nominal width to avoid rubbing.

I know some people switch Corsa's from 650C to 26" wheels in order to fit slightly wider tyres, but that doesn't buy you very much more clearance.

[Hotdog]

I've done that with the Corsa (26") but no way to fit nobby tyres. I'm interested in riding the Bicentennial National Trail - mostly fire trails etc - and I'm after a recumbent that will allow MTB nobby tyres with good clearance. Also, a number of my fav local rides are OK I think for an offroad recumbent. I'll keep investigating.

Well, it seems the Giro 26 won't quite stretch to typical MTB knobblies that are over 2" wide, but there are some knobbly tyres that would fit. Something from the Schwalbe line of touring/trekking tyres might do the trick, the Marathon Plus MTB in 26x1.75, perhaps. I'd expect a Giro 26 with some sensible 26x1.75" tyres would handle fire trails OK.

A different bike might be better suited, though most recumbents are designed primarily for on-road use. One exception that springs to mind are Azub, whose range of recumbents include several designed to have various degrees of off-road capability. They even make a full on recumbent MTB (the Azub Hardcore). Recumbents are at a natural disadvantage off-road due to the reduced ability to use weight transfer to assist balance and control, but nonetheless the Azub bikes can be impressive, check out a few of their most viewed videos on YouTube.