Trail Conditions in Highline Canal Trail in Denver
#1
Eric C.
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Trail Conditions in Highline Canal Trail in Denver
I have a female friend looking to buy an inexpensive bike for casual use. She's right by the highline canal trail, will not often be on roads, and isn't highly experienced. She says it's a gravel trail, she's riding it on a cruiser now but she says sometimes it feels like the front wheel sinks or sticks. I'm trying to decide between a hybrid or a simple hard tail mountain bike. Thoughts?
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Yes, Highline is mostly hard pack gravel with road crossings. My wife rides a hybrid with 35mm wide tires and has no problems on the trail.
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Not sure what you're talking about. Most of the highline trail near my house are paved. I use it to commute home.
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I would agree that a hybrid should be able to handle the unpaved part with the caveat that ericcc65's friend is already riding wider tires than hybrid bikes and is complaining about the bike not rolling through the gravel all that well. That could be due to tire inflation, however. Generally the dirt part of the trail is quite firm.
I would suggest trying a couple of bikes if possible. See if you can borrow a hybrid and a mountain bike and have her try them.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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Because of this thread, I decided to go ride much of the dirt part of the Highline yesterday. There are places were 35mm tires would be okay and places where they wouldn’t be. North of C470, the trail is hard and fast. Narrower tires would be fully appropriate there although there are still spots that might be sketchy for a newbie. The trail north of C470 looks a bit like this
Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
South of C470, the trail is very soft and using narrow tires would be much more difficult. Douglas County seems to using a drag to “smooth” the trail down there as well. That softens the surface and, more importantly, drags goatheads onto the trail. The trail surface looks more like this.
Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
It’s difficult to see but a wider tire with more float would be easier to ride there.
Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
South of C470, the trail is very soft and using narrow tires would be much more difficult. Douglas County seems to using a drag to “smooth” the trail down there as well. That softens the surface and, more importantly, drags goatheads onto the trail. The trail surface looks more like this.
Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
It’s difficult to see but a wider tire with more float would be easier to ride there.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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I routinely ride the south western part of the Highline Canal Trail (Chatfield to Greenwood Village) on my road bike with 28's, though the MTB with 58's is much more stable, especially when they add thick gravel over the top of some sections.
Last edited by Riveting; 10-01-19 at 10:14 AM.