zacster

After an article in the NY Times Empire State Trail I was thinking of giving it a go next summer. However, after 50+ years of cycling and countless bikes, I don't currently have a bike that would be fully suitable for this. Briefly, the trail runs along the Erie Canal on the E-W section, and on various trails and roads in the N-S part. The Erie Canal sections are fine dirt/gravel but almost completely flat. Roads are roads and most of the trails on the N-S section are paved. I'm not looking to camp, I have some family along the way, I plan on restaurants for meals, and would be traveling pretty light. My current lineup of bikes is a carbon fiber road bike that fits a 28 tire in front or 25 in the rear, and tight in both places, or my converted mtb that I used as a commuter that has a lot of the bells and whistles for touring such as fenders, racks, dynamo lighting, 10sp XT wide gearing that even shifts under load. That bike though has 26" wheels and a flat bar and I used Gatorskin skinny tires on it. It has a single commuter pannier on it at the moment and a saddle that just needs replacing.

Given what is available these days in gear, which of these bikes sounds more feasible to use? I'm thinking the commuter bike, but not sure. I guess I can load it up some and give it a try on a 50 mile ride. I don't have any gear though to load up the road bike with.

Rage

Saw the same thing, Keep us up to date on your progress. I’m into it and am pondering...

”What are we going to do tonight, Brain?” - Pinky
”The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.” - Brain

Russ Roth

Don't do the road bike, there are plenty of places it would be fine, but it won't be for enough of it to be miserable in those spots. Buffalo to spencerport is fine gravel but with some slight washboard style areas that are most comfortable on a 35c tire or bigger. Spencerport to Rochester can have some rough areas though I've ridden through on road bikes plenty of time so it is doable. Leaving Chitnango heading into Canastota is a worse gravel section while Canastota through Durhamville is just two narrow ruts through grass that is rough to ride for half the distance and only marginally better for the other half. East of Rome to Oriskany was the worst and was closer to a gravel strewn dirt road interspersed with wide rut through grass. After that its mostly road and better paving to Albany and south to NYC. From my experience there's no part that can't be ridden on a road bike but the rough spots are too long to be enjoyable. Personally a 33-35c tire with smooth ridge center and file pattern tread on the sides will be the best for speed and stability, so a 26x1.35 tire on the old mtb would be best. You won't need a wide range cassette and may find it too much if really going light, if the bike has a 28/38/48 crank with an 11/30 cassette you'll probably never need the small ring except may a couple areas where you go up over the canal or a highway and those aren't long. Its a nice ride with some real boring sections, really interesting historical landmarks and information, and lots of friendly people.

zacster

That's what I've thought too. I just checked the tires on the MTB and they are 28c, so I would probably change those. They are Gatorskins though so maybe? As for the gearing, I know I'll never use the small ring on this trip, but I'll use what I have on it already. It is pretty flat with only some slightly hillier sections

I'm actually in my cycling clothes ready to go and I pumped up the tires on the MTB to see if I'm even comfortable on a 30 mile trip on it. When I commuted with it it was 10 miles each way so I wasn't on it for that long. I did a 40 mile trip on it once and regretted it. The other thing is I have a nerve problem in my left hand from 50 years of riding, and the flat bar seems to be worse for it than the drop bars because of where my hand rests. This is one reason I'm leaning towards just getting a drop bar bike suitable for the trip. I'll see how it feels.

indyfabz

So you’re thinking the ECT east to the Albany area then north towards Rouse’s Point?

kaos joe

This sounds just about perfect, IMHO. Put on 26x1.5 or even 26x1.75 tires on it and add another pannier. I've done the Erie Canal towpath section twice, once on 26x1.25 and once on 26x1.5. Both were fine but I preferred the wider tires. On dirt there isn't any downside to more volume in the tires. I've also done the C&O canal towpath, which is rougher than the Erie, on a flat bar MTB with 26x2.0 tires. That was just fine too.

zacster

No, From Buffalo to Albany and then south back to Brooklyn, although my wife thinks heading to Lake George would be a good idea as we have friends there. That may be a better idea.

zacster

I did my test ride yesterday and I'm not so sure, although at the expected pace maybe it'll just be fine. This was on city streets and dedicated bike lanes but no dirt as there is little here to even try, especially since it is frowned upon in the parks due to the wear on the ground. There is one hard pack area I should try, maybe I should go there today as a second day ride to see how consecutive days feel. That's about a 30 mile trip again. While I only did 27 miles yesterday I could've kept going. The one thing that made it hard was that I climbed all 4 East River bridges, purposely slowly to more emulate how I'd approach a long trip. When I was in killer shape I wouldn't even slow down for them. I'm closer to 70 than 60 now and it never gets any easier.

Steve B.

2 buddies did the organized ECT ride 3-4years ago, one guy was on an older Trek with 28mm road tires, he said he was fine and had no issues on the dirt and gravel. There's a significant amount of road segments on the ECT and most of the Empire trail north from Albany is marked road.

RollingExist

This thing looks awesome, and it's just cool to see a big paper like the NYT doing a write up on a bicycle touring route.

zacster

At this point I'm thinking of a light upgrade to the MTB, basically adding some kind of bar for different hand positions, but not bar ends. I have a bike with bar ends and I realized I never used them as they are too far apart to be comfortable. It would have to be narrower than that, more like a road bike, and can't get in the way of shifters or brakes, or better still with dual brake positions. I put cross interrupter levers on my daughter's road bike and they work really well, but not sure how they work with v-brakes with the different pull ratios. The other thing I'm thinking is a Brooks saddle, but I better get it now to break it in on the trainer.

I have to give the tires some thought. 28mm Gatorskins are still pretty narrow, but they are Gatorskins. I'd have to find a wider tire that is as almost puncture proof as those, and I've had some bad experiences with somewhat wider tires before I put these on.

For bags, I'll get something for the rear and a handlebar bag. I don't have eyelets on the front fork for mounting anything. I'm planning this as a light trip, hotels, restaurants, and family along the way and only maybe lunch on the road, and that could be sandwiches purchased in the morning before getting started. No camping gear needed at all, and that's maybe the reason this ride appeals to me. There are some escorted group rides being done but they are expensive and I'm never all that excited about riding someone else's pace although I'm sure people fall into whatever group is going their speed.

zacster

I'm starting to pull things together for this ride. I've ordered SQlabs Inner Bar ends and grips which puts the bar ends on the inside of the grips for a much narrower stance, and they have road brake hood type mouldings in them. I realized I could swap in the Shockstop stem I have on my road bike, probably with a shim. And then I realized that about 2-3 years ago I put fat tires on my other MTB and the tires that they replaced are still in the basement and are Schwalbe Marathons in 26x1.5 size. Perfect!!! They were practically new too, still with the knubbies on them, with the tubes too!! I couldn't remember if I'd sold them or not, I do remember offering them to someone here on BF for a very good price but they didn't take me up on it I see.

I'm up to $21 spent given the Paypal credit I used. Brooks saddle will be next, and panniers. Panniers will be the most expensive part of this unless I can find some used in good shape. It'll be worth looking as I can't be the only person out there that thinks a bike tour is a once and done thing. Saying all this now I want to take a ride up to REI to look at panniers, but the rain is starting to fall. Maybe tomorrow. I expect I'll see some rain on the trip but I don't ever start a ride when it is already raining.

I also looked into Amtrak to Buffalo from NYC. It isn't expensive and there are bike racks in the cars that are reserve-able. Unless my wife wants to drive up with me to Buffalo and back by herself that's what I'll likely do. My car is solar powered/electric, otherwise gas would be more than Amtrak. She may want to do some of the ride herself so maybe we could drive up to Buffalo with both bikes, drop me and my bike there, drop her bike at her brother's house in Syracuse and then drive back to NYC. She could then fly back to Syr to meet me there. Or something like that.

PedalingWalrus

do You really need panniers? What do You have right now for bags overall?

zacster

I only have my Knog messenger bag/pannier. It is barely large enough for a single change of clothes. I went to REI today to look at panniers and other than the Ortlieb BackRollers everything was really small but I never liked the Ortlieb anyway. There is an intermediate size in the 40L range maybe? 25L was way too small to be of much use IMO especially split into 2 sides. At least a single 25L can hold something large. I'll look some more online but it is really hard to get a sense of how small/big things are. Staying at hotels means I can carry a lot less but still need to carry stuff. No tent, sleeping bag, cooking or eating equipment, but I need clothes, bike gear, electronics (although I'm willing to forego the laptop), some food. When I travel otherwise I use a 44L convertible backpack and that is plenty, so maybe something that size. And no, I am not going to ride with that. I did that once in Copenhagen when we needed to do laundry and I loaded it up with the whole family's pile and went riding off looking for a laundromat and it was pretty awkward.

Cyclist0239879842

I've always preferred the canvas panniers to the waterproof vinyl that ortlieb uses. They canvas bags typically have much better access (they aren't roll-top) and I worry about the wear and tear much less. My rear Arkels have been patched with some denim from old jeans more than once.

I pack anything I don't want to get wet (clothes, whatever electronics) in separate waterproof bags inside the panniers. I used to use garbage bags but have upgraded to sea-to-summit silnylon drybags. The canvas panniers usually do a flawless job keeping things dry anyway but better safe than sorry. You can see my setup on the touring-rig thread. I'm one of last to post.

Also, I'll be doing this trip from Buffalo to the hudson valley this summer. Good to know amtrak is an option to get to Buffalo. Good luck and update your experience!