The right adventure bike

THE RIGHT ADVENTURE BIKE

Where will you ride your new bike?

Adventure riding takes many forms in New Zealand and around the world. For some it’s taking the long way home on trails while commuting, for others it’s riding the length of the Americas. Most of our adventure bikes are at home both on and off-road but you’ll have more fun riding single track on one of our mountain bikes, and more fun riding a road imperial century on our road touring bikes. You may also use your bike for varying terrains, from your week-day commute to a tour across Mongolia. Inevitably there may be trade-offs when choosing a bike for varied terrains. Our Surly bikes are fortunately very versatile and customisable to exactly your style of riding.

How much will you need to carry?

The amount you carry will likely vary on any given ride, but it’s important to consider the maximum amount you’re likely to carry. For some adventures provisions for a single day ride might be enough, but if you’re reading this you’re most likely going to be spending a little longer in the wilderness. A bike packing setup is great for multi-day mountain bike trips on the Timber Trail or Old Ghost Road, and can be easily fitted to almost any bike. This style of touring keeps your bike light and easy to manoeuvre, but limits your storage capacity, meaning you might have to forgo a few creature comforts. More traditional set ups use a front, and/or rear carrier fitted with panniers. This style of touring is great for longer tours, giving you storage for all the creature comforts you can fit on a bicycle. They work best when fitted to a dedicated touring bike but most of our bikes come with a carrier. The main draw back of the added weight is that it will make your bike harder to handle on rougher off-road trails. For more information about these bike bag set ups, click here.

Make sure you get the right riding position and bike fit.

Adventure bikes can come in many different frame styles with all kinds of different handlebars. Comfortable riding position and handlebars are one of the most import parts of any bike you plan to ride any distance on. An upright riding position and multiple handlebar positions are important for repeated long days of riding, choosing the correct handlebar for the terrain is also significant. Long distance tours on road are best served on drop bars or butterfly/trekking bars, for off-road use a multi-position mountain bike bar like the Jones Loop Bar might suit you best, for others a flat bar with comfortable grips and bar ends might be enough. Click here find out more about different handlebar options that you have.

Oh the choices! Saddle, Pedals, and Customisation.

Your new adventure bike will likely need some accoutrements. Your saddle, like your handlebars, are important to all day riding comfort. Alongside various modern gel comfort saddles we carry a full range of Brooks products including the venerable B17 touring saddle. Pedals are your final contact point, and many of our Adventure bikes come without pedals as this is such a personal choice. We have a wide selection of flat and clip-less pedals available to order, with our favourite reliable options available in store. We pride ourselves in building bikes for our customers that reflect their needs, but also their style. This might be as simple as adding a bell and matching your bar tape to your saddle, to a fully decked out build with your choice of awesome brands like Thomson and Velo Orange. For the purely practical minded adventurer we’ve got you covered, with everything from dynamo power to handlebar and helmet mirrors. If you're interested in having us build you your dream bike, click here to learn more.