Author Topic: Great divide trail  (Read 12018 times)

Molesontour

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Great divide trail
« on: April 04, 2019, 12:06:08 pm »
Has anyone done it on a Tandem?. I have a Thorn Raven Discovery Tandem, no worries about the frame  it's taken loads of miles offroad with no problems.  We are looking to do it in 2021. My main concern is getting the luggage weight down low enough. We will be carrying a Hilleberg tent not the lightest. Any recommendations for sleeping bags and mats? we will also require a water filter and parts of the trail could require food for 5 days.

With this in mind I need to be ruthless with the gear we will be taking, I think 95% is off road so the bike will be getting some punishment. I have an older Rolhoff  hub need I worry about possible flange failure? and I am using Andra CSS rims they seem pretty tough, but unsure what sort of tyres to use, the larger the better.
I know its not recommended but I have been using a Rock shocks Argle fork for a number of years with Hope V2 disc and it's been fine, I quite like the idea of trying to use these as some of the surfaces are going to be rough. Any ideas


Mike Ayling

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2019, 11:50:00 pm »
G'day Mole

Which continent are you looking at?

We have one of these in Victoria Australia which has just been used for a race.

Mike

Molesontour

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2019, 08:47:43 pm »
Hi Mike,

It's In America and it's about 2500 mile + so a lot of strain on components.

Best regards

Phil

Mike Ayling

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2019, 09:55:17 pm »
That's a lot longer than ours, Phil!

Mike

Molesontour

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2019, 10:30:31 am »
I think the biggest problem will be rear tyres I have tried Marathons etc and they always split next to rim after about 800 mile. It doesn't seem to matter what pressures I use.
It does get used a lot off road. Next to that the hub flanges, my Rohloff has had some abuse I have ridden the Tandem off road in the Dolomites and the Alps on terrain the Tandem was never really designed for and its been Absolutely faultless apart from the torque bracket thing twisted and it was replaced free of charge with an upgraded part.
My first rear rim split in two, it was a downhill Mtb rim, this was supplied and built by a Bike buider in Yorkshire who shall remain nameless it had beem spoked incorrectly! I wondered why I was snapping spokes.

I rebuilt the hub myself with an Andra Rolhoff rim from SJS about 7 years ago and it's never had a broken spoke or gone out of true. I am thinking of putting the rienforcing rings onto the hub just as a precaution as I don't know if the orginal spoke lacing may have stressed the hub body


Bill

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2019, 04:17:32 am »
I presume you mean the GDMBR -Great Divide Mountain Bike Route - the Adventure Cycling route that goes from Banff to Antelope Wells. I've done it over the course of three Septembers, I forget how many days I think around sixty riding days, but the young guys do it in thirty. Most of it is gravel roads - logging roads or old mining roads, or just rural roads. There are a few very rough although short, sections and a few sections of single track. I never saw any tandems on it, there are a sections where you have to push or carry your bike, those are  listed in the guidebook and maps, there are usually alternate routes around them.
I would recommend as wide tires as you can mount on your bike, and go as light as you can because there is a lot of climbing, some at fairly high altitudes. High altitudes also can mean severe weather so be prepared for snow and cold. I have never been so cold in my life as coming down from cabin pass in the snow and rain and mud. You don't generate any heat going down hill!
Its hard physically, but not that severe technically and is lots of fun and a great  adventure. You will enjoy it.
 

mickeg

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2019, 07:32:09 pm »
A friend of mine has ridden a couple sections of it with a van supported group where their luggage was hauled each day from one stop to the next, thus they only needed to carry their lunch, water, etc.  He used a full suspension mountain bike.

... I am thinking of putting the rienforcing rings onto the hub just as a precaution as I don't know if the orginal spoke lacing may have stressed the hub body

Refer to this thread for more info:
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=11802.0

I added the rings to my Nomad wheel, but I built that wheel in the first place, plus I have built several other bike wheels.  I reused the spokes, the spokes were never removed from the hub so it was pretty quick.  But if you do not know how to true up a wheel or tension it properly, that might not be the first wheel you want to work on.

If you wanted a bike shop to add the rings, I described above how I added the rings to my hub without completely rebuilding the wheel.  It was pretty quick.

But you will note at the above link that Dave from the shop does not recommend rebuilding a wheel just to add the rings.  (He made that recommendation the day after I added my rings.)

Molesontour

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2019, 05:55:51 pm »
Thanks, I am going to order the support rings and will take them with me. If a crack develops I can build these into to the wheel and that should get me to the finish.
I will be doing it unsupported so getting the weight down is going to be a challenge. We went round Tasmania on the tandem and it was so heavy you couldn't lift it! With that in mind I'm going to cut down on clothing we will just have to smell! I have been looking at new thermorests - Xtherms light but pricey.

Also any recomendations for sleeping bags,they will need to be down bags, it's difficult to assess how warm. We have used a Big agness double but that is too bulky.
I will be using a MSR Dragonfly stove it's been fantastic, for navigation I purchased all the maps but will be using the downloaded map on an Iphone as a back up, powering it with a Son Dynamo.
I am using the new Thorn disc forks so not much give but I prefer being able to stop, I have tried various rims and brakes even Magura but all have proved pretty useless. The only thing they good at was heating the rims up. I will probably try a 2.3 inch tyre up front but I'm not sure what to use on the rear whatever it is it will need to be tough. Gearing wise I have been using the forbidden gear ratios currently 44/19 but I may go a little lower, I prefer to be able to cycle rather that push if possible.
I notice the GDMBR now starts from Jasper




Molesontour

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2022, 04:09:19 pm »
Yes you can do the Great Divide on a Tandem, however it's not easy! We started in Jasper at the end of June and completed it on the 18th September a total of 3060 miles. No broken spokes, wheels stayed absolutely true. Used 2 tyres, 2 pairs of disc brake pads and loads of chains. I would say that is the weak point, you really notice the chain wear with the Rohloff. I also had a bad oil leak on the sprocket side of the hub, it was so bad I had to remove the sprocket every two days and clean it. After around 3 weeks it became much less and almost stopped by the end of the trip, so I guessing it was over filled when the seals were changed?
With hindsight we should have travelled lighter and used larger tyres. I am amazed at how punishment the wheels frame and racks stood up too. The only major issue was cracks developed in the front forks around the pannier mounts at around 2/3 distance, I managed to strengthen the mounts with para cord and epoxy resin and we avoided some of the rough sections in New Mexico.
We were exceptionally lucky with weather, missing almost all the rain and thunder storms, wind and excessive heat.
The greatest problem was carrying enough food for the remote sections and also water quite often proved to be an issue, I used Sawyer mini filter and it just didn't have the capacity to produce enough water in the heat for two people.
I would post some photo's if I could work out how.

mickeg

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #9 on: December 03, 2022, 06:36:12 pm »
I am quite happy with a Sawyer Mini.  But, I backflush it EVERY TIME that I use it.  Yes, every time, but I just do a very quick low volume backflush after I use it, stick the end of the filter on a Smartwater bottle and push half a shot glass of water through it for less than a second.  Total time to backflush, takes less than a minute but it keeps particulate matter from building up in it.  And I do a robust backflush with the syringe at home both before and after I go on a trip, I have found that doing a backflush when I take it out of storage really is worth doing while still at home.

My Mini is threaded both ends, I paid extra to get that so I could set up a gravity system.  Sawyer makes a gravity system but I had read that the bladders can fail, so I instead put together my own gravity system and used Evernew brand bladders.

in4

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Danneaux

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2022, 09:15:10 pm »
I remain real happy with my 4AA-cell SteriPen and some sections cut from pantyhose (ladies tights) to filter out silt.

It usually yields 1 liter every 90 seconds and has worked nicely for two people on my own tandem tours. I've never become ill using it to zap water collected from wall seeps, cattle troughs, and areas of known water-borne hepatitis A.

My backup purification methods include chlorine and iodine in drop or pill form with boiling as my last resort.

For my Great Basin desert tours, I always include pH strips as well because much of the water is alkali, so best tested before filtering.

Best, Dan.

Mike Ayling

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #12 on: December 09, 2022, 05:30:18 am »
The only major issue was cracks developed in the front forks around the pannier mounts at around 2/3 distance, I managed to strengthen the mounts with para cord and epoxy resin and we avoided some of the rough sections in New Mexico.



Sounds similar to what Il Padrone experienced and posted here recently

mickeg

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Re: Great divide trail
« Reply #13 on: December 09, 2022, 09:11:26 pm »
Photo of my DIY gravity system with double threaded Sawyer mini, Evernew 2 liter bladders.