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51
Cycle Tours / Re: advice for touring a bit of Canada
« Last post by in4 on February 16, 2026, 07:16:05 PM »
I posted this one a short while ago. Might be of interest.

https://www.clearwatercounty.ca/p/rocky-nordegg-trail
52
Cycle Tours / Re: advice for touring a bit of Canada
« Last post by hendrich on February 16, 2026, 06:18:41 PM »
We have toured/camped, doing a loop of the circumference of NS, except for Cape Brenton. It is beautiful, we especially liked the Northumberland Strait (Amherst to Cape Hawkesbury). However, away from the north, the secondary roads have no shoulders and considerable traffic. The black flies are intense, but if you are not camping and mostly on the move, then not so bad. We did not use any off road paths, they are bad owing to ATV traffic. We would likely not do NS again.

Have you considered Quebec? We have toured from near Montreal to the Atlantic and back, looping the Gaspe peninsula and along the Matapedia River. Quebec has well establish bike routes (Route Verte), most have large shoulders. The ride along the St. Lawrence is spectacular. Camping/food/wine is great. We will do this again sometime, adding Lake Saint-Jean along the Saguenay River.

August is the best time of year.

Have fun, Mike
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Cycle Tours / advice for touring a bit of Canada
« Last post by dogcart on February 16, 2026, 04:27:00 PM »
My wife and I are big fans of Canada but always go to The Rockies for winter sports. We'll be there again in a couple of weeks.
However, I fancy a summer time trip with the bikes and my wife always mentions Nova Scotia (I do a lot of tours in Old Scotia so probably ought to see what the newer one is like!) We have a friend who works in the University in St Johns and there are direct flights from UK to St Johns in the summer so that ought to be a good starting point. I would intend using bike boxes for the transatlantic flight then leaving them at a hotel or with our friend if she has room.
I have a few questions for anyone with experience:
1. other than pedalling would there be any other means of moving bikes around such as buses or trains? Say if we did an A to B tour rather than a loop.
2. I haven't launched into Google yet but are there any reliable resources for cycle routes available?
3. where should we go? My wife would prefer to avoid big hills, undulations are OK, 40ish miles a day is probably enough (60ish km). She has declared her camping days to be over so some sort of lodging or hotel would be preferred each night. Costs aren't really a problem but most certainly don't need 5 star hotels and fine dining!
4. midges/mosquitoes/annoying little flies, what's the deal? I've heard rumours!
5. I'm suggesting a summer trip but when is a good time for decent weather (we live in North Yorkshire and it has been cold, wet and grey for several months now, we would like some warmth on our backs if possible) We have appropriate gear for Scottish weather but would prefer to avoid using it if we could.
6. Should we start somewhere else? St Johns is convenient but anywhere with a direct UK flight would do. I'm suggesting east coast as we've never been but am open to suggestions.
7. We will be on our Thorn bikes so reasonable roads would be preferred but we are happy with decent gravel forest roads or old railway tracks.
8. and if we can throw in some whale spotting that would make my day.
We're retired so don't have any time constrains but would be thinking of a 2-4 week trip
Any help would be much appreciated
Nick
54
Thorn General / Re: larger tyre up front on Mercury Mk3
« Last post by strictnaturist on February 16, 2026, 03:36:38 PM »
Thanks for your swift comments
To answer. Yep. I have done a few tracks in Scotland.Green routes in Europe and across Iceland. All mostly on the Sherpa.
I'll drop the gearing for the Mercury to assist.
Sounds like 54mm tyres should be enough on the Divide trail.
I'll investigate what tyres would be best. Comments welcome :-)
Still swithering about tubeless though?
All best wishes
spring is coming!
Eddie
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Thorn General / Re: larger tyre up front on Mercury Mk3
« Last post by mickeg on February 16, 2026, 01:17:58 PM »
Stay with tubes. 

For touring, I drop my gear range down to 36 chainring and 16T sprocket.  That is very similar to your 43 and 19 ratio.  If it is too steep for that gearing, it also is too steep for me to pedal while keeping my heart rate in a reasonable range.  Thus, I get off the bike and walk it up the steeper hills.

Have you ridden much on rough trails before? 
56
Lighting and Electronics / Smiling Shark Headlamp
« Last post by in4 on February 16, 2026, 01:00:14 PM »
I’ve just received one of these as a gift. Out of the box it seems quite impressive. As a being seen light it is  certainly bright enough. As a seeing light I’ve yet to try it; suspect the range and spread might be limited. It’s USB rechargeable. Might be one for the campsite.

https://amzn.eu/d/04JRNXAh
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Thorn General / Re: larger tyre up front on Mercury Mk3
« Last post by WorldTourer on February 16, 2026, 10:43:09 AM »
I'm heading over to Canada (from Scotland) this summer, to ride south for around 1000miles to Jackson, Wyoming on the Great Divide route with my son.

The GDMBR tends to get talked about today as more daunting terrain than it is. Once the bikepacking scene took off, it embraced this route which meets the Bikepacking.com definition because it is majority unpaved. However, before that, the GDMBR was commonly regarded as a touring route and people rode it on conventional touring bikes like the Surly LHT, with 2.00" or 2.15" tires. Loads of blogs were written about this, some of them are still up today. So, if you can fit 54 mm, you’re already well prepared, even if you might want to take advantage of being able to fit something slightly wider in front.
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Thorn General / Re: larger tyre up front on Mercury Mk3
« Last post by Andyb1 on February 16, 2026, 10:20:39 AM »
Think of motorbikes John, most have bigger front wheels.   The same thing is happening with MTBs.  The term mullet applies.
I usually fit a larger section front tyre run softer than the rear to give some ‘suspension’ when hitting bumps.  My logic is that the front wheel is pushed down onto bumps while the rear is more likely to get pulled over them.
Also if hitting soft sand, a wider front tyre should be more stable.
59
Belt Drive / Re: Belt drive article from Thorn Blog
« Last post by martinf on February 16, 2026, 08:14:31 AM »
On the same page he also explains why you're likely to get 20,000km + from an uncovered KMC X1 chain with minimal maintenance.

I think that depends on where and when you ride. I live near the coast and ride in all weathers, so when it rains the tyres pick up wet sand and mud and a rim brake sprays it over the chain, even when I don't go off-road and keep to tarmac.

The best I have managed so far is 8,300 kms with an old type bushed 1/8" chain used on a hub gear bike. This was long before I knew about the ChainGlider. More typically, I would get between 2,000 and 4,000 kms on a derailleur bike. Bromptons are worse, typically 2,000 kms or less, probably because the transmission is closer to the ground and picks up more muck.

KMC advertises 3,500 kms plus for the successor to the X1 and 10,000 kms plus for their long-life 1/8" chain if used with their own 1/8" chainring and sprocket.

The photo attached shows the results of one of my first rides with a ChainGlider The wet sand on the outside of the ChainGlider would have gone on the chain if it wasn't covered.

In my experience, a ChainGlider keeps most of the mud and sand off the transmission. Water gets inside when it rains, but it drains out. A ChainGlider works for me to significantly reduce transmission maintenance.


60
Thorn General / Re: larger tyre up front on Mercury Mk3
« Last post by JohnR on February 16, 2026, 05:33:49 AM »
I can't think of a good reason for putting a bigger tyre on the front than on the back. In fact, I've done the opposite and put a slightly smaller tyre on the front on the basis that it carries less load than the rear tyre.

I was almost 70 when I first encountered tubeless bike tyres and am now a convert. A key requirement for a good tubeless experience is tubeless-ready rims. A good tyre-rim combination can be inflated with a simple pump. A poor combination results in much cursing and the need for a pressure tank. While tubeless tyres handle small punctures well, the ability to prevent a flat caused by a bigger cut is less certain and depends on the cut size and sealant. I've had one ride-stopping cut in ~20k miles which was caused by a flint shard. Attempts to plug the hole were unsuccessful so tyre boot and inner tube were needed.
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