Bike choice

[kozman]

Noob question...I am in for this year, and am looking at bike selection...I have a Scott Scale pro carbon frame that I have thought of building up for the run, and also for TNGA and some other events.  I wonder about the internal cable routing if I break a cable...kinda hard to fish...What type bike setups are you guys using?  Hardtail, FS, Ti, don't even want to hear from the SS guys, they ain't right!

[Foster]

For material sake I would go with either Ti or Steel if you go with a Hard Tail.  I would stay away from aluminum, its a lot harder on the body.

[bartspedden]

I've been learning about Ti recently.  From what I've been able to gather it's a rather attractive material.  It's light, strong, doesn't corrode much, and is flexible in the right places and stiff in the right places.  The downsides seem to be price and manufacturing challenges. Maybe someone here that works with the material can add some light, but from what I've read when frame failures occur it tends to be because of manufacturing.  In other words, welds that for one reason or another aren't perfectly clean? or perfectly welded? And since almost all Ti frames are hand built, there's a lot of opportunity for mistakes. Check out this thread for some additional thoughts http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=2376.0;wap2

Personally I'm a full suspension guy, so aluminum is perfect for me. I commute on a fully rigid steel single speed and love it for commuting, but would hate it on any trail. From many hours of reading TDR blogs though, it's pretty clear most (if not all) folks are on hardtails. Some opt for a thudbuster to help smooth things out. Lots of folks on carbon forks too, while they don't offer any vertical shock absorption, apparently they offer fore-and-aft dampening and this works out well on chattery dirt roads.  

Here's a list of bikes from 2010 http://tourdivide.org/blog2010/riders_their_bikes_due_popular_request

[dgjessee]

If you're thinking the TD or GDR, that's a different animal than things like TNGA. If you're fast enough you could get away riding TNGA with basically what you'd take for a long day of wilderness mountain biking. Just add about 10 lbs of food to that :-) I think you could definitely do carbon on that. A minor fix on the internal routing would be to just run full housing and zip tie it outside.

I built a full-susp. Niner Jet9 for the Colorado Trail and I'm really glad I did. On rocky stuff it just goes bananas and on the climbs the Fox shock really tightens up. If I were doing something like the TD I would definitely go steel hardtail (nicer steels like the Niners, Ritchey P-29er, and others) with a carbon seatpost or a good flexy Thomson are the way I'd go. Running tubeless with 15-20 psi on those frames will feel like you have a bit of suspension. Plus I've heard that if you don't get the right Ti frame, it can be quite "noodly." So can steel but the metal is easier to master than titanium. The simpler you can go, the better. If there's a point of failure on your set up that you don't know how to fix on the trail, that's a problem. Especially with the massive distances of the TD. Titanium is pretty bad ass.... the only reason I couldn't make myself buy it was a) I already had a high-end bike I loved and b) at $1100-1300 for a frame alone on sale day, I couldn't pull the trigger. For half the price of most ti frames you can have a full steel steed ready to go.

**FYI - it's heavy, but I think the Novara Intrepid 29er is one of the best fully-spec'd "TD Bikes" on the market. Steel. Hardtail. Good sturdy component set. Plenty of brazeons. And the 80mm fork for those washboarded roads. **disclaimer - I work at REI

[stappy]

Not sure which event you're building this for. I can comment on TD and the scale. I raced a scale 29 RC this year for the tour divide. It's one of the most comfortable bikes I've ever rode. If you believe Scott's advertising, the scale has a small amount of vertical compliance. I believe I can feel it, anyway, I was very happy with the frame. I actually love the internal cable routing. I don't like full length housing, too much friction. If anything does get into your cables it can't get out very easily either. I've had the best luck with standard shimano cables. I've never had cables last as long as the do on my scale. With internal routing it's kind of like full length protection without housing, so much less housing to corrode and less friction. My cables were still in great shape after TD. To some degree I think too much is made over frame material. I agree that a custom ti frame is probably the holy grail for ultras. But I've rode scandium frames that ride better than some ti frames and some steel frames that are harsh. Enjoy your scale, I think it's one of the best, plus it's tough get frame in any other material that weighs 2.2 lbs.

[the tortoise]

I have heard many people talk about frame materials over the years and the "comfort" of particular materials. Sheldon Brown (RIP) talked about this and he thought the geometry of a bike has more to do with comfort than the material.
My take is that tire pressure, a front shock and in my case a thudbuster seatpost has a lot more to do with comfort than the material a bike is made from.
I bought a new Ti frame and fork (with headset and seat collar) for around $1,000. Great deal, and the bike has over 10,000 miles on it. Several people I know have the same frame and they all like them.
But many of us are on a budget and if you have a decent bike then go with that. Frames break but not as often as people have other bike issues, like drivetrain problems, pedals breaking, spokes breaking etc.
Mostly it is the motor and proper preparation. In many of these long endurance races 40% or more of the starters drop out. I doubt many of them drop out because of frame issues.

[JayP]

after riding plastic bikes for about 6 years, road and MTB, i thought they were the best at the time. this year i have ridden ti exclusively and have to say i will probably never purchase a carbon bike again. the only thing i have to back up my experience is miles and a fair amount to actually make a decision. i strictly race long distance and the light has finally came thru. ti is the real deal, a bike for life. just my 2 cents, if you have the cash purchase a ti rig.

carbon is nice for the shorter distance racer and weight weenie minded individual IMO. loved em when i rode em, but learned...

[fastmtnbiker33w]

I've had a custom ti hardtail with a really bad geometry that felt more comfortable than a steel frame with a good geometry.