My dad has done many long bike trips including from Edinburgh to Milan about 35 years ago. I wanted to see the western isles of Scotland and spend some time cycling with him, I’ve never done a multi day cycle before and my longest journey previous to this has been 40km on fairly flat ground.
Overall we did about 150km over two half days and one full day of cycling, from Stornaway to Horgabost and back.
Also, I bought my bike second hand from a man who sells refurbished bikes to raise money for charity. It was £80 and apart from fiddling with the brakes and gear shifters a bit I’ve not done much to it. I don’t really know much about bikes and dads been riding the same bike since the early 90s so… any critique or suggestions on how to make this bike better welcome. It’s definitely the lightest bike I’ve had, but all my previous bikes have been very cheap second hand mountain bikes. I think it’s probably been several bikes cobbled together.
I had to get off and push for two or three hills but that was more because I was going so slow I was wobbling into the road, and it was faster and safer to walk. So maybe that will change as I improve, or maybe I need a road bike? I’m not even sure how my bike would be classified, is it a gravel bike, combination bike? Maybe a commuter bike?
by False_Preparation188
3 Comments
I suppose we’d call your bike a hybrid. Seems to be doing you fine this trip, wouldn’t try and upgrade it until you know what else you want.
The wobbling maybe the way you’ve loaded your bike, with all the luggage on the back it makes the steering quite twitchy, apparently. The folk here have got all sorts of way of attaching luggage to forks and handlebars, and they say it rides great. Who am I to argue?
I’m just back from a 100+ miler with my daughter, really great to get out as a family. I had to carry all the luggage though! (B&B so not so onerous)
Great trip and great airbag on specialized 🙂
Full marks for racks and panniers, and bonus marks to your Dad for mudguards. Nice to see a practical touring setup instead of yet another inappropriate racing gravel bike festooned with strap-on bags.
That bike looks like a great deal for £80, and if it is comfortable I don’t think you really need to change it for anything else immediately. It doesn’t matter what you call it. You’ve got a triple chainset on there as well, which is handy for steeper hills when carrying a bit of touring luggage. You could probably improve the front end with a front rack or a stuff sack carrier, but overall, if it does the job and you enjoyed your trip, I think your kit is fine.