What is the best bike for the Tour of Aotearoa? This question sparks a lot of debate among cyclists. Your choice is not as straightforward as you might think.

First up, what are the options?

Road bike: Definitely not. I think we can all agree on that.
Also, the outliers… a unicycle or a Raleigh 20, definitely not. And that funny e-wheel thing you stand on – not that either. Agreed?

Second option, gravel bike: It’s going to be faster on sealed roads and gravel roads with small chip (a lot of NZ rural roads have very large chip thanks to our local councils cost cutting). But it’s not nearly as much fun in a forest (e.g. Timber Trail & Whanganui National Park) compared to a mountain bike. Gravel bikes have less moving parts so less to go wrong with the bike. Having tyres with reasonable volume will allow you to adjust to the chip size or slippery forest floor.

Third option: That brings us to mountain bikes. There are two types: hardtail and full suspension. Either way, gravel tyres will be best (only reducing rolling resistance by 2-3% though, so not a massive gain).

Many people might discount a full suspension mountain bike because of the 300-450 grams that the shock adds and the extra pivots etc. However, if you can lock that shock out or pump it up to compensate for the extra weight of your bags, then rock on in comfort. Now let’s be honest—many riders are carrying more than 450 grams in extra body weight. If you’re 10 or 15 kilos over optimal weight, then why worry about a 450-gram shock? But I can’t put a frame bag in the centre frame triangle if I have a shock there! Not so, see Stealth Bags in Wellington, they can make you an awesome custom bag for this area.

It’s worth noting that the geometry of a lot of newer full suspension mountain bikes is really designed for downhill riding in the context of a bike park, and they don’t ride uphill nearly as well as a cross-country full suspension mountain bike. In other words, having a more upright geometry designed for cross-country riding on your full suspension mountain bike is better than the “slack” geometry of the newer mountain bikes.

Having suspension front and back is going to take a lot of vibration out of the bike. Many people experience numbness in their hands and forearms, and numbness in the bike shorts area. A lot vibration leads to fatigue.

Also, the whole point of choosing a gravel bike over a mountain bike would be a faster average speed. But this isn’t really required. You’re not in a race. So trading off speed for comfort might be a good trade.

Fourth option: ebike, why not?! Obviously this is a different type of Tour of Aotearoa, potentially with longer daily stages. There are charging options at accommodation providers, reserve drink bottle battery options… or just riding without power until you need it.

Conclusion 1: The two islands have quite different riding styles—you might want to swap bikes in Wellington from mountain bike to gravel bike. This is because there’s a lot more road riding in the South Island. On a supported tour, you could ask if you can bring two bikes and swap between them on the daily depending on the surface. If you bring a gravel bike, though, the tyres need to have reasonable volume to allow you to adjust them to the surface, i.e., not too narrow.

Conclusion 2: It really doesn’t matter too much whether it’s a gravel bike or a mountain bike. What matters is that you’re comfortable on it and can do 6 to 8 hours a day on it. So its geometry has to really work for you. Think about the points where your body contacts the bike; each of these has to be really comfortable.