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Beach Riding


hurronnicane
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What is the consensus about riding your primary mountain bike on the beach?  Or I guess my question is whether the salt and sand is too damaging to make it worth it.  Sedona and Moab sand both seem to do a number on drivetrains and moving parts in general but few people shy away from riding there because of it.

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Sedona, Moab, and Rocky Hill Ranch (can also destroy your drivetrain):  worth it b/c it's fun (or so I hear).  

Beach:  boring.  

I wouldn't do it.  Seth from the Hacks YT channel has an old video on this.  He got a cheap fat bike to mess around on the beach when he was still in Florida.

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17 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

Sedona, Moab, and Rocky Hill Ranch (can also destroy your drivetrain):  worth it b/c it's fun (or so I hear).  

Beach:  boring.  

I wouldn't do it.  Seth from the Hacks YT channel has an old video on this.  He got a cheap fat bike to mess around on the beach when he was still in Florida.

Agreed, the beach is usually very windy too.

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One cool thing about the beach is that it’s easy to build little jumps and there aren’t any rocks to hit when you bust your ass. However, the beach is sand and salt and water. You have to really clean your bike when you’re done but it’s just a bike and it’s no good if you don’t ride it.


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59 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

He got a cheap fat bike to mess around on the beach when he was still in Florida.

Except, wasn't he trying to actually surf with it? But maybe that was after his sand adventure.

Anyway, @Jessica and I keep threatening to take our fat bikes down for some beach riding, but other plans keep getting in the way. We did quite of bit of frozen beach riding while in the north. But I wouldn't take a skinny tire mountain bike into loose sand just because it wouldn't be fun, nor is it great on suspension bits. But a mid-fat or fat bike tire is a bit of fun. And so long as you're using a dry lube, there's not a lot of danger of gumming anything up too much. 

What we really want to do, is figure out how to rent a large paddle boat, and get ourselves and our fat bikes over to Matagorda Island for a long fat bike out and back. There used to be a ferry a few years back, but apparently it burnt and sank. Now the only way over is by personal craft. 

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i've been taking my road bike to galveston. its much more entertaining to ride up and down the highway and enjoy the scenery. i will also ride it for fun on the beach. but not too much because of the drivetrain thing. the sand at galveston is pretty hard packed, so it actually rides quite well.  

if you are going, just take your bike. its fun to ride either way, but don't think i'd try to do 20 miles on the beach or anything. 

if you have a backup bike, that would be preferred.

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i've been taking my road bike to galveston. its much more entertaining to ride up and down the highway and enjoy the scenery. i will also ride it for fun on the beach. but not too much because of the drivetrain thing. the sand at galveston is pretty hard packed, so it actually rides quite well.  
if you are going, just take your bike. its fun to ride either way, but don't think i'd try to do 20 miles on the beach or anything. 
if you have a backup bike, that would be preferred.

I took my DJ cruiser and rode from the San Luis pass down to the ship channel and back. Was around 50 miles I think for the whole island ride. The goal was to spend as much time riding by the water as possible and I was pretty successful. The key is making sure you watch the wind conditions. Packed sand is fun to ride on but the thick/loose stuff is no bueno.


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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/14/2021 at 11:07 AM, Barry said:

and get ourselves and our fat bikes over to Matagorda Island for a long fat bike out and back. There used to be a ferry a few years back, but apparently it burnt and sank. Now the only way over is by personal craft.

Years ago we took our bikes on the now discontinued Parks and Wildlife ferry from Port O'Connor over to Matagorda Island.  At low tide, it was smooth riding on the beach for miles on hard packed sand.  There is a road  in the middle of the island paved with crushed shells that was also good for riding and we used it to return to the dock.  While riding the shell road, we did spot some whooping cranes by a  little pond. 

No fresh water on the island; you have to bring your own. 

There was an air base on the island during WW II, so the runways are clearly visible on googlemaps satellite view towards the north end of the island.  This is where we were dropped off by the ferry and there was a road across the island to the beach.  There's also a lighthouse to check out. 

General Info: Texas Parks and Wildlife Matagorda Island Wildlife Management Area

Port O'Connor Chamber of Commerce:  Matagorda Island shuttles

Last year, Hammertime  Fishing Guides would shuttle you to the island for $75/person with a minimum of two people.  Round-trip price?

 

 

 

Edited by June Bug
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3 hours ago, Tree Magnet said:

Once you run out of water, the price jumps to $150 to get back.
This is speculation of course 😉

I'm seeing a major business opportunity for someone selling bottled water...

Actually, if you spend enough time combing through the dunes, you might find some intact bottled water.  One of our group had some drive train problems and we found a can of WD 40 in the dunes.  It wasn't functional so we just kept looking until we found a can that was and used it to spray down the drive train. Problem solved. 

If one wanted to do an inventory of American material culture, the dunes on Matagorda would be one of the best places to look. I'm guessing combo of ocean currents and storms deposit a lot of flotsam. 

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