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Reply to Best bike for the trail

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Endover750 from Stillwater, MN on 2/20/2025 5:43:40 PM:

This will be my first visit and am looking for recomendations for the best bike choice. Road vs Gravel? I have a 29er MTB bike available.

Is this trail paved, crushed rock or a combo?

Thanks in advance/

Mark from Saint Louis, MO 63144 on 2/20/2025 7:06:21 PM:

The trail surface is packed crushed limestone and gravel. You might find a few paved sections in towns like Hill City, but for the most part the trail surface is limestone and gravel.

I guess you could ride parts of the trail on a road bike, but I certainly wouldn't try it for most of the trail. I road it on a Trek Checkpoint with 40c tires and I really appreciated that tire width on most of the trail. There are some really loose sections on the trail that thin tires would dig into, I think. 25c or 28c wouldn't be something I'd recommend.

The last time I was on the trail I saw many E-bikes with up to 50c tires. In my opinion, 35c width is the smallest I'd go with.

Of course, I'm sure many have ridden the entire trail on a road bike with narrow tires. I just don't think that's ideal.

Watch out for the E-bikes. They are becoming prevalent on the trail. They go a lot faster than they should IMO and the trail stewards really don't do anything about it.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.

Doug Houston from Auburn on 2/21/2025 4:21:15 PM:

We rode last Fall and my partner and I did nearly the entire length of the trail on gravel bikes with 40c pathfinders. The trail surface was amazing and I think a road bike with 30c is manageable and perhaps faster but not as comfy.

Dan W from Minneapolis on 3/21/2025 1:48:45 PM:

I've ridden well over half the Mickelson and would say you could probably ride it on a road bike if you're comfortable with it on fairly smooth gravel, but it would not be the most enjoyable way go. It would be a lot more pleasurable (and likely just about as fast) on a cyclocross, gravel or hybrid bike with at least 35mm tires and some tread.

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