Choosing the right bike

Considering a full-suspension mountain bike

Choosing the right bicycle for a long-distance ride that includes a variety of terrains and riding surfaces is hard. Being on a tight budget makes it even harder. And, since I generally tend to "agonize" about such major decisions, the fact that three months before the start I am still not sure what I am riding should not come as a surprise.

During my 2010 visit to western Ukraine, I did some recreational riding (as one can easily tell from the photos, mostly touring local espresso places) on a no-name fully rigid aluminum bike shown below:

Obviously, riding this thing over the Carpathian Mountains is absolutely out of the question. In fact, it has never even been considered an option as this bicycle was built exclusively for "coffee shop touring".

Even though in 2010 I mostly stayed on what technically were "paved roads", the experience was painful, to say the least. In fact, it was so painful that, when I returned from Ukraine, I promised myself that in 2011 I would get "all the suspension money can buy".

These photos show what an average paved back road and a good unpaved road in the part of Ukraine I am going to are like:

Even some side streets in big cities often look like the pavement has not been repaired since Emperor Franz Joseph.

Believe me, they feel a lot worse than they look.

Call me crazy, but, despite all the contraindications, I have not completely excluded a full-suspension mountain bike option for this ride. The reality is such that I will most probably not ride a full-suspension mountain bike this time around (primarily due to budget constraints), but, for the sake of factual accuracy, I would still like to explain the rationale behind my considering a full-suspension bike:

• Nobody in his right mind would attempt to ride a full-suspension mountain bike around the globe or even across a continent. There have been precedents of riding the Great Divide on full-suspension mountain bikes, but still the absolute majority seems to ride hardtails choosing reliability over comfort. Unlike those rides, the 2011 mountain bike tour of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains is pretty short (under two weeks and just about 300 miles). So, it seems safe to assume that the risk of suspension failure during such a short tour is fairly low.
• Full-suspension bicycles require more frequent maintenance (that is also more difficult to perform, especially, in the field) compared to hardtails and, even more so, compared to fully rigid bicycles. Again, due to the short duration and distance of the 2011 tour of the Carpathians, this issue seems... well... like a "non-issue".
• The very nature of mountain biking in the mountains obviously means that one has to go up and down. Going up may or may not mean actually riding up. Pushing and, even more so, carrying a bike is not only tiring, but also time-consuming. Still, mountain biking in the mountains in most cases should be more efficient than hiking since the time one looses on the non-rideable ascents can be made up for on flats and descents. If those flats and, especially, descents have really rough surfaces, a full-suspension mountain bike should "be faster" than a hardtail. I have not been able to find any scientific backing for this intuitive belief of mine, but Matt Pacocha's semi-scientific experiment described in the July 2009 issue of VeloNews ("A Racer's Edge, Which is Faster: Hardtail or Full Suspension?") seems to support it.

Disclaimer:

The above is purely my "theoretical musing" and should not be considered practical advice.

Update:

There is no reason to continue theorizing about "the right bike" since I have purchased the bike for my 2011 Carpathian MTB tour. If interested, see the blog post Got the bike.