Your Wheels
Bikes
Oh, our most asked question- what bike to bring? With endless choices available there will always be debates and varied opinions on what kind of bike is best; Hardtail v Dually, 26er v 29er (not to mention 69er’s), carbon v steel v titanium, tube v tubeless, and many more decisions. At the end of the day it will come down to a personal choice, your existing bike and available budget.
A dually will definitely be more comfortable, and on rough surfaces they assist in maintaining momentum when hard tails start bouncing around. Many people say duallys reduce fatigue, which after a couple of days and a few hundred kilometres, might just help you to get back in the saddle and do it all again.
Most well maintained and in good condition mountain bikes will do the job if ridden appropriately. If you think you can buy a $99 (on special) mountain bike from Kmart and do the ride you better have lots of spares and lots of life insurance! Nothing will spoil your ride more than having to walk or sit in your support car due to a crappy bike choice.
Tyre choice is often considered to be more important than bike choice, after all they are the only contact you want to have with the trail. Good quality tyres can make the difference between riding carefree for the day or stopping to repair or replace cheap tires. We recommend the Continental Travel Contact for the Pipeline Challenge, they have great sidewall protection and excellent rolling resistance and are designed for trails like this one. However any decent tyre will do the job.
We recommend you run tubeless and use slime to avoid punctures. As there are some double G’s around on certain days we highly recommend you use double the usual amount of slime (e.g. 150 ml).
Trailers & Bike Racks
Depending on the size of your team and the type of vehicle you have most people will need a trailer to carry their bikes and equipment. On these sorts of trails we have seen more trailers fail than we have cars; stubb axels falling off, wheel bearings collapsing, springs breaking, no spare wheel and rust causing terminal draw bar failures.
The ideal trailer is one designed for off road use and a good one will not let you down. A decent well maintained trailer that is in good condition should survive the trail if driven appropriately and not overloaded. It might be a 750kg trailer but if you are taking it off road you would not want to carry anywhere near that amount.
No monster trailers or caravans are to be taken along the trail. Not only will they get stuck but they are also a hazard when riders and other support vehicles are passing you.
There are lots of options for bike racks. The best are usually ones that people make to go on top of a trailer with a few bits of channel and a few decent tie-down points. I have seen bikes get pretty scratched up on your standard bike rack that attaches to the back of your car. You want a rack that will make it easy to get on and off during rider transitions and that can handle 5 days off road. It all depends on how much love you have for your trusty steed.
Support vehicles
The majority of the Big Yellow Pipeline Challenge follows an unsealed access trail used by the Water Corporation for maintenance and repairs to the golden pipeline. The Water Corporation use four wheel drive vehicles to access the trail, not two wheel drive or low clearance vehicles (or as we like to call them all wheel drive pretend off-roaders).
There are definitely times when 4WD will be needed during the Challenge, especially if you are towing a trailer and for a few sections where ground clearance may be an issue. We’ll do our best to give you a heads up on when 4WD will be needed. On occasions your support vehicle will be travelling slower than the rider due to the terrain, which can be sandy, rocky and rutted. If you drive carefully and appropriately a good 4WD should do the Challenge with ease.
One way to ruin your attempt to conquer the Big Yellow Pipeline Challenge is to have a vehicle breakdown so make sure you have a spare tyre and a well maintained vehicle that is suitable for 5 days off road. That way you can relax and enjoy the riding.