Brand new with about 20 miles on them. Tried them and they just aren't right for my bike set up.

Pretty much brand new (20-ish miles total):

Wood Chippers 44cm set up with Tecktro Levers, fully stainless cables wrapped in Jagwire, front and rear (enough to run full housing to the rear brake on my sz Med. Raleigh XXIX), complete with no-sign-of-wear Lizard Skin bar tape. Happy to include the shorty stem if you want it.

I am building up my kit and am in need of, well, I need a lot and am willing to partial trade etc... Here is a list:

Bike pack race quality light
large seat bag
bar harness for dry bag
frame bag
GPS

please email me at dueyvster at g mail dot com


Thanks for looking! Let me know what you have to trade!
Cheers,
D

Sure thing, happy to asist. If I can help more just shoot me a PM! Be fun to see a trip report.

Also, if you like races at all, check out this one. it's only 115 miles but super fun group!

https://cedarcross.wordpress.com/about/

We are moving to Boise, ID in June so this will be my last spring in this area. Pretty stoked about that.

Cheers,
D

Here is an option. Use the fast n' skinny's, and limit your side trip to Bangert IS. trail near the end in St. Charles. These are a super fun. Lots of twists and turns and can easily be done with cross tires. I used to ride there on my cross bike to ride them. Then you can put in real miles on the Katy and get a bit single track in too!

 If covering ground/distance is the thing then go with cross tires because you wont be riding much single track and, if you ride Bangert, you can have a lot of fun on skinny ones. It does sound like that is the way to go do to the fact that you are going to end up at the train in Alton!

Also, check the train station site. I was scheduling a trip and ran into the issue that not all routes accept bikes.

it kind of depends on what you end up doing. If you stay just on the Katy, I would go fast and skinny. There is absolutely no reason to go with anything like a mtb tire. If you intend to hit some of the side trails I would take something bigger for the fun factor and also I'd look into each trail you want to hit. I can't remember the name of it but there is one trail we ended up on briefly a couple of years ago on our cross bikes that we instantly got flats. Super rocky and sharp rocks at that. there is only one trail like that that I'm aware of though....

Sure thing!

if I can help you in any way, while you are in the area, let me know

Hey there. I live just down the road, about 4 miles, from Grafton. I've ridden a bunch of the Katy and it is super flat and fast. There is also a ton of single track off of the Katy!

Check out the GORC site here: http://gorctrails.com/trails/index.asp There is relatively easy access to all of the St. Charles area trails listed there. That general area is chock full of really great mtb trails!

You've probably already found this site but it is a good resource for the Katy: http://www.bikekatytrail.com/ Almost too good! It is designed for the casual tourist...

Don't attempt to ride ANY of the trails in Pere Marquette park though. It is in the works but the horse folks have a lock on that currently and the authorities have been known to confiscate bikes!

Not sure if it's too late for you or not but I have used this http://www.westmarine.com/buy/303-products--303-high-tech-fabric-guard--P004_129_002_507 in the boating industry for quite a few years. It holds up amazingly well in really harsh conditions. Awesome stuff, truly.

Followed every step on the tracker. Can't wait to give it a go! Excellent write up of the experience! Really enjoyed that, thanks!