Cycles of all sorts

Any mountain bike that's good enough for serious off road riding will work for the Iditasport. The top finishers' bikes over the years have mostly been quite standard, with special rims and carefully chosen tires. Suspension, hydraulic brakes, disc wheels and other trick equipment haven't offered any real benefits. Two-wheel drive looks promising but the only one tried so far broke about one third of the way through the race.

Lightening your bike is always a good thing but unless you have an unlimited budget you can save more weight for less money by lightening your other equipment first. For example, by eliminating rear rack and panniers, mounting your sleeping bag under your handlebars and carrying your other gear in a large seat bag and a main triangle bag, you can save about three pounds in bags and racks. You'll actually save more weight since you'll have to reduce the size and amount of your other equipment.

Set up your bike carefully and test all your equipment thoroughly before the event.

Use Loctite on all the small threaded fasteners.

Make sure that your freewheel or freehub will work in the cold. If you can't test ride at -30 F, the safest route is to degrease the freewheel or freehub. See your favorite bike shop or call us for details.