PreferTheCar

Hello 41!

My family and I are off to the north shore of Ohau in late January. Though the vacation is not based on it being a cycling vacation, my road bike is coming with me and there will be some rides.

A few questions that maybe someone can answer:

1. Any advice on any particular roads/routes? (yes please to climbing) I will have a Garmin 810 on hand.

2. Gearing? My bike runs a 50/34 compact with 11-28 cassette. Will this be enough? If not, will I need a 11-32 cassette? Will it fit a 5700 105 Short cage derailleur?

3. Bike shipping. I have gotten myself a cardboard bike box from my LBS. Any tips or packing list ideas?

What else am I missing here?

My fitness is pretty good at the moment as I have been riding 3-4 times a week for a minimum of 1 hr per ride, up to 3.5 hr rides. Usually average 31-32km/h. My local terrain is fairly flat, but I've done some decent climbs before and enjoyed the suffering.

Thanks for your help!

cderalow

Hawaii Bicycling League

Compact with 11-28 should be sufficient.

On Oahu, I'd recommend hitting up the following restaurants:

Hy's Steakhouse
Imanas Tei
Boots & Kimos

google them. Go. enjoy

I'll be out there next July for the 5th or 6th time since 2007.

It's a beautiful place, though we haven't spent much time on the North shore. most of our time has been south shore.

Lazyass

I lived next to Ehukai beach park, about 200 meters east of Pipeline on Sunset beach. You'll be looking at riding on Kam Highway. Nice climb from Haleiwa to Schofield but I personally recommend you take a mountain bike and hit the trails. If you look at Kam highway in google streetview you may understand why. Not the safest road in the world, even with the bike lane. Rent a MTB and ride up to Kuaokala.

Oh, and visit Raging Isle bike shop. I used to just about live there.

Homebrew01

Oahu didn't seem very road bike friendly to me. I was going to rent a bike, but didn't bother. Good snorkeling though.

Hypno Toad

Here is another thread on the subject - https://www.bikeforums.net/hawaii-pac...ng-hawaii.html

We were at the Turtle Bay resort last month, great place, great location. As noted in the linked thread, I never left the resort with bikes - only fat bikes on the grounds and that was a blast.

Road riding on the North Shore seemed OK, narrow roads, few bike lanes. Traffic can be heavy on the weekend (surfers). Drivers seem to be respectful of bikers, most bikers I saw were on beach cruisers, only a couple roadies. Also noted in the link above, WINDS**! The week of Thanksgiving the winds were brutal; some of the exposed sections for road would be hard to handle that wind on a bike. It looked like you could find climbs easily, turn inland on any road off the highway, it's all up!

Based on my riding experience*, I'd be happy to ride Kamehameha Hwy; my wife would not be happy on that road.

* I ride 5,000 miles a year, most of it commuting on roads including 4-lane county roads with no shoulder and traffic speeds at and above 40 mph.

** Check this out - https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...Type=graphical

merlinextraligh

Turtle Bay is great.

+1 on skip the road bike. There are better things to do.


If you had time Maui is much nicer for cycling

profjmb

Ohau or Oahu?
Ohau (skifield) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

D1andonlyDman

Big Island is also great for biking. As for Oahu I would probably avoid Honolulu, but the north shore is probably not too bad - but for the narrowness of the main road.

GhostSS

I've never heard of the first 2, but I'd avoid Imanas Tei, while their food is nothing to complain about (Japanese Izakaya style fair, basically bar/street food), it's all bout 5 times as expensive as it should be. It's the only place I've been to in Hawaii that dares charge $17 for a pitcher of Kirin Ichiban, it's an embarrassment.

Yup, There isn't much of a margin on the road and it's be a bad idea to take primary position on a road with only one lane. Don't be a jackass. Plus there's sand everywhere, I'd recommend a touring tire rather than skinnies or slicks.

Depends on which part of the Island you go to, the geography and population densities are extremely diverse. Kalanianaole Hwy. on up towards Haunama Bay and beyond is a pretty popular route for local cyclists. And yes There's great snorkling on the North Shore.
Just remember on the north shore there's LOTS of beaches, don't stop at the first one you see, that's what all the tourists do. Keep going. The first couple beaches that become visible from the road are horrible beaches, there's almost no parking, and it's packed to the gills with idiots taking pictures and throwing garbage everywhere.



Honolulu isn't bad as long as your accustomed to city riding. Lots of local cyclists (both in kit and road bikes and commuters) ride in the Honolulu/Waikiki area. In fact it's faster by bike than by car because of tourist traffic.

Anyways hope you have fun. I'd offer to go biking with yah, but my front derailluer is busted (from hamfisting and stripping a bolt), so I can't shift to the small ring, and my rear cassette is 13-23, not exactly ideal for the grades there.

EDIT**

Also note, it's the rainy season during the winter. It's going to rain and the winds are higher than normal. For some reason people book vacations here during the winter and are surprised when it rains for a whole week......

f4rrest

I stayed in Waikiki, rented an Allez from The Bike Shop, got plenty of quality climbing on Tantalus mountain with basically no traffic.

Also rode around south of island via kam highway to waimanalo beach. There was traffic, but ok if you normally commute and use a mirror.

Wanted to return to do it again, but this time ride completely around. However, you can't ride through the most western tip, and taking the alternate route through the center seems dangerous due to narrow shoulder and high speeds, at least on YouTube.

cderalow

While I don't disagree their beer pricing is outrageous. Their food pricing is on par with what I'm accustomed to in my regular travels (San Fran, NYC, Boston, DC & Vegas)

Hy's is technically a chain, but they're a great steakhouse

and Boot's & Kimos is a great breakfast place

I actually found it faster to get to downtown Honolulu from Ko'Olina by bike rather than car. Traffic in/around Honolulu is terrible.

Lazyass

I'm telling you, rent a MTB and ride this:

17.13 mi Mountain Bike on Jul 29, 2012 12:36 PM in Waialua, HI, United States | MapMyRide

It's 100X cooler than any road cycling you'll do on that island. The first leg going up is paved and it's an ass kicker.

GhostSS

I don't do much mountain biking, but while hiking I've seen some guys do pretty intense single track riding around the trails.

scott967

Well, you can, but kind of have to pick your way.

Starts out not so bad, but then gets rocky and sandy



They put up a fence to keep dogs/rats/etc away from nesting shorebirds



In the deep sand you get to the point and light



You have to carry across an area where the old road (really, railroad bed) has washed out, eventually get back to civilization



on the leeward coast. Unfortunately, once you get to Waianae there is heavy traffic back into town, and now that they built up Kapolei, that area kind of sucks IMHO.

You can take a look at Strava global heat map to get an idea where people are riding (doesn't break out road from mtb though).

scott s.
.

scott967

That is a good ride up to the old Nike site and Peacock Flats. You could maybe come down the other side through the Air Force tracking range, though I think you are supposed to get a pass, at least to go up, don't know what they would say if you came down without one.

scott s.
.

f4rrest

@scott967, thanks for posting the photos. I'm going to ride it next time I'm out there. Had to cancel this summer due to the hurricanes.

loimpact

Did Maui and Oahu just a week before the hurricanes. My heart aches to be back. (vacations usually do that)

Anyway, I agree with the other poster......

Maui - road bike

Oahu - mountain bike

Though I'm sure you can find decent road biking on Oahu, it'd probably be more work than it's worth. Plus, I was a snorkeling fool on both islands!!

Hanauma Bay if you get tired of Turtle Bay but it'll be quite a trek.

Ah how I miss it. (sigh)

BillClinton

Go spear fishing at eat wherever Triple D (Food Network) has been at.

BillClinton

Go spear fishing and eat wherever Triple D (Food Network) has been at.