After reading the recent thread about great rides - I think I might want to do a rail trail ride for a week vacation. Since I'm ordinarily a roadie (Serotta Ti) , it looks like I will need a different bicycle.

What kind of bicycle will I need for this kind of riding - Cross, Hybrid, Mountain? What would be the minimum size for tire width? Any comments/suggestions/advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

The bike will depend on the surface of the rail trail. Trails in my area are paved and a road bike is fine. Other trails may have crushed limestone surfaces and would require a wider tire.

I've done portions of the Katy Trail, Tow Path Canal in the Cuyahoga Valley and Allegheny Passage on a hybrid. These trails were mainly crushed limestone.

If you desire to do a variety of rail trails, a hardtail MTB configured for comfortable upright riding with tires that are just a little more agressive than MTB slicks isn't a bad way to start. Suspension forks are optional depending on conditions on the trails that you ride. Most trails are smooth limestone surface but many have sections of heavy traprock and gravel with the occasional washout area. Rail trails are usually limited to under 3% grade so gearing can be more in the touring bike area. A 26/36/48 crankset ala many hybreds is usually fine.

You may try the Buffalo to Albany ride which goes along the old Erie canal/Mohawk river. I believe this ride can be easily done on a road bike and there is a sponsored trip every summer that makes all the arrangements. Lots of history along the way. You will end up just south of the birthplace of your Serotta - so go visit the factory while you are there. It takes about a week.

I ride rail trails almost exclusively.

I agree with Bev that if it is paved then a road bike is fine.

If it is mainly smooth dirt, and some that started out with a fine gravel have been worn down to a smooth dirt, then a road bike is still quite usable. Although having a 28mm-32mm tire does help smooth the ride a bit. A rigid fork hybrid also works well.

If it is fine gravel, then I find a 32mm tire on a bike (road or hybrid) that has a carbon fork is still okay. I've seen some still using thin tire road bikes on these surfaces, so that is still doable, but I don't find it comfortable. For example, I've ridden a couple of flat bar hybrids that had 32mm tires, carbon forks and carbon seat stays on graveled paths and it was an acceptable ride.

The popular choice on graveled paths is a hybrid or comfort bike with suspension. You don't need a heavy duty suspension as there is no need for a fork that can absorb a major impact. My standard rail trail bike is a Trek 7600 hybrid with suspension fork, suspension seat post and 38mm tires. The ride is very smooth and comfortable. With the suspension, you could get by on thinner tires, like down to 28mm.

A lot of people do use mountain bikes too and they are fine. You really don't need tires that wide or suspensions that heavy duty or gearing that low, but they ride fine.

I agree with Tom completely (and I hardly ever agree with anyone). My touring bike has 38mm tires and it is good for almost all rail trails and canal towpaths. There are a few rail trails that have not been properly surfaced and might require a MTB, but not the popular ones.

I ride the Tammany Trace. The whole thing is paved, but a bridge is out near the east end, and the easiest way around is riding a gravel shoulder, unless you're into riding narrow, fast moving 2-lane highways. I'd take a road bike and avoid the area where the bridge is out, or take a cross bike/hybrid and ride around it.

There's great dining, a really nice brewpub, a bed and breakfast, a great lakefront area, a small kid's waterpark, a playground, and lots of parking. The rangers are super friendly. I go as often as I can. Most of the time, I'm riding with a 700x23c. My half century was done on 26x1.95 knobbies, which made short work of the gravel.

Thanks for all of the thoughtful responses.

I ride rail trail that is mainly crushed limestone. I use a hybrid with 700X38 tires and a mid 80's touring frame with 27X1 1/4 street tires. I have seen pure road bikes with 23's and no problems. I guess it is ride what you brung as they say.

I was going to ask what size tires would be suitable for riding on gravel and wood chip trails- but it seems every different size is okay with some one here.

I'm planning a week long rails-to-trails ride in Canada next summer. My road bike has 700x28 and I think I need to buy a hybrid. I've only been riding the road bike for about 6 months, but 28s seem too skinny for anything but paved road - at least for me.

This past summer four of us did a 4 day trip on Le P'tit Train Du Nord in Quebec. We all used are road bikes, me on my Seven Alaris Ti. We all used 25mm tires. The 125 mile long trail was about 1/3 paved and the rest hard packed sand and gravel. We had no problems (other than slower going) on the hard pack, not even in the deluge we got caught in on our second day of riding.

I've been riding crushed stone rail trails and gravel roads with a hybrid and 700x40 tires. I think it would be ok with narrower tires, but wouldn't like to go much narrower than 38s.

When I lived in a area that had rail-trails, I only had a mtn.bike, so that is what I would use, and I'd switch from knobbies to something a bit smoother rolling. You could use a hybrid, but I would say that the wider the tires the better. A higher volume, lower pressure tire will soak up more of the trail if limestone or dirt, or even if the trail is just a little rutty.

+1. I've tried cyclocross bikes and tires on limestone trails and they seem to get down into the rock dust and drag. The high volumn tires seem to get up on top and ride well.

Around DC/Baltimore we have a mix of trails. W&OD, Capital Crescent, Rock Creek and Mount Vernon are paved. Georgetown Branch, C&O and North Central are gravel. Since I usually ride a combination of road, paved trail, gravel and off-road, a hybrid works best for me. 700x38 Bontrager Invert K's - the kevlar works well for riding city streets as well as gravel.

I use my LWB bent for everything. My wife uses a hybrid for rails to trails unless it is paved. If I could ride an upright without resulting pain I would use a hybrid.

If it is hard pack- then any tyre will work. I have taken the Giant offroad with 700 26 tyres fitted and although I made certain that I took the downhills slowly- I did not have a problem with grip on the hardpacked soil- even though there was some loose scree on it. However- If that gravel or top surface is loose- Or wet- then a narrow tyre will dig into the Trail and could cause a steering problem. Then it is a matter of the wider the better.

I ride a mix of roads and MUPS in the DC area. I recently got a Specialized Tricross Comp as a compromise to improve the road performance while allowing me to stay on the trails with the same bike. It has 700X32 tires. My old bike was a beater hybrid.

I bike on R to T's exclusively and daily.
OH, IL, FL, MN have paved trails. (There may be paved trails in other states but I have not been there).
On these paved trails you can go with 25-28 mm tires but there is much debris at this time of the year and some of the trails have significant irregularities in them which are hard on the wheels. Therefore 28 mm with 100 PSI is better than 23 with 120 PSI.
WI has mostly unpaved trails and there is a wide difference in surface quality. Some trails are almost as good as blacktop and others have sandy patches which are difficult even on 30 mm tires. A heavy sustained rain will make anything less than 30 mm unpleasant. November and March/April biking is a challenge. I use a full suspension Hybrid bike on these trails with at least 30 mm 80 PSI tires.