Riding a bike in waders

[Andrwhite610]

I’ve been pondering getting a used mountain bike, outfitting it to hold my fly rod/gear and hitting some of the miles of railroad trail along some SE PA rivers.

I’m sure some of you do this or have tried. Is riding a mountain bike in waders and studded wading boots a nightmare or doable?

In my mind I’d put a basket on the rear of the bike for my wading packs. For the rod I’d have it rigged and in two pieces Velcro strapped to the frame of the bike.

Happy to open this up to a discussion on bike rigging but the main question is how comfortable is riding in wading attire?

 

[Gibbon]

I have also considered the bike route. I was planning on packing the waders for the ride. I think riding a bike with waders on would reduce there life expectancy considerably.

 

[Swattie87]

I have an old bike that I’ve outfitted similarly. TBH I don’t use it near as much as I thought I would though. But that’s on me, and where I’m choosing to fish. There are certainly plenty of opportunities for this sort of thing all over PA.

I never found it too difficult to bike in waders and boots. At least not on nice groomed rail trail type things where you’re just cruising. If you’re talking about actual mountain bike trail riding, that would likely be different. If you’re putting a basket on the back, you can likely get your waders and boots into that also, and not have to ride in them (if you so choose). I agree with the above that my biggest concern would be decreased wader life expectancy (seam wear) if you’re doing this a lot. If you have more than one pair of waders, use the beaters for this.

Try a shorter ride first, see how it goes, adjust setup/approach from there.