Our equipment and how it performed |
The Bikes
| Rowena's bike |
| The bikes fully loaded |
Frames etc
We don't know much about bike frames. The only things that gave us any grief were:- Lack of sufficient clearance between the tyre and the mudguards. This meant the wheels just about siezed when we went through any mud.
- Mudguards - ours were SKS, which are supposed to be quite good, but they just weren't up to the job, i.e. too insubstantial, always getting bent out of shape. A real pain.
Wheels
Wheels are the weakest part of a bike, and 26" wheels are generally thought to be stronger than 28" (or 700c) wheels. And, whereas you have a good chance of finding some sort of replacement 26" wheel in the wilds of Central Asia, you'd have no chance of finding a 28" wheel.As our bikes have 28" wheels, we wanted to make sure they were as strong as possible before we left. So we got four new wheels built using Sun Ryhno rims (heavy, but very strong) and plain gauge spokes.
These performed very well. We had no spokes break, no rim cracking and the wheels stayed true despite getting a real hammering. The only point of concern were the wear indicators on the rims. These are little dimples on the braking surface of the rim. When these dimples disappear due to wear, its supposed to be time to replace the rims. We were a bit alarmed when our dimples had dissappeared by the time we reached Austria (only 2000km). However. after taking advice, we pressed on regardless and there was no problem. It is probably a bit over caution due to litigation in the US.
We did meet 3 cyclists in Central Asia who had experienced rim cracking. They were all using Mavic rims. Make of that what you will.
Tyres
We used ordinary Schwalbe Marathons in Europe, then swapped to XRs on the rear and Plus on the front, for Central Asia. We had half a dozen punctures in Europe and one an XR in Central Asia. By the way, I reckon it was the cycle tracks in Europe that caused our punctures. If you are on cycle tracks you are for ever banging over the lips of kerbs, just where all the bits of glass and other crap collects. Unloaded you can get away with it, but fully loaded it knackers your tyres. End of rant.Racks
The next weakest things after the wheels are the racks. We fitted Tubus racks front and back, "Cargos" on the rear and "Duo Lowriders" on the front. We had no problems.Panniers
In common with just about every cyclist we met, we used Ortlieb panniers. These were great, very waterproof and easy to get on and off the bikes. The only niggles were:- On the rough stuff, the front panniers would regularly come off the rack at the bottom. The panniers themselves never came off altogether, but it was annoying. Using a pipe clip to prevent the pannier moving backwards and forwards on the rack almost eliminated the problem,
- The fabric on the bottom of the front panniers wore through to holes.
Stands
Some touring cyclists question whether prop stands are worth their weight - after all you can alway find something to prob the bike against. This was the first time we'd used them and as far as we are concerned they are definitely worth it. Just so convenient. And they save damage to your panniers too. We fitted a couple of Hebie 611 rear axle stands. They were very good. Tim's broke in Bulgaria, but that was more down to him carrying way too much stuff than the stand itself. Rowena's was fine.Spares
What we took
| Inner tubes x 3 | Pump washers x 4 |
| Puncture repair kit | Spokes 6 of each size |
| Brake blocks (4 pairs) | V brake hangars x 2 |
| Brake cable x1 | Gear cable x 1 |
| Chain x 2 | Bottom bracket (yes, it's true,we did lug a bottom barcket around with us) |
| Front axle x 1 | Rear axle x 1 |
| Pannier hangars x 4 | Pannier patches |
| Assorted nuts and bolts | Steel wire for running repairs |
| Cable ties (lots) | Duck tape |
| Assorted pipe clips | Steel wire for running repairs |
| Tyres x 2 (one of these is going back through Tajikistan with Ivan, a Czech cyclist) | Ball bearings | Deraileur jockey wheels x 2 (one of these is going to Tibet with an American) |
What we used
Most of the puncture patches, the inner tubes (bought a new one in Germany), all the brake blocks, a pump washer, just about all the cable ties, all the duck tape, some of the wire -to repair a worn through cable outer (the cable outer we had brought wasn't long enough), both chains (when we had decided we weren't going to go to Tibet we replaced the chains in Istanbul, then threw away the old ones to save weight).Tools
| Cone spanners | Set of allen keys |
| Spoke key | Chain splitter |
| Bottom bracket removal tool | Crank puller |
| Pliers | Shimano freewheel remover (this is on its way to New Zealand with Leo, a Danish cyclist, whose need was greater than ours.) |
| 10mm Spanner | File |
| Chain whip | Screwdrivers |
| Adjustable spanner | Tyre levers |
| Headset spanner |
We couldn't afford to invest in light weight tools and all the above was really quite heavy. Next time we'll definitely be going lightweight.
Clothing
These were the main items of clothing we took:| Goretex Jackets Helly Hansen (Rowena) and Sprayway(Tim) |
Tim's Sprayway was fine. Waterproof and nice and light. Conversly Rowena's Helly Hansen was too heavy and not very waterproof. | |
| Waterproof overtrousers Alrtura Cascade and Polaris Storm |
Excellent. Worth their weight in gold. These were essential for the wet weather in Europe and for staying warm in icy winds on the Pamir Plateau. | |
| Cold weather cycling tights Altura winter cruisers. |
Very warm, quick drying and comfortable. The material went bobbly quite quickly though. | |
| Warm weather cycling tights Altura summer cruisers. |
Fine | |
| Cold weather gloves Lowe Alpine and Mountain Equipmemt |
Very warm and reasonably waterproof. However, the inners were not well attached, so they could be difficult to get on in wet weather. | |
| Neoprene gloves (Tim) |
OK in the dry, absolutely useless in the wet. Trapped a layer of cold water next to my skin, then allowed the wind chill to super cool it. Ditched in Germany | |
| Silk gloves (inners) |
Never used them | |
| Fleece hats |
Absolutely critical bits of kit. Ours were by Peter Storm and were very warm. | |
| Mid Layer Fleece Tim had an ancient Mountain Equipment polartec smock and Rowena a new Berghaus |
Both of these were excellent, warm and windproof. We practically lived in them | |
| Thick Fleece Patagonia (Tim), Peter Storm (Rowena) |
These took up alot of room, were quite heavy and we hardly wore them. Another thin fleece or soft shell each would have been much more useful. | |
| Thermal underwear Northcape. |
We wore these alot at night and a few times during the day in the Pamirs | |
| Silk underwear (long jons and vest) |
Tim wore his quite alot, liked the feel of them, Rowena didn't like the feel so much. | |
| Hi-Vis, Day-Glo yellow safety vests About £4 each from local builders' merchant |
Essential safety equipment for for Europe. In the Balkans the police wear the same vests, so motorists are bit more careful around you. |
Camping Gear
| Tent 16 year old Wild Country Quaser |
After 16 years of great service our tent finally wore out on this trip, All the zips failed, the tape came off most of the seams, the coating on the ground sheet wore off and we broke a pole at a ferule (fixed with a cable tie). That said, it stayed up in howling gales and only leaked a little bit in the down pours. Our next tent will have twin porches, one for cooking and one for gear. | |
| Additional ground sheet £6 off Enay |
Excellent. Essential bit of kit | |
| Sleeping Matts 11mm karrimat style off Ebay |
These weren't up to the job for winter in Europe where the ground was very cold. Next time I think we'll try Thermarest. | |
| Sleeping Bags 4 Season Mountain Hardwear goose down. |
Excellent | |
| Silk sleeping bag inner £12 off Ebay |
This was the first time we'd used silk liners and they were a good investment. They made the sleeping bags that bit warmer and saved them getting dirty. Very quick drying | |
| Waterproof stuff sacks for sleeping bags Ortlieb |
Excellent. Absolutely essential kit. Kept the sleeping bags bone dry in the very worst of weather. | |
| Multi-fuel stove MSR Dragonfly |
Worked impeccably in Europe. Didn't like the altitude and dirty petrol in Central Asia at all. It never completely let us down, but it was very temperamental and took an age to heat anything. The Primus stoves other cyclists had seemed to cope better. | |
| Waterfilter Katadyn Pocket Filter |
Very good. No problems at all. | |
| Collapsible bucket £6 off the internet |
Absolutely essential for washing, washing clothes, storing water, making filtering easier... a 1000 and one uses. | Nalgene bottles 3 x 1 litre |
Previously, we'd thought Nalgene bottles a bit overpriced. But they proved their worth on this trip. Poly bags in Central Asia are sh*te, so you need something bomb proof to store things like sugar, coffee and milk powder. They also meant we could carry yoghurt and stewed fruit, without fear of them leaking in our panniers. |
| Small polythene bottles |
We didn't have enough of these, They are dead useful for carrying stuff like cooking oil, condensed milk, jam etc, without risk of them leaking. |
Introduction |
France/Belgium |
Luxembourg | Germany | Austria | Hungary |
| Serbia | Bulgaria | Turkey | Tajikistan | Kyrgyzstan | Equipment |
| © Copyright Tim Barnes 2006 |