Let’s talk bikes…

I’m one for spending a lot of time trying to work out what stuff to buy. Many reasons lie behind this. I don’t like waste, I value the experiences of others (I found CyclingAbout’s guides very helpful) and I am scared of messing up…to name a few. I spent a lot of time trying to work out what kit and—crucially—what bikes to hang the kit off we should get for this tour. People will rightly say that you can ride around the world on whatever bike you can get your hands on, but I also read a few times from experienced tourers that getting the best you can afford for a long trip is a bonus.

When choosing bikes to ride endlessly with lots of luggage, I’d contend that the following aspects are essential:

• Ride comfort
• Low gearing
• Suitability for intended terrain
• Reliability

Other things we considered include:

• Field serviceability
• Style of set up
• Transportability
• Flexibility

Like all bikes, these bikes are a compromise. In fact, as All Terrain Bikes (ATBs) our bikes are very much ‘master of none’. We’ll not be breaking any records on mountain road descents or taking on any really rough singletrack, but we hope to be able to tackle most situations, to open up route options that we couldn’t have considered on our old (carbon gravel) bikes. We’re particularly keen to use off-road routes where possible to spend as little time as we can in the presence of motor vehicles. In fact, if all goes to plan, we’ll sometimes be riding on actual ‘roads’ where we will still benefit from many of our decisions regarding ruggedness and comfort.

We decided to have our bikes fitted and custom built. Clearly that’s a huge luxury but given the extent to which we committed to this change of life, we decided to treat ourselves where the most important tool of our trip was concerned. Not least because our friends run a fantastic cooperative bike shop, with a small but perfectly formed bike making arm, and we’re always keen to support such endeavours.

It's fair to say the spec got a bit out of hand. In fact, it continues to do so, as we’ve had our bikes for getting on for three years now (and have been on tour for ten months) and have tweaked things variously along the way.

Here are some of the choices we made (not an exhaustive list of all the components):

• Frame material: Reynolds 853 steel
• Drivetrain: Rohloff Speedhub with Gates Carbon belt drive
• Wheels: Rival 30 rims - 27.5”+ w/ Surly Extraterrestrial 2.5” tyres (tubeless)
• Brakes: Shimano XT four piston hydraulic w/ 203mm (front) and 180mm (rear) rotors
• Electrics: SON28 Dynamo hub w/ Edelux II lights + Igaro S1 pro for USB charging
• Suspension: Redshift Shockstop seatpin and Vecnum freeQENCE Handlebar stem
• Handlebars: Denham Bars (Beck) | Velo Orange Crazy Bars (Sam)
• Saddles: SMP Avant (Beck) | Gilles Berthoud Aspen (Sam)
• Mudguards: SimWorks x Honjo Flat 80
• Other:
  • Phil Wood square taper bottom bracket in Bushnell eccentric BB
  • Integrated rear pannier rack w/ custom made rack hardware (front & rear)
  • S&S couplings with inline hydraulic splitter for rear brake
  • 3 bottle cages (two oversized)
  • For luggage we currently mostly use a full four Ortlieb pannier set up (Beck opted for Tailfin Minis at the front and Sam also has the 31l RatPack top bag) and an Ortlieb handlebar bag + we both have two Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbags
  • Kickstand(s) - Sam has two! (front & rear)
  • Bike names in copper letters on top tube ;)

Tweaks and changes

I thought I’d also mention some of the changes we have made and explain why. We replaced our mudguards a while back, with the wider, flatter profile SimWorks x Honjo Flat 80. These have been amazing and offer plenty of clearance still with our 2.5” wide tyres. I guess mudguards are a tad unsexy but firstly, these are actually sexy mudguards and secondly, they have been so useful at keeping us and our gear clean. Being aluminium they can sometimes be a bit chatty but nothing a tweak and tighten hasn’t solve.

We added the Vecnum handlebar stems a while back after replacing the Redshift ones we had initially. I didn’t realise the Redshift stem wasn’t designed for swept bars, due to the single pivot point. Straight or drop bars work fine with the Redshift, but with its parallel linkage design the Vecnum also works fine with swept bars. Plus it’s nice to be able to adjust the travel with an Allen key, rather than extracting and replacing an elastomer. I’m not yet sure whether we’ll keep these longer term to be honest. Now we run wider tyres I am not convinced the extra moving parts are justifiable over a simple solid stem. I’ve had to return mine to Germany for new bearings once already.

Probably the best change we’ve made is to replace the Tout Terrain Plug chargers we initially spec’d with the Igaro S1 Pro chargers. Unlike the Plugs, we have found these to be unfussy and reliable, and when one did develop a fault they replaced it immediately with no questions asked - and fixed the firmware so it wouldn’t occur again! The S1s provide good charge at slow speed and great charge at moderate speed. So much so that we got rid of the solar charger and the second Nitecore power bank we were carrying. In fact, we’ve barely needed to use the sole power bank we now carry to charge stuff (although I do use it to power my audio recorder). Riding off-road with phones on ‘low power’ and only using them as required, my phone exited our three day jaunt across the Highlands still on 100% charge due to the Igaro. Wild!

I’ve also changed saddle twice. I think I may fall into the category of people who will never be super saddle happy. I’m not sure if my anatomy is more challenging than most or whether I’d actually benefit from a further bike fit but I’ve always been of the mind that if you’re not getting increasing discomfort from a saddle you’re basically doing ok. Overall, I’m comfortable enough and since swapping to the Gilles Berthoud saddle, I’ve definitely been more comfortable. So, let’s see how that progresses…

The only other change I have planned is adding some sort of daft horn to my bike, as that’s really my forte and my bike feels far too sensible without one.

Cut and shut?

You may also have noticed that the colour scheme of our bikes is odd. The front of my bike matches the colour scheme of the rear of Beck’s bike and vice versa. This is by design, rather than some cut and shut mix up in the factory. Our luggage also matches the theme. My only regret is not making it much more garish.

We’d love to know what you think. We’ve done a fair bit of research and Ben (who made our bikes) brought a lot of knowledge to the table, but maybe you think we’ve missed a trick? Or that we are taking some unnecessary risks? I guess we partly think that given the time and resources we have, whatever happens we’ll find a way to get to the next big place and sort something if we are willing to hang around long enough…but then, we have no real experience of cycling in seriously remote places. Maybe we’ll regret some of these choices further down the line…?

———— ADDENDUM ————

As you can probably gather from the mixed up tenses in this post, I started writing it yonks ago. In fact, I originally intended to post it before we set off. Now though, it’s possible to reflect on the decisions above with 10,000km under our wheels. My first reflection is how much we love our bikes. We’ve been through a lot together already and have many more adventures planned. They have served us really well, whether riding mad steep and rough off-road Norwegian climbs or endless flat Saharan tarmac. We’ve not found any of the spec choices problematic on the road as yet, though we did do a full service when passing back through the UK last October, so stuff has a good deal of life left in it yet. We carried out this service ourselves (with supervision from Ben) and this has led us to build more confidence where looking after our own bikes is concerned. In fact, we successfully bled Beck’s problematic rear brake recently, which is one of the spec choices I was less confident about.

I don’t know exactly what level of comfort is to be expected (riding multiple days of 80-140km isn’t going to be without some discomfort, right?) but overall we are comfortable. We have taken to stretching more and this has helped. As has my new saddle and, unexpectedly, a rear view mirror that a fellow tourer (thanks Tom!) gave me recently. I assumed looking over my shoulder regularly would be good for my body but a funny back pain I’ve had for about a decade has subsided a bit since using the mirror. Go figure.

I think the only fundamental issue I have with our bikes at times is their weight. Or at least their weight when fully loaded. I do sometimes look at people with lighter weight set ups with a certain amount of envy. Mainly because of what it presents in riding terms…but also in lugging it about terms. The thing is, so far at least, this hasn’t stopped us doing anything and it has led to really good durability where the bikes and luggage are concerned. Plus, if ever they need anything welding, our choice of steel will be a good one. We’ve also done a bit more unloaded riding in the meantime, which is nice, and if we do ever want to belt down some gnarly singletrack, I’d rather use a hired mountain bike anyway.

Maybe ours is a pretty untrendy approach these days but I do like the ease and compartmentalisation of packing that comes with a multiple pannier rig. Plus the Ortlieb RatPack gives us the space to scale up food and water for long off-grid sections. In fact, we have good scope to adapt to our needs in any given situation, which is useful given how undefined and long term our trip is. We’ve loved this flexibility and have so far resisted the urge to fill all space at all times.

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I think that’s it. For anyone still paying attention, let me know if I missed anything!? ;)

Oh and all non-bicycle spods can tune their brains back in now. Sorry…