Transcontinental Race No. 6 - TCR6 - #TCRN06 - 2018

From seeing your comments in the Dynamo thread sounds like you know a thing or two about how to set these up. You based in a London shop? If so, want to wire it up, for me?

USB multi-charger

This kind of thing is what you want - with plenty of power. The one I've got isn't available any more but this one is almost 10A so will charge things quickly while you sleep

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet-PowerZone-Universal-Charging-Technology/dp/B01K0LN8Q6/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1520019818&sr=8-13&keywords=usb+charger+4+port+international

Looks like triple 2 is the new versions. They say it’s brighter.

Triple isn’t for sale anymore.

sending you a PM

Well, smarty pants, I'm still an Australian so, in fact, the average IQ remained exactly the same.

#hippyissmarterthanyou #hippyisalwaysright #smrtsmrtiamsosmart

#drnknnn

Cheers. That was my guess.

Triple is still available new on eBay for some German sellers for ~100

Ahhh..as much as I'd be honoured to, I'm not in the country anymore unfortunately. They're a faff, but quite linear to fit.
Things I can say I've learnt the hard way. Electrical tape ALL the contacts. Buy a couple of short length of USB cable at the end of the one you'll be using and seal those from the elements.
Try install the whole mechanism so it rotates with the steering as much as possible as opposed to kinking the cables. They are solid, but not solid enough for constant hair pin ascent and descents.
If you're using TT bars, I shoved the capacitor inside one of those and used a plug to seal it.
Aluminium acts like a heatsink and keeps it hidden.
Hide the USB terminal under something, I hid the two I installed under the elbow pads. Close enough for use, extra cover from elements if required.
Wiring from Igaro is a much lighter gauge to the Supernova ones, try a wrap them tight.
Aside from that, kinda dependent on the bike you're using, the bags you're using and the size of the frame really. Smaller bikes are a pain in the anus to wire up.
Two cents from experience so far. Pretty sure this thread/dynamo can offer significantly better advice.

didn't have the patience to wait to see if I was actually going to get a place or not

Write a nice, short note to the company and explain.

All you have to lose is 5 mins and some electrons. Won't even waste a stamp.

You might not get anything but the TCR discount is all about PR so I'd say your chances of getting it retrospectively aren't bad.

5% is perhaps a bit of an overestimate probably but I was trying to figure out which variables had changed and the only two were dynamo and experience.

Dynamo savings:

Max 30 minutes per day not dawdling at breakfast/lunch trying to get ever on full juice.

45-60 minute saving for every other day when I decided to go through the night on the ‘going to sleep and waking up process’. However you can’t weight this factor as entirely down to the dynamo and this technique is easily possible with batteries.

Confidence, whilst it’ll be difficult to measure but it’s reassuring to know that I’ll never run out of battery. Also as @skinny said using a good dynamo light is brilliant, in my opinion, for night riding. Although, using a powerful front light is difficult to quantify it could potentially save you from hitting a pothole at night, buckling your front wheel and losing a whole pile of time.

Then I remembered another variable - for some reason my phone contract changed and suddenly worked in the EU. This could have been savings of up to 30 minutes per day.

Thanks for all this. I think I'm going to go without a dynamo and play battery roulette. I'm on a bit of a budget and will probably try and get a proper sleep each night as I know from experience I tend to fall to pieces after sleeping in a bush, so charging becomes pretty viable.

Then I remembered another variable - for some reason my phone contract changed and suddenly worked in the EU. This could have been savings of up to 30 minutes per day.

All hail the mighty Three - mine worked in the US charge free as well.

Which battery packs do you use, out of interest? I'm a serial Anker man.

Some very sound advice here. I'll think based on what you say above and what hippy previously said, I'll do it myself. Thanks once again!

On the 1058

Three failed me in the US. Failed me in Europe too. They are cheap but if it doesn't work...

isn't that your modus operandi for all the bicycle stuff? To break all the things?

Yeah, I guess it lived up to my standards by not living up to my standards.

I'm not sure anything would work in the mountains in the US (maybe AT&T?). I'd often see networks but none I could connect to. The fail during TCR4 was feckin' annoying - as it's a changeable route, TCR is ridden better with internet access.

Gooch updates?

Well, my Garmin had died so I was navigating with phone. Trying to find hotels and stuff.

What are you using this year? Double redundancy? How do you program your Garmin for the amount of way points required?

I’ve used Anker a lot because they’re extremely good value. However, I question their longevity - I’m now a proud owner of four, now defunct, ones. After a while they seem to not charge anymore and I’ve tried a variety of cables and plugs but nothing seems to get them going again.

I've always carried 3 separate GPS units. Not needed the third, but there will come a time...

You mean waypoints or coursepoints?

Mine are all fine, you sure you're not doing something silly with them like using them on crazy high current draw stuff or getting them wet or something?

Then I remembered another variable - for some reason my phone contract changed and suddenly worked in the EU. This could have been savings of up to 30 minutes per day.

I think that's last year's new EU regulations on mobile communications.