Touring Equipment

3 bottles, Ed?

2 actually, the bottom one carry the necessary tools, the bottled water is useful for a long ride without towns between em.

One's for liquid MDMA.

Ed you sound disappointed in the Moulton (forgive me if I'm wrong) was it just the hill climbs that suffered on that bike? Maybe you just needed to practice hills more, or was it the fact you were riding with someone who had 700c wheels?

I have had a 700c road bike, even when laden it felt fine to climb, as well as the 26" wheel touring bicycle that handle ascent even better with aplomb (not fast but fairly relaxing).

The Moulton exceed in everything but hill, which is largely due to the wheel methinks, after a pedal stroke, the wheel slowed down immediately more than a larger diameter one, so I really need to concentrate on keeping a smooth cadence, it's either that or the granny ring isn't exactly suitable for a 20" wheel.

Will experiment with a 11-28t and see if riding in the middle ring helped (originally 11-23t)

I had my bike fully loaded today with photo equipment (26" wheels). There's no difference in handling whatsoever and hill climbs are not a problem as long as I do them in drops.

Halfrauds 30 quid panniers are terrible (like you'd expect), all the water resistance of a towel in a pond and the hooks tear odd them even when only loaded with about 2kg ffs.
Avoid, even 'bag for life' bags are better.

Apart from that. Just finished a modest 200 mile 4x day tour on a steel racing bike and it did fine. Though I was constantly worried about killing my new wheels, every hole in the road was avoided at all cost, oh and a15 quid cheapie bb (un52?) Went from new to fucked in just 3 days, buy quality or don't bother is what I can take from that.

It looks like you get what you paid for with panniers.

200 miles in 4 days sound bliss, that's perfect for enjoying the ride.

I just finished my framebag triple set today for my road bike.
Partial frame bag, front gas tank, and tall rear gas tank.
Just need to make a saddlebag now.
Dunwich will be their maiden voyage! :]

Pictures please, when you're ready!

Maybe take some snaps tomorrow.
All part of my plan to try and force myself to take less crap with me....hence they're all pretty streamlined in the girth department. :]

So, basically you're just filling the gaps in the frame?

Pretty much but without losing water bottles this time.

Just putting them where there is space that isn't needed whilst riding.

What road bike do you currently have?

I'll be taking the Moulton - perfect on the flat, and already set the light for the DD.

It's just an Aluminium Merida I got from my folks shop. 2O1O model, full ultegra.
Not very 'me' looks wise though...white rims, mostly white frame etc.
Seems to ride really nicely though, and it's getting a paint job soon anyway. :]

What do you mean by 'set the light' ?

oh got those bar extensor and set it just under the handlebar bag so it'll create shadow of the lump on the road - easier to see potholes.

Merida huh, wouldn't have though you'd gone for them, they don't look like something decent, but then that's just internet snobbery talk.

Merida huh, wouldn't have though you'd gone for them, they don't look like something decent, but then that's just internet snobbery talk.

As far as I'm aware Merida are huge and make bikes for loads of other companies too?
They've had many successful MTB riders on their team over the years.
I wouldn't have picked one if i had cash burning a hole in my pocket, but it was free so what ya gonna do eh? ;]
To be honest it rides as well as the last 2 carbon road bikes I've had and apart from the paint and pretty shit rims I'm very pleasantly surprised with it.
It's the top of their aluminium range.

Once the paint is sorted and I get some new wheels I'll be plenty happy with it. :]

edit...and get rid of the shit rubino's it came with! :]
I already swapped to black bar tape, a black fizik saddle, and de-stickered the rims. New tyres are on the way!

Should make a nice base for my own 'ultralight tourer'. ;]

On the topic of ultralight touring...I've convinced myself i need the new Terranova Laser ultra 1 tent. :]

Now THAT is tent porn! New fabric, ridiculous weight for a double skin tent....mmmmm

Now if only I had £65O to spare! :]

Heh, I went for the 25 quid tent Scott, it was incredibly light and small, will see what I can do about modifying that rent (weight 900g).

Just need a slightly larger racktop bag.

The new terranova can be pitched as single skin too and goes down to something like 395g like that.
NUTS!

Saw the specification, 581g altogether.

That's already light enough as it is, need £650 burning in my pocket though.

As far as I'm aware Merida are huge and make bikes for loads of other companies too?

They're huge.
Never noticed anything high-end by them untill I moved to scandinavia, were they are very popular and used by some of the bigger road and MTB teams (obviously that a sponsership thing. But it still shows size and intent).

Do they use a different branding for the highend stuff in the UK?

Oh they're the same branding, they tend to be sold by independent bicycle shop rather than major one, which may explain why not many people notice them and went for your typical Specialized and Fuji.

Sold in big name sports/cycle shops up here. But possibly more importantly, there is always one always present in magazine shoot-outs.

Make sense, kinda like that French MTB company whose name escape me, was it B3? I remember it got a 3 and a B in it.

When I rode to the Lake District, travelling light was important and I don't want to ride on Crocs as recommended by the ultralight cyclotourist (especially with my love of knee friendly clipless pedals).

Flip flop were a great alternative, but it's not exactly great for a day off, so I brought a Mush Frio Canvas;

A pair weight 355g (size 10), a smug more than a Croc (285g), but was pretty comfortable and can be pancaked to the thickness of a flip flop.

The latter make a huge difference in trying to carry everything on just a small racktop bag (currently ordering a Carradice Super C racktop bag bigger than the cheap Carradice one I have).