Gordon Banks » Cycling

Self Support Cycle Gear List

Gordon — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:36:23 +0000

I have fine-tuned my gear list for a self-support European touring cycle trip. I usually ride with a small hydration-shaped pack, a rear rack trunk bag, a top tube frame bag and a water cage container. This configuration of bike bags allows for about 10-12 pounds of gear. This gear list includes; a 2-man tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, full bike kit clothing, two sets of non-riding clothing, some electronics, and toiletries. All items are chosen for lightness, compact-abiIity, ease of cleaning and ability to dry quickly. I carry no cooking gear. And remember, if in doubt, don’t bring it, buy it when you need it.

Cycling bags

Bontrager Trunk Deluxe (Trek Interchange System) Note: This model has built-in rain condom, but doesn’t have the drop-down panniers. I think the drop-down model is too much backend weight for a rear rack. The Interchange System makes fastening and removing your trunk bag fast.
I have switched to a Jandd Frame Bag, it fits on a 54″ frame. Primarily, it carries my non-riding shoes. I tried a Relevate Frame Bag but it was too big to fit within my 54″ frame triangle.
REI Flash Pack (without hydration system) I try to load this pack with no more than two pounds of gear, otherwise, it becomes uncomfortable for long riding days. It is nice to have a small pack along for grocery runs or day hikes.
Soma Stash Bottle (fluids or easy access to raincoat) This a good place to store the Sugoi rain jacket, very accessible.

Camping Gear

ThermaRest Neo Air Full-length Sleeping Pad. This year I upgraded from a 3/4 to full length for more comfort.
Western Mountaineering Highlite sleeping bag (1lb) good to about 35F-40F temperature range
2 man TarpTent Note: that the Cloudburst is very roomy for two people.
6 tent aluminum tent pegs

Bike Clothing

Zero gear preplanning happens

Pearlizumi X-Road Shoes (Hybrid: bikeSPD/hike) Because you might want to go hiking some days. Standard road bike shoes are worthless off your bike.
Pearlizumi Riding Shorts
Sugoi leggings
Assos Full Zipper Jersey
Catlike Riding Helmet
3 pairs bike socks
1 pair riding gloves
Pearlizumi glove liners (optional when colder)
Pearlizumi wind vest (optional when warmer)
Assos Full Zipper/Sleve Riding Jacket (optional when colder)
Sugoi Rain Jacket. I keep this in the Soma Stash bottle, for quick access. This jacket works fine as a breathable wind breaker too.

Evening Clothing

Bison Belt (nylon webbing/Fastex belt buckle) Bison does have a money belt version of this belt.
REI Adventure pants, 4 zipped pockets, dries quickly and light weight.
Pearlizumi or Nike black nylon stretch pants
one dress shirt (optional)
long sleeve nylon shirt
short sleeve nylon shirt
Nylon Baseball Hat
~~Pile Hat~~ helmut liner cap
Crocs: Santa Cruz evening shoes; lightweight, packable, comfortable
1 pair high socks
3 synthetic Patagonia underwear
MontBell Ultra-Light Down Jacket (7 oz.) Very light and compact able. Perfect for cool mornings or evenings. This is also the down for your pillow case.
small toilet bag (you can reduce weight here)
ThermaRest Pillow bag
REI small or medium backpacking towel
nylon bathing suit, quick drying as always.

Small Items

Apple iPhone; GSM unlocked, iPhone headphones, & USB Cable/Charger. I highly recommend an unlocked GSM phone, with GPS and Google Maps app.
New Trent rechargeable battery (optional) Good at campgrounds without charging plugs or for charging in a tent, and when public outlets are insecure, strangely pronged, or emit unfamiliar voltages.
North America to European plug adapter (critical) for charging iPhone or Trent battery
Prepaid SIM card of country I am riding in. ($10)
1GB Flash SSD memory stick for photo backups or carrying around digital files.
Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS camera & USB Cable iPhone4 camera is my only camera now. (optional)
Compact nylon grocery bag, there are pack versions of this too.
Lexan Spoon. This is the only kitchen/eating utensil I bring along.
waterproof Dry-Pak for camera or iPhone. (optional)
Headlight
Sunglasses with dark and rose lenses.
Folding reading glasses (optional)
mini carabiners
Passport and credit card. Take pictures of other wallet id cards (health insurance, etc.) and leave cards at home.

Bike Gear

Richey Breakaway Bike
Continential Gatorskin tires 700/25 especially for the extra weight over the rear wheel
Bontrager Rear Rack (Trek Interchange System)
Shimano A530 SPD dual platform road touring pedals. SPDs during the rides, flat platform with evening shoes.
Rear rack light, nice for dark long tunnels and heavy traffic
Knog front light. This light can be easily fastened on any tube area of your frame and is waterproof.
Lightweight bike lock. I try to never leave my bike unattended in public.
Slime Skabs patches, instead of a tire tube
tire levers
Presta valve adapter, when you can’t find a good floor pump. This can be used at most gas stations.
small bottle of chain lube
Spin Doctor mini 4 hex tool (55grams)
Blackburn AirStix pump 58 grams
pant leg straps with reflector strips to avoid pants shredding
One Clean water bottle, type that can be opened and cleaned from the bottom
Michelin Road Atlas as iPhone photos or Google Maps with GPS and data capability
iPhone Apps: SBB Mobile (Euro trains), Google Translate, FXChange (currencies), iPhone Kindle (books), Google Maps

Bike Ski Rack

Gordon — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:30:27 +0000

Ready to go carbon-free with your skiing commute? Here are some tips for attaching a ski tube to your rear bike rack. My ski carrier requires a standard rear wheel bike rack and rest of the parts are very easy to obtain from your local hardware store.
You will need to get these items from the hardware store: a two foot section of PVC 6″ pipe and 5 car hose clamps. I found the 2 foot pipe pre-cut at Lowes. Get the thinnest walled pipe grade possible and perforated if available, all in the interest of a light piece of pipe. Two of your hose clamps must fit around the 6″ pipe. Position them near the top and bottom of your pipe. The other three clamps can be much smaller and are used to connect the pipe to the rear rack stays. Position your smaller clamps according to rack design. I used two small clamps through the top big pipe clamp and one small clamp through the bottom large pipe clamp.
Lastly, you are going to need something to keep your skis tails from hitting the roadway, use a pipe cap or in my case, I made a netted cap with some nylon sling. As ski bindings come in all shapes and sizes, make sure they will fit into your pipe ski rack. In some configurations, I have seen a bike with two attached pipes. Total cost is about $20. Make sure to position your pipe on your rear rack, so your heel has adequate clearance while pedaling.
FYI: I also have a Kenda Klondike studded snow tire on my front wheel which has worked really well. No crashes yet this winter.

Euro Tour Gear List

Gordon — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:57:11 +0000

REI Flash Pack, Bontrager Trunk, Soma bottle, & Relevate Frame Bag

Note… This post and my gear list has been updated. This my bike touring gear list for a self-support bike packing trip. I am riding with a small hydration-shaped pack, a rear rack trunk bag, a top tube frame bag and a Soma water cage container. My new golden threshold for bike touring is no more than 10 pounds (for all gear less your daily bike clothing). If you bring more, your bike will ride funny and you will feel the extra weight going uphill. This gear list includes; a 2-man tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, full bike clothing, 2 sets of evening clothing, electronics, and toiletry. This is the bare minimum setup. It took much shopping and research to find the lightest outdoor and camping gear available. Thanx to Willy and Tara for making me rethink my gear and making it even lighter.

Trunk Bag and Riding/Hiking Pack

-Bontrager Trunk Deluxe (Trek Interchange System)
Note: This model has built-in rain condom.

-Relevate Touring Frame Bag (on top tube)
Note: That this Frame Bag will only fit 54 inch top tube bike frames, if your bike frame is smaller you must request a custom-made shorter bag from Relevate.

-REI Flash Pack (No Hydration bag)

Camping Gear

-ThermaRest Neo Air 3/4 Length Sleeping Pad

-Western Mountaineering Sleeping Bag

-2 man TarpTent Note: that the Cloudburst tent poles are carried in the Relevate Frame Bag

-6 tent alum tent pegs

Bike Clothing

-Pearlizumi X-Road Shoes (Hybrid: bikeSPD/hike)

-Pearlizumi Riding Shorts

-Pearlizumi leggings

-Assos Full Zipper Jersey

-Assos Full Zipper/Sleve Riding Jacket

-Cateye Riding Helmet

-2 pairs riding socks

-1 pair riding gloves

-Pearlizumi glove liners

-Pearlizumi wind vest The Sugoi Rain Jacket works fine as a wind breaker.

-Sugoi Rain Jacket

Evening Clothing

-Bison Belt (nylon webbing/Fastex belt buckle)

-REI Adventure pants

-Pearlizumi Black Nylon Stretch pants

-one dress shirt (optional)

-Mammut Jasper Zip Pull Men

-Nylon Baseball Hat

-Pile Hat

-Ecco Sandals Mens: Crocs Melbourne Slip Ons. I have switched to the Crocs Slip Ons because the pack smaller than the Ecco Scandals. They are very comfortable and my feet don’t get as wet as with scandals. Obviously, evening shoes are very personal. Women seem to like: Lenoras, but women’s shoes are a black hole, so I will stay clear of any recommendations.

-1 pair high socks

-3 synthetic Patagonia underwear

-MontBell Ultra-Light Down Jacket (7 oz.)
This the best piece of evening/morning clothing I bring!

-toliet bag

-ThermaRest Pillow bag

-REI medium Backpacking Towel

-nylon bathing suit

Small Items

-Apple iPhone 4 32GB (unlocked/jailbroken)**, iPhone headphones, & USB Cable/Charger

-Movistar SIM card

-Transcend 64GB Solid State Hard Drive (***work files)

-1GB Flash SSD memory stick

-Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS camera & USB Cable iPhone4 camera is my only camera now.

-Compact nylon grocery bag

-Lexan Spoon

-2 very small plastic bowls

-waterproof Dry-Pak for camera or iPhone.

-Headlight

-Folding reading glasses

-NA to Euro plug adapter

-mini carabiners

Bike Gear

-Richey Breakaway Cross Bike

-Bontrager Rear Rack (Trek Interchange System)

-Soma Gear Storage Rack Bottle (fluids or gear)

This a good place to store the Sugoi Rain jacket, very accessible.

-Rear Rack light

-Knog Front light

-Lightweight bike lock

-Slime Skabs patches

-Blackburn AirStix pump 58 grams

-pant leg straps/reflectors

-water bottle

**Digitally Stored on iPhone
-Books (iPhone Kindle format) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-Music
-Michelin Road Atlas (Portugal, Spain, France) as photos

***Adobe Web Studio, Mac SnowLeopard OS, Microsoft Office Suite (Mac), Client sites (24GB)

Revelate Frame Bag

Gordon — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:10:39 +0000

Tangle Frame Bag on a 54 inch frame

The hotter mountain bike rider and version

Just got my upgraded and longer bike frame bag from Revelate out of Alaska. The good news is that my Cloudburst Tarptent poles fit in this frame bag (as well as the two-man tent). I no longer need to stuff the tent poles out of the top of my hydration-like pack (REI Flash Pack) and I no longer will be carrying anything slashed to my handlebars. This frame pack is much larger and longer than the Jandd frame pack. Check out the Revelate site, plenty of core bikepackers doing their thing world-wide. Eric from Revelate seems like a kewl dude and I like his WordPress site. I just need him as client now for the pro form deals

FYI… This frame bag will not fit a top tube less than 54″ without a customization request; which I think Eric can do.

Euro Tour 2010 Summary

Gordon — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:52:28 +0000

These are photographs from an April-May bike tour to Spain and Portugal. The route was planned by noticing that there are a large amount of scenic designated roads (per Michelin Motor Atlas) in Northern Spain and Portugal. You can piece together a beautiful scenic route; riding coastlines, mountains, and vineyards with almost no traffic. Maybe 90% of my route was deemed high quality euro touring.

I was on this tour exactly a month. I rode 27 of 30 days, probably over 2000km. About half the day, I rode, and the rest of the day, I would sight-see or do work related tasks online. As hotels are fairly cheap in this area, about half the nights were spent in hotels, but I carried camping gear (tent, pad, bag) on my bike, the remaining nights were spent at euro camp grounds. It’s nice to have your own choice at each destination; camp or hotel, depending on your current mood, needs, and the weather.

I carried only only a latex spoon, so all my meals were taken out. I don’t have accurate bookeeping of my trip expenses, but I estimate approximately two grand for a month, this includes my $800 RT airfare; Denver-Madrid-Denver. I probably spent $100 on prepaid Internet data charges with Vodaphone.

There have been a number of posts about keeping my gear lite. I have a rear trunk bag on my Richey Breakaway bike and I wear a small hydration-like REI Flash pack, no panniers for me. All my gear weighed 11 pounds total. This is light enough to ride comfortably in the mountains. I have decided that 10 pounds is the golden threshold for comfort and speed. Reaching this threshold weight does require a lot of gear research. Almost all touring riders I met had too much gear. Everything needs to be light-weight, multi-purposed and compact.

Next trip I think I can eliminate my Canon Powershot camera, camera battery charger, and USB upload cable with the new iPhone 4 (half pound lightened?). The iPhone 4G camera has a 5 mega pixel camera with a 5x zoom which is probably good enough for most trip photography. Many of the panorama shots were taken with the Pano iPhone app which stitches together multiple lined-up photos. This app really helps with the limitations of the cell phone’s crappy lens allowing you to capture wide angle vistas.

The biggest technical problem with my bike tour camping is not being able to recharge electrical devices from a tent site. In my case this means my iPhone; my only electrical device. I have been researching small camping solar panels. There are some promising solutions that would allow recharging while riding or from panels connected to your tent’s roof.

The second biggest challenge is finding a place to leave your bike box if you are traveling overseas. Upon landing, I had my bike tuned at the Bike Room in Madrid, they allowed me to leave my box at their shop, super friendly too.

The Google map below shows my route. The white placemarks show my overnights in hotels/pensions. The green placemarks designate campground overnights. I traveled from Madrid to Talavera and Bilbao to Madrid with my bike on the bus.

The kewlest phenomena about euro bike packing/touring is going lite and being able to be spontaneous and mobile.