Many people send cards and letters asking about the best equipment for bicycle touring. Well, I will tell you. None of the below is sponsored but if any company wants to give me stuff then feel free.
Hilite: Handmade in Switzerland.
26” wheels; Pinion 18-speed gear box; and Gates belt drive. The ultimate touring machine. [note Small Front panniers mounted at rear.]. The ultimate touring machine. There, I said it.
Pinion: 18-speed gear hub at the crank with a twist shift on handlebar.
Gates Belt Drive: Light weight belt is very smooth. No more mucking around with oil etc. A belt will last approx 8,000km+ in my experience on a fully loaded touring bike.
[It is essential to keep the tension correct to avoid ware on belt and pulleys].
Ortlieb: Front panniers mounted on the back of bicycle.
Ortlieb Handlebar Roll: for tent and mattress. This roll + two small panniers at rear + handlebar bag makes this something mid-way between a ‘bike-packing’ set-up and a full four bag touring rig.
Ortlieb Ultimate 6 Compact: Big enough for an SLR and zoom lens and has transparent lid for map viewing.
Son Dynamo Hub: Light and keeps lights on all the time.
USB Charger: Runs off the dynamo and can charge gyzmos as you go.
Seat, Brooks B17. Best to wear this in before starting out. Thereafter, a great saddle.
Schwalbe Marathon Mondial (Evo): THE Standard for bike touring. Great. Very very few punctures.
DT Swiss: 26” Very strong and never had one fail.
NEMO’s Hornet 2P is light and good for one cyclist. Smaller interior than the MSR HubbaHubba and only has two (half-zipper) doors. But very light at 910g.
Sleeping Mat: Exped ‘SynMat’ UL LW
Throw the Thermarest. The EXPED mat is great. Ultralight and compact is warm and comfortable. ‘Anti-slip GripSkin’ honeycomb-pattern coating. Laminate is air tight and impervious to hydrolysis. The air-trap bag works perfectly so camp set up is quick.
Temperature: -4 °C
R-Value: 3.30
Thickness: 7 cm
Length: 197 cm
Shoulder Width: 65 cm
Sleeping Bag: Marmot Helium 300 3-season sleeping bag. Minus 1 with comfort and minus 15 C emergency. Best bag [and importantly comes with a large bag that eases the frustrations with bag-stuffin’..].
Camara: Fujifilm X-T3 mirrorless camera with a 16-55mm lens. Lovely. A bit of a luxury to carry this on a bike but a lovely thing. Smaller than an SLR and sealed for dust etc so a very good travel camera.
Showers Pass ‘Refuge Jacket: from Oregon. Just a Great Great cycling jacket for inclement weather.
Leatherman Surge Multitool. (200g!) The Surge is a bit of a luxury as it is not the lightest but this plus the Allen Keys (below) does pretty well all on the bike..
Katadyn BeFree Water filter + 2lt Sack: Better than pumping away and lighter. Screws onto a flex bag.
Multitool: Allan keys and ‘torx’ keys
MSR Stove: (73g) about the lightest stove fitting out there.
Petzl Camping Head lamp: rechargeable, but you will lose the cable.
Rode Microphone: Great light mic and comes with the dead kitten wind reducer.
GoPro Black7: Video Camera Has image stabilisation that is very impressive so fitted to the handlebars it presents smooth video images.
Garmin Fenix5+: Big face and all the data. I use the heart rate and elevation most often but it can do (almost) what the bike computer does.
All stats. Big screen and good battery life.
Shure Tripod: Great tiny tripod for video
Optimus 2 pot set: Super light weight.
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