(Part 3) Top products from r/bicycletouring

I love busting out fun games/activites with the many people you can meet on the road. A couple things I've travelled with:

• Pass the Pigs is a great game to take on tour! Compact, super easy to learn, tons of fun. Challenge random people in bars, coffeeshops, etc.
  
  
• Light-up frisbee. A little pricy, but damn worth it. Great way to meet people at colleges.
  
  
• Hackey sack. Duh.
  
  
• Bubble wand + bubble solution. This shit is fun pretty much anytime, anywhere. 99 cents and worth every penny.
  
  
• Cards Against Humanity. Bring the ruckus at hiker-biker campsites. I've never travelled with one, but I can imagine it being a worthwhile addition.
  
  
  ^^ninja ^^edit
  
  

That bike should work fine, assuming it's all running well. Do you plan to camp or stay in motel/air bnbs? Also are you planning to make and haul your own food? Or just buy as you go? If youre buying all your food and sleeping indoors and you wanna go really light weight you could just get a rack and strap a duffle bag to it with everything you need. If you have camping and/or cooking gear your best option would just be a couple panniers and some sort of bag on top. If money is a factor something like this should work decently well (just don't expect it to last forever). After that all you really need is some basic tools (pump, multitool, tire levers, etc), a way to carry water, spare tubes/patch kit and camping/cooking gear if that's what you're doing. Beyond that most things are comfort and preference.

I was looking for something budget friendly and easily packed with me. I saw that it also was very open to allow for a greater view of nature and the sky while I was out on my tour. I actually also have the solitaire in my wishlist. Have you used it before? I definitely want a solo tent as I will be solo-touring, and do not need any extra space. Unless my bike wants to sleep with me on a cold night, haha.

Another tent I was looking at was:
http://amzn.com/B0056SOA48

That's definitely a steal. Have heard good things about these Tubus racks.

However, anyone have experience with an Ibera PakRak:

http://www.amazon.com/Ibera-Bicycle-Touring-IB-RA4-Frame-mounted/dp/B002T5H8MW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1458744660&sr=8-4&keywords=tubus+rack

Looks like a good deal. I'm looking for a rear rack that can accept panniers.

Right now, I have this Topeak Explorer rack on my Schwinn Varsity:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FIE3WI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01

My bike is a commuter but I am planning on taking it on some short weekend / week-long tours this summer, hopefully going for a month long tour at the tail end of summer.

Thanks for any insight, everyone! Cheers!

I would try and roll those tarps up more. Maybe stuff them in a compression sack.
And get an elastic net, man!
They're like $5-10 on Amazon and it's great for keeping stuff on top of the rear rack!
You'll easily be able to stuff your sandals and whatever else under it too.

This is the one I've been using. Bought it at a flee market for $1.50 at a motorcycle rally.
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Motorcycle-Bungee-Cargo-Net/dp/B006JMKL66/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1397588548&sr=8-6&keywords=bicycle+cargo+net

Few short suggestions (my opinions):

• Don't carry water on your back. Some people like it, but after many long days hunch over on a bike, your back will probably hurt. 2 of my buddies used them on our cross-country tour, and they both developed back problems
  
• Instead, use a dromedary bag. I went with the 6-liter one. Never filled it up all the way, but 2 liters in a 6-liter bag is easier to pack in a pannier or bungee on a rack than 2 liters in a 2-liter bag.
  
• Most regions across the US, you will always find places to fill up while biking. The time I found my 6-liter bag most useful was stealth camping. Having a surplus of water to cook and clean with, as well as left-over water for the morning was pretty convenient.

read thsi book, he did london to the south of italy and it's very funny.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crossing-Europe-Bike-Called-Reggie/dp/1849142130

at the start 50 miles (80km) a day is probably fine, but you'll get up to doing 60-80 (100-130km) comfortably after a few days.

I aim ot average 70miles / 90km but i don't camp and go fairly lightweight. I do prefer to go some harder days then an easy short day here and there

This will be slower in the alps... much slower

My favorite is a pretty old book called "Hey, Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across America?" http://smile.amazon.com/Hey-Ride-Bike-Across-America/dp/096257077X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416483476&sr=8-1&keywords=can+I+ride+my+bike+across+america

It is written from the point of view of the teacher who inspired and led the trip. Some of the kids could barely ride a bike when they started training.

It will work just fine. I got into touring this year, and after looking at the really nice Surly touring bikes, I ended up just using the CX bike I already had. It's an aluminum Norco frame, with carbon forks. I attached a rear rack and 2X20L panniers and packed light. I setup the panniers to be as far back as possible and my heels never touched the panniers. Here's a couple pics:

http://imgur.com/a/y2npr


It doesn't matter if there's hookups on the back for a rack though. My friends CX bike had no mounting holes, so we switched out the seat-tube collar with something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Axiom-Trekk-Clamp-Collar-Black/dp/B0064QGIDC

and mounted an Axiom streamliner disc DLX to the back which can mount through the rear skewer.

Love this thread. My favorites are Willie Weir's SpokeSongs and "Hey Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across America?: Five Kids Meet Their Country by John Seigel Boettner

Link: http://amzn.com/096257077X

These actually sound great and pack down nice and small. Martin Backpacker Guitar

Roswheel bike bags. They're cheap, but they've served me well in the past couple years. Plus the color scheme works wonders with my bike :)

Nano is a fairly unusual MTB tire in the lack of pronounced cornering knobs, but it does have a central ridge that increases speed and knobs are much less fine than popular XC racing tires, so good durability. Seems like it's optimised most for gravel/dirt fire road kind of terrain and would be a solid choice if you aren't bothered about ability to corner aggressively on twisty bikepark style trails - which in a race as long as the Tour Divide I can't imagine being much of a factor.

Imo it would be a solid choice for something like the rail trail route.

With regards to tubeless, I don't use an air compressor, just a basic track pump. There's more than one technique to install tubeless tires, the most well known one does make things hard without an air compressor, but there's a couple of alternate techniques that take a little longer that make it consistently possible with a regular pump. I use this one, main difference is you use a tire lever to seat the bead of the tire as much as possible before starting to inflate, this makes much less air leak out so it seats easier.

However, I will say that in my experience if something does go wrong on the trail it's a real mess and with a minipump it would be difficult to get them to seat whatever technique you use.

The simple solution to that is to carry a spare tube like if you were riding tubed tires, if something goes wrong you just fall back to running an inner tube rather than trying to fix the tubeless system on the trail. Also carry a boot as if you get a puncture with tubeless chances are the hole in the tire will be big enough to need booting.

I have a copy of the book on this HTSITW

Dig a hole, but not super deep. Step out of the shorts with at least one leg. Take your time. Hold on to a tree if that helps.

Rain soaked oak leaves turned out to be better than paper.

Ok, I assume you have a very, very low budget so here are some options for you:

• Find someones couch to crash on for now. Preferably someone with an internet connection
  
• Build some Kitty Litter Panniers for now or a back pack (you will regret only having a back pack) ($15-$30) - see if you can make 4 of them provided you can take a front rack. Two if you can not.
  
• Get a camping hammock with a rain fly or a bivy tent (I have no ideas if either of those are good, I'm just going cheap) ($50-90)
  
• Get a sleeping pad ($30)
  
• Get two racks if your bike can take them. One for the front and one for the back ($60)
  
• Get a small tarp (I am sure you can find better than this, perhaps even locally) for those days with REALLY bad weather. ($7)
  
• Get a pancho or other cheap rain gear ($15)
  
• Get some bungee cords ($5)
  
• Get camping pans ($15)
  
• Get a lighter ($0.50)
  
• You could build a camping stove but I can't vouch for how well these work. You might want a proper one ($5-$50)
  
• Get a pump (follow the recommendations others have made) $20-$50
  
• Get a tool kit and some spare parts (I really like the Survival Gear Box) $50-75
  
  So maybe $275-375 total cost before food and water? Man, that's still high...

This probably is not an option unless you are cooking over a fire, but we have one of these guys (6 cup) and it always goes camping with us. Does great on a stovetop, hot plate or campfire.

https://www.amazon.com/Bialetti-6-Cup-Stovetop-Espresso-Maker/dp/B0001SJH2I/

Me and my other half have zefal spy mirrors, they're cheap and do the job well :)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zefal-95293-Double-Adjustment-Mirror/dp/B000FY05PG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=zefal+spy+mirror&qid=1557559319&s=gateway&sprefix=Zefal+spy&sr=8-1

I really enjoyed Into Thick Air by Jim Malusa.

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Thick-Air-Bellybutton-Continents/dp/157805141X

This tool makes mounting tires much easier:

http://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Tire-Bead-Jack/dp/B001AYML7K

I may recommend trying to grab a Var Tire lever if you an find one. They make changing tires with frozen beads a bit easier. Alternatively, there is the Kool Stop Tire Jack.

This is all dependent on how tight your tire to rim sizing is. If it's super lose, ignore this.

Water is heavy, so you don't really want to carry more than you will need. That said, it really sucks to run out of water. I used a dromedary bag and filled it as needed. Ideally, you would get two to help weight balance on a bike, but it is a lot cheaper to get the same capacity in one bag than two smaller bags.

If you are passing through small towns you can always buy more water, and you can often find public water fountains. If you stay at a campsite, you should be able to get water there.

Miles from Nowhere by Barbara Savage

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0898861098?pc_redir=1407574165&robot_redir=1

Any book by Joe Kurmaskie

http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Kurmaskie/e/B001K8XLH0

I used a Zefal mirror last year while riding across the U.S. and it was a life-saver, especially when I reach Alabama and the constant logging trucks on narrow roads.

There's a couple of options to mount the rear rack clamps that clamp on to the seat stays Portland Design Works Payload and Loading Dock Rack Hardware Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A91JIJE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_M2HjzbYR6HWSQ
Or a seat post adapter Sunlite Bicycle Rack Seat Clamp, 34.9mm, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014GI9RK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_s9HjzbFRCPMTC

As far as which one to buy there's a bunch of decent ones in that range I've used this one on a bike for years with one problem Topeak Explorer Bike Rack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FIE3WI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9-HjzbZFWZTYE

Axiom also makes done good ones in that price range.

> moka brikka
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/p5u/Bialetti-Brikka-Cup-Espresso-Maker-Cream-Valve/B0001DJT7G

this? Cheers in advance btw.

Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crossing-Europe-Bike-Called-Reggie/dp/1849142130/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=61uuhPbBodL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=057NH7DFA1HQG9M4MS4V

Have you thought about getting a Martin backpacker guitar?

Tire boot (whether store bought or a dollar bill), zip ties, no-tool chain quick link, duct tape.

Here's the rack you'll need, and 'cause you've no brake-bridge you'll need a mounting point on your seat collar.

Truth. I also swear by bringing a bungee net that hooks on to your rack. You can just shove flip-flops and shit under it and have it air dry why you ride.
Something kind of like this

There's even a book, "How to shit in the woods."