Messages

31

Gear Talk / Re: Generator Hubs and USB Devices

« on: February 08, 2013, 06:53:28 am »

I have been looking around the interwebs for a few weeks, trying to find a complete (and hopefully accurate) package of information on the topic of staying powered up on tour. It's a perfect topic for Adventure Cycling's researchers and writers to tackle.

Here's what I'm finding:
1. The devices (we think we must have) on our bikes have small built-in batteries and can deplete their energy supplies quickly due to usage and possibly cold weather.
2. Some of these devices, such as a smartphone in GPS mode, require supplementary energy supply in the form of energy generation or an attached auxiliary power pack or they only last a few hours.
3. Devices and auxiliary power packs can be deeply discharged during the day's riding (or riding out a storm in a tent) and must be thoroughly recharged.
4. You have several options for the energy to recharge including AC power, hand-cranked generation, bike-powered generation, solar, secondary battery storage or fuel cells and other energy sources.
5. There is a direct correlation between the mass and cost of these auxiliary charging and generation systems and their ease of use which includes storage capacity, ruggedness and other factors.
6. The marketplace is crowded with a range of low- to high-quality products being sold to a largely uninformed public.

REI recently had a good discount on a product from Goal Zero, a 3.5 amp solar panel and a battery pack that holds 4-AAs. You can charge the pack from almost anything and you can pull energy from it to recharge your phone or other devices or you can use the AAs. MMy experiments so far indicate I can deplete the Goal Zero pack charging my iPhone to a total of 100% (one charge from 40-100% and one charge from 60-100%). The solar pack will NOT power anything, simply doesn't have the energy output, it's not large enough, but it will recharge the battery pack from 10% to 100% capacity in 6-8 hours of FULL sunlight.
So if I want to run the iPhone on the bike in mapping/GPS mode, I will need at least two of these auxiliary batter packs. One to carry on the bike and one to have recharging on the back of the bike or in camp.

More to come later as the season starts up.

32

Gear Talk / Re: OK, so we peddle...and we ride in the sun; where's my energy???

« on: January 26, 2013, 02:52:40 pm »

Wanted to resurrect this topic after cruising the REI site looking for solar/battery backup to power my new iPhone on the road. I was appalled by the lack of information available to REI's customers and the weirdly sad reviews many of the solar items were getting. People were expecting tiny and cheap solar systems to keep GPS, phones, tablets and even notebooks fully charged. IMpossible.
Be sure you understand some basic math using milliamp hours. The more I research this stuff, the more I am convninced the manufacturers are deliberately obfiscating these figures.
1. You need to know how much power your device requires to charge its battery. (An iPad needs a 2 amp charger, that's 2,000mA, while an iPhone neds half that.)
2. You need to know how much power your device consumes or a genreal idea of how long it lasts doing hard work like GPS or talking.
3. You need to know how much energy your charging device can produce.
4. You need to know how long it will take to charge your device under typical, not ideal, conditions.
5. You need to decide if the cost is worth the hassle.

Whatever you select, be sure to test it before you get out where you depend it.

The state of the art at the moment seems to be the use of solar (or a hub or an AC plug) to top off an auxiliary power pack of AAs or lithium ion cells and use that battery booster to either replenish or supplement your device's battery.

Using MapMyRide or the GPS function on my iPhone sucks the battery dry in less than five hours if I'm not doing anything else. So I need a pwoerpack to keep the thing alive on a good day's ride of 6-10 hours. Then I need to recharge both the phone and the booster pack.

33

Gear Talk / Re: Aevon Trailer now available in US

« on: January 24, 2013, 08:30:15 pm »

Thanks for the link. Are you associated with these companies?

34

Rocky Mountain / Re: Ride Idaho 2013, coming soon

« on: January 22, 2013, 07:46:22 am »

The route has been announced and registration is now open. We're doing northern Idaho again. Incredible scenery along lakes and rivers, many miles on the rail-to-trail system, mining towns, layover day with an option to rent a mountain bike and do the Trail of the Hiawatha.

rideidaho.org

35

General Discussion / Re: Traffic burnout?

« on: January 22, 2013, 07:43:01 am »

Oregon has great alternative roads. Cycle Oregon knows every inch of every one of them. Idaho, on the other hand, usually has only one decent road that connects any two points and, after doing Ride Idaho for 8 years, I've ridden just about every inch of every one of them. The paucity of roadways in Idaho means you share them with everyone and everything. There are areas of the state where you can see one vehicle an hour for days at a time.

36

General Discussion / Re: Cross Country on a recumbent bike

« on: January 11, 2013, 12:10:03 pm »

Hi all,This piqued my interest as I am planning a cross country trip via recumbent in 2014.
...Any comments, suggestions? Have traveled some 1000 miles via recumbent back in 2003 from Hornell, NY to Richmond, VA.

Welcome to the group.
Your long trail experience will help you with packing and fitness but you'll be riding highways and some backcountry roads. This beautiful country's road systems were not designed for bicycle travel.
There are dozens of great bike touring books and websites. Start your research now. Almost every possible route has been done and documented online at least once. You can connect them easily with some effort and time. Join Adventure Cycling.
Your plans to start your trip in 2014 allow you plenty of time this season to get your recumbent long-distance legs and learn to pack. I strongly urge you to sign up for at least one multi-day, supported tour, 300-500 miles over 5-8 days.

37

Gear Talk / Re: Bike Friday Touring and Travel

« on: January 10, 2013, 08:04:04 am »

There is a large and international collection of Bike Friday fans on the interwebs.

I have friends who have the money and time and health to travel all over the world and they have a pair of BFs they've had for about 20 years. They use their trailer transports. But not for touring. They tell me the only thing the BF trailer is really good for is tranpsorting their ultrlight traveling gear from the train to their hotel. Then they take off on their Bike Fridays for self-guided excursions but they never take the trailers.

The bikes go in the trailers for transport on trains and planes and buses. When they arrive sompelace, the bikes are assembled and the trailers haul their gear.

38

Gear Talk / Re: Recommend a road, touring bag setup?

« on: December 30, 2012, 08:32:05 pm »

Wanted to add one more observation. Ultralight packing, as perfected by through-hikers on the Long Trails, is a bit different than most approaches to bicycle touring. But it's also directly adapted to some types of long distance or endurance touring that relies on stealth camping. For many long distance hikers, the ultralight kit allows one to pack up quickly and easily, walk till one is done, and to set up camp quickly and easily. It really doesn't matter where camp is as long as some basic needs are met. You can do the same on a bike; lots of people use this technique of stealth camping.

For those who may not know much about ultralight travel, one of the delightful advantages is you carry very few items, only the most essential gear. Setting up and striking camp takes only a few minutes, literally. You can't lose stuff, you  don't need to keep track of a bunch of stuff because you don't have any. 

39

Gear Talk / Re: Recommend a road, touring bag setup?

« on: December 30, 2012, 07:43:25 am »

Ah, Jardine, Mr Ultralight. I had a copy of his book and enoyed a few seasons of scrambling to Idaho's high mountain lakes with tennis shoes and a tarp and an alcohol stove. Reduced my backpack base load from 35-50 pounds to 15 with Ray's book.

You will be replacing the bike although that's not absolutely necessary. You can hack a rear rack, seat bag, and handlebar bag onto any bike with some patience. If you're taking an experienced ultralighter's approach to your kit, that's all the carrying capacity you need. As long as you have a phone and are taking an established route you really don't need much in the way of heavy spare parts or specialized bike tools.

My standard advice to newbies around here is to spend several hours reading AC's how-to sections, consider buying a membership, visit all of the major bike touring websites, visit your local library and check out everything they have on the topic, get your new bike in time to put 1,000 miles on it before setting off, do a couple of overnights to tweak your gear and get comfortable with the different routine and consider paying for one or two supported bike tours this season, just to see if this is for you, before hitting the road on a self-supported trip.

Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy the research.

40

Rocky Mountain / Ride Idaho 2013, coming soon

« on: December 30, 2012, 07:30:12 am »

Ride Idaho should be celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. Route and schedule will be announced on January 16, 2013.

rideidaho.org

Promises to be interesting.

Full dislcosure: This will be my ninth tour with this organization. I used to be involved with the planning and execution but now I just pay my money, get my recumbent and gear to the starting line and enjoy the ride. See my review of last year's event in this forum.

Limited to 300-350 riders, Ride Idaho is a week-long supported tour running 350-500 miles through Idaho's river vallerys, mountains, deserts, prairies, farms, ranches, and small towns. Amenities include professional mechanical and enthusiastic sag support, local food, a hot shower truck and entertainment at each camping site. If you have the money, a tent/porter service is available.

41

Gear Talk / Re: Cheap Breathable Rain Gear and Shelter

« on: December 29, 2012, 09:25:45 am »

Folks have been making ultralight camping and travel gear out of Tyvek for decades. However, if you research the practice, you may discover why stuff made of Tyvek is not ubiquitous: Tyvek totally blows. Twenty years ago specially treated softened Tyvek was used for bike jackets. They are now collectors items for only one reason: Tyvek totally blows. It's noisy, uncomfortable, ugly, and the graphics wear off because the stuff cannot be over-dyed, printed or painted with conventional equipment.

There is nothing easy about crafting Tyvek. You can cut it to size for a tent footprint but just TRY to put it through a home sewing machine. The footprint will be hard to fold. Anything sewn leaks and the needle holes create a line that separates like the reader response cards in Adventure Cyclist magazine.

Go softly int the nightmare that is do-it-yourself Tyvek camping equipment!

http://tyvek-blog.materialconcepts.com
http://www.polymernotes.org/resources/tyvekdupont.htm
http://www.itstactical.com/gear/diy-tyvek-stuff-sacks/
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=2491
http://www.materialconcepts.com/pdf/tyvek-sewing-instructions.pdf

For many crafters, recycling Tyvek into bags, wallets, and wearables isn’t new. This material commonly used in building materials, billboards, and mailing envelopes is beginning to become more “mainstream” as many projects have appeared in books such as Betz White’s Sewing Green and Simplicity’s Go Green patterns. Looking to try this product out for yourself? Be sure to check out the awesome projects here on BurdaStyle (like nycdesigner’s awesome jacket) or Material Concepts – a website devoted to innovative Tyvek uses. Be sure to read up on how to work with this material before you sew -great information from du Pont themselves!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1584797584?ie=UTF8&tag=neoflux&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1584797584
http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/tyvek-jacket-from-burda-pattern-8273

42

General Discussion / Re: Costs of Touring

« on: December 29, 2012, 09:08:36 am »

It's been asked before here and many other places; touring expenses is a topic that's easily researched.

As noted, too many variables. You've been presented a ten-to-one range of <10 to >100 US$/day. That's impossible to reconcile but it is easy to average or find a median which you are comfortable planning for. Let's say $30/day for 70 days (which is spartan and depraved but entirely doable and, from what we hear around here, possibly pleasurable)--$2,100--but call it $3,000. If you budget for $60/day (which includes camping mostly, cooking mostly, layover or storm days in motels and an occasional restaurant, that's $4,000-5,000.

Regarding the idea that you're not spending money at home, you may be paying your rent or mortgage while on the road, paying someone to house- or pet-sit and, if you're leaving family behind, they're still eating and driving the car around. ONe trick is to find someone who will pay you to stay in your home while you're on your bicycle tour. Dicey, that.

Visit your local library and find everything you can on bicycle travel. The vicarious experience is a fun way to spend your winter and you can learn much from mistakes already made. The biggest hurdle to a long bicycle tour is simply committing. ONce you've decided you're going, planning is mechanical.

43

Gear Talk / Re: Durability of Dry Bags?

« on: December 27, 2012, 06:26:46 am »

I'm planning my first tour this coming summer and have a question about dry bags. I've done a lot of ultralight backpacking,  so I have most of the gear I'll need for a 1100km trip. Everything, including camping gear, clothes, tools and 2-days worth of food seems to fit nicely into a single 25 litre dry bag + a smallish handlebar bag.

I was wondering if people encounter problems with items wearing or rubbing through a dry bag when it's mounted on a rear rack? I'm just curious if things like tent poles are likely to wear thru the fabric if they happen to be too close to the metal tubes on a rack? Should I perhaps duct tape a little foam on top of the rack to reduce wear-points?

I will likely fix the dry bag on top of the rear rack with either shock cord or webbing with adjustable buckles. Any recommendations on securing a dry bag are also welcome.

Thanks for any advice.

I do not do self-supported touring but I trod many miles in the early days of ultrlighting, back when we made all of our gear or supported a tiny group of home crafters. I didn't put anything in my silnylon/mesh backpack that might poke or wear through. That stuff either got stuck inn the outside mesh pockets or it was inside its own bag. I camped in a tarp and bivvy so no tent poles and I carried my staff. ONe of the more curious ultralight accessories I learned to appreciate was an umbrella. The umbrella's tip was modified and padded with a rubber ball.

Sorry, waxing nostalgic. If your gear is all ultralight, and you're not too weird about the gram count, you can carry an extra silnylon bag or two. You can carry a couple of garbage bags. You can cover your exposed metal rack tubes with cloth tape or sew an additional protective layer onto one side of the bag that will go against the rack's platform.

There are many experienced ultralight tourers on the INterwebs. Some, like staehp1, post here and others can be found on crazyguy. This ultralight bike touring techniques have, for the most part, all been invented and more or less perfected. Just takes a bit of research.

44

General Discussion / Re: self-guided support on lewis and clark

« on: December 22, 2012, 08:15:17 am »

Welcome to AC, peggy. Once you have decided on the region you wish to travel, try calling some of the bike shops along your route. They may be able to hook you up with trekking and travel support outifits. There are many. You can spend a few hours searching the Interwebs for support companies, too. They're out there.

You're paying for their time and gas and lodging, not cheap. Some outfits provide mechanical, meal or emergency support along the route; others just move your gear. Be sure you know what you're buying.

Sections of the Lewis and Clark route can be done easily by carrying your own modest luggage. Minimalist credit card travel is fun and easy; you need very little to be comfortable and warm and dry if you're taking your time and know  you will do some laundry each evening.

Hope you enjoy your trip. The L&C route through Idaho and Oregon is spectacularly great!

45

Gear Talk / Re: What is the best telephone & telephone service for cross country touring.."

« on: December 22, 2012, 08:04:29 am »

There are several cross country routes. Each one will have long stretches where there is no econoimical reason for a phone company to provide total coverage. There are stretches where you will be in canyons where line-of-sight simply cannot be maintained. You will be in tiny towns where coverage is supplied by a roaming provider that may add signficant charges to your service and you will decide not to use the phone even though your service map says you're covered. And coverage is constantly changing as systems are upgraded and new service areas become revenue generators.

Learn to cherish those times when your phone simply does not connect.

I've been with Sprint for more than ten years. I have no complaints about their coverage or their customer service. But I have NOT ridden my bike across the country.