Messages

1

Gear Talk / Re: Tents

« on: October 08, 2011, 02:44:42 pm »

I'm Curious as to what type of tents are the most popular?  I sell Tents and would like to know what you look for in a tent.

Thank you for your help.

Size - good single tent
Color - no bright orange/yellows but prefer green/brown
Weight - 2.5 kg but certainly not much more
Space - a bit of inside porch area for storage at night
Ventilation - for hot weather and improved handling of condensation
Simple to erect and dismantle - I do not want to be there all day messing with dozens of pegs, guy lines and poles. Freestanding is a bonus.
Up to the job - it must be able to keep you dry for a night of heavy wind and rain.

Examples - Failure - Terra Nova Laser Comp - because it has no useful ventilation so is baking hot in summer evenings and condensation at all other times.

Success - MSR Hubba in green - although it has yet to be tested in poor weather.

I hope this helps.

2

Gear Talk / Re: stemcaptain compass

« on: September 26, 2011, 12:36:46 pm »

Another option is the Bicycle Bell and Compass combo.

It is a "ping - ping " type cycle bell and the housing is a compass. I have one on my Koga Miyata World Traveller and it works a treat. When you get to a campsite you can work out the path of the sun so as to have shade or sunlight in the morning. Equally good for finding your way across towns and cities. A very useful gadget.

Mine is similar to this  http://www.vwvagabonds.com/Bike/BikeBellCompass.html

3

Gear Talk / Re: tourning with different size tires front and back

« on: September 18, 2011, 04:27:30 pm »

On my last trip I repleced the rear 26 x 1.75 continental with a 2.00 Schwable Marathon Tour - so ended up with smaller tyre on he front than the back. I think it improved the ride if anything.

26 x 1.75 Continental on the front
26 x 2.00 Schwalbe marathon tour on the back

4

Gear Talk / Re: Your Portable Repair Kit - What's Inside?!

« on: September 18, 2011, 04:09:11 pm »

Latex gloves - two pairs. I recently had to repair a chain and had one pair of latex gloves kept with with the spare chain link. But the chain required to be replaced completely by which time I had used my one pair of latex gloves so had to set to work on a filthy old chain bare handed. My hands were absolutely filthy.

5

General Discussion / Re: High Visibility - Always Good or Not?

« on: May 19, 2011, 05:30:26 pm »

The only time I thought it was a really dumb idea to actually be wearing a high viz top was in France, in May, surrounded by field after field of bright yellow oilseed rape flowers. Your bright yellow vest actually made you less visible against this background ! But I think French Law says you must wear a high viz top when cycling out of town. I draped mine over the back of the bike. I have since replaced it with an orange/red/ coloured one that stands out a bit more, and try and use it to somehow cover the back of the luggage so that it can be seen from behind.

6

General Discussion / Re: Mistakes and Attitude while on the road.

« on: April 05, 2011, 01:58:58 pm »

.....and now there aint nothin left but the doing of it all.

(John Wayne ?)

7

Gear Talk / Re: Ipad, Tablets vs. Netbooks

« on: March 16, 2011, 04:43:40 pm »

The Netbook + Garmin GPS system + Google Earth certainly works. Netbooks such as those by Samsung are fairly cheap, plus a budget plug in DVD drive means you can load any software from a disk onto your Netbook. The DVD drive can be left at home.

You can then access the internet whilst you are away and put waypoints into your GPS, as you wish. The set up is not hugely expensive to set up and run, a few hundred dollars, and so would not be a huge deal if it were lost or broken - you would still have the GPS unit and Garmin software.

If you were to be going for a longer trip, and you wanted to edit pictures to a decent standard while you were away then a better class of Netbook would be required such as the incomparable MacBook Air. But to loose it would be a harsh loss as it is a much more expensive item.

There is also a whole world of smartphones out there that have mapping and GPS functionality that may be suitable for shorter tours.

For myself I have chosen the Netbook-Google Earth-Garmin approach which has worked so far.

8

Gear Talk / Re: Best compact camera for a Tour? Help me decide.

« on: March 10, 2011, 08:59:24 am »

That all makes a lot of sense, although I realize I didn't mention the reason for the photos in the first place. I do hope to get nice photos that I would then design into a book (I am a graphic designer). Also, the reason for the higher MP is for upload onto a site called iStockPhoto.com, which has a high standard. I don't think the Pn'S are up to par with what I am looking for.

Now the question for me is whether I want to add my photography hobby and idea for a book to my trip. I did read the "photography and biking do they mix" thread and so it causes questions for me.

I am finding there are endless questions that need to be answered for cross country trip like this.
My goal is not to get to the other side, but to enjoy everything inbetween, plus there is no time limit for me at this point in my life so that is what makes me think of adding a hobby like photography to the trip. SO many questions!! But I still have 4 months to answer them.

I just had a look at their site and the final picture requirements are actually easily met - RGB J Peg at 1600+1200 pixels. The problem is that they suggest taking your original picture with an SLR in RAW format and editing it as a 16 bit Tiff file, and then save it down to a 8 bit J Peg. This makes more sense because if you start editing a 8 bit JPEG you can end up with an over edited image that can be a mess when enlarged.
Perhaps a DSLR that shoots RAW would be a better option ? They are not massively expensive but you loose the "Compact" advantage. Maybe the Cannon G series as mentioned previously would suite your needs ?

Good luck.

9

Gear Talk / Re: Best compact camera for a Tour? Help me decide.

« on: March 04, 2011, 03:11:30 am »

I have the Panasonic Lumix DMC - FT2 waterproof camera. Now also carry a G2 !

The FT2 is easy to use single handed while riding and takes good quality pictures: the ones on my little website for the Amsterdam trip were all taken with the Lumix FT2. It has a self timer of 10 seconds but no remote control.

Here is a link to my little website to give an idea of the picture quality: www.worldonabike.co.uk

Very pleased with it for normal light picture taking.

10

General Discussion / Re: photography and cycling

« on: March 02, 2011, 03:35:21 am »

I opted for a palmcorder to tell the story of a 5 day  trip from Grass Valley to Eugene (using Amtrak).

The keys are 1.) keep the camera handy (I have a reflective mesh vest with a front pocket that is easy to get to).
                      2.) take lots of short shots of interesting things along the way
                      3.) for gosh (and everyone elses) sakes, edit it and keep it short!
                       4.) pick some music you enjoy.

Here's my trip video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEWoW-8QTJc

That was great - big smile on my face after watching that. Still learning video techniques coming from a stills photography background, so will keep your advice in mind. Great can't wait for the trip to Canada/US.

11

General Discussion / Re: photography and cycling

« on: February 20, 2011, 05:51:56 pm »

Thanks for all the suggestions on how to deal with picture files on a long tour - a bit of a plan is coming together.

I think I will use the two expensive Extreme III cards in the camera, which is a Panasonic Lumix G2, to capture video and stills and then download the files onto the Netbook. Then use the same card reader/writer to write backups onto cheaper cards to be mailed home.

The plan is to do a multi month tour of the Americas this year, if I can get away before the start of the summer. Otherwise it will have to be next year.

12

General Discussion / Re: Creating a Journal: Ideas and hints for a good one?

« on: February 15, 2011, 01:53:34 pm »

A guy called Ben Rowlands has written a free application for Crazyguyonabike members. It enables people to write their journal offline on their own netbook/laptop, and download it straight onto their Crazyguy journal.

This seems like a brilliant idea. You can do all the pictures and narrative just as it will appear on the journal page - connect up to the internet briefly and download a day/weeks worth of journal.

I think it is called: crazyguy-offline

13

General Discussion / Re: Motorbike riders out there?

« on: February 15, 2011, 03:13:20 am »

I'm fairly odd as well.  I'm a member of FSSNOC (four stroke singles national owners club) and have had a couple of KLR 650's an Ascot 500 and now a Buell P3.  I love my singles.  They keep me out of the trouble associated with going too fast.

Firing order:
1

I know where you are coming from - last year traded my Yammy XT660x supermoto for a little Yammy X-Max 250 scoot which I ride now. That XT660 was lovely  - short gear ranges mean it is on the power quickly - sticky tyres - great bike. The X-Max 250 is cool but just transport really.

I see Triumph have a new Tiger out. Hmmmmmm

14

General Discussion / Re: photography and cycling

« on: February 06, 2011, 06:08:28 am »

Just wondering how people manage their pictures on a long tour, whether pictures are downloaded onto memory sticks and posted home. Some of the little netbooks that people are taking with them these days do not have DVD drives and so I guess the options are to take a separate drive to plug in to the USB or backup pictures onto a memory stick.

Or is there some online backup facility where you can download your pictures while on the road ?

15

Routes / Re: Getting Across The Desert

« on: January 23, 2011, 05:23:52 pm »

.............Should I spend the money for the Surly f/r racks, or save some money by buying cheaper racks?

Thanks!

I would avoid cheap aluminum racks. My last bike was sold from new as a complete tourer and came with cheap aluminum racks, by blackburn I think. The struts that took all the weight were just thin aluminum, squeezed flat at the ends and a hole drilled through so they could be bolted to the frame. I thought that might be strong enough to carry a newspaper and a loaf of bread back from the shop, but that's about it ! replaced with Tubus.

Oh one other thing - When I cycled in Spain in August 2009 it was really hot, up to 38 Centigrade. But the real killer was sun and hills. As soon as the terrain starting going uphill then the sweat just started pouring out of me. Hot and flat and no head wind was fine, but hot and hills is the killer for me.