Hermit's WoodshedArticles about those important things like pumps, tools, lights and fenders.
*Note updated Cage is now know as the King Cage Kargo Cage and includes the bottle cage and the pouch! Finding a place for all the small things that need to be readily accessible when I’m touring…. like tools….is a constant challenge. Ron Andrews at King Cage seems to always be tinkering and coming up with new ideas. I think this is a particularly good one. We have them in the store so get your orders in now! Comes with the ballistic nylon pouch and retails for $45.00.
(Update 10/2/2014: SKS have updated their fender line and the Chromoplastic fenders and Longboard fenders have been combined and are now called SKS Chromoplastic Longboards)
The SKS Longboard fenders are in at the Bike Touring News Store. I have been anxious to see how long these really are. So I did a side by side comparison with the Honjo alloy fenders and the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders.
The rear fenders are about equal in length, but with an aftermarket mudflap the Honjo fender would provide the most coverage, maybe not as important as front fender coverage- except maybe for whoever is behind you!
Arguably, the coverage provided by the front fenders is the most important because the farther the fender comes down on the trailing side the less spray onto the rider’s feet. And as we can see, there is quite a bit of difference in the coverage of these three front fenders.
In the above photo of front fenders the fenders are positioned according to the point where they would attach to the bicycle fork, and you can see that the Longboard fenders are the longest providing more coverage in the front as well as in the rear than the other two. To be fair, with an aftermarket mud flap the Honjo fender would provide equal coverage.
How does one lock their bike when on a tour and stopping at a grocery store or restaurant? There are actually quite a few options here. At the most basic level we can assume that most people are honest and the main purpose of locking the bike is to keep them that way. If a crack head or junkie wants your bike they will probably get it unless you use a stout, heavy lock such as a U-Lock. But these are heavy and it’s difficult to justify carrying that extra weight.
I have read a suggestion somewhere that a person can simply strap their helmet through the wheel and frame. If a thief tries to take off with the bike they will be caught up short and abandon the project. A slightly more secure option might be to use a leather or nylon toe strap, the kind used on pedal toe clips, the same way.
My personal preference is to use a thin braided steel cable such as the Kryptoflex with a keyed padlock. I don’t think I would trust this arrangement in a high or even medium-high crime area, and definitely not for locking the bike overnight if it was out of my sight. Somewhere I heard that motorcycle gang members will use a padlock with a bandana tied through the shackle as a weapon, like some sort of medieval flail. I hope I never have to use my lock that way, but there is that option.
Most times I can arrange to be seated in a restaurant where I am able to keep an eye on the bike. Even on tours when I have not brought a lock or when I forget the lock back at camp, upon arriving at a grocery store I often roll the bike in and ask if it’s OK to leave it in the front area inside the store. I have never been refused, in fact in Danville, CA the woman I asked told me I could roll it inside the customer service area.
The next level of security can be had with a braided cable lock of a larger diameter. These come in keyed and combination versions. Any braided cable lock can be cut fairly easily with a sharp pair of wire cutters or bolt cutters, so the determined thief can still get your bike.
The greatest security might be had with a U-Lock. These locks have hardened steel shackles which are impossible to cut by most mechanical means, and secure locking mechanisms. The dis-advantages are the heavier weight and the fact that the size and shape of the shackles limits the versatility as far as objects to attach to.
The best defense against bike theft is to be careful, and always assume that someone will think they deserve your bike and gear more than you do.
We have been using King brand bottle cages on our bikes for years. Ron Andrews is King Cage and he makes a standard style cage in stainless steel and titanium and the “Iris” cage in stainless steel. These cages are the bomb. They are light and strong and, unlike aluminum, they retain their spring so the bottles are always held securely and they won’t mark the bottles like aluminum. What I didn’t know before we saw him at the North American Handmade Bike Show in Austin earlier this year is that he makes every cage by hand, using a jig he designed and built.
(NOTE 10/31/2016: Racktime no longer has a distributor in the USA)
(NOTE 11/12/14: Since this review, Sky King has used these panniers a several trips and the performance was most excellent.)
This is not really a review- I have not had a chance to actually use the Racktime Travel-It panniers yet- more like my impressions.
Racktime is an offshoot of Ortlieb/Tubus, the go to brands for many bike tourists. The products are distributed in the USA by Ortlieb-USA so my confidence in the products and service is high.
The first thing that attracts me to these bags is the external pockets. The rear pannier boasts two pockets on the top cover, one large mesh pocket on the side and a zippered, bellows type pocket on the trailing edge. In my experience, external pockets make it easier to find whatever one might be looking for…easier than with panniers which only have one large compartment.
The aggressive elastic binding the top cover should make sure the contents are secure, especially since there is a nylon shroud with a drawstring inside the main compartment. but it also interferes with the lid opening completely, making accessing the main compartment a tad fussy.
The mounting system is the tried and true QL1 system from Ortlieb. This is one of the most secure and simple to use designs I have seen. When the pannier is lifted by the handle, the two hooks on the reverse side are opened. Then the pannier can be hooked into the rack. Once you let go of the handle, the two hooks close around the rack tube.
Fixation of the lower section of the pannier is just as important as mounting in the top section in order to prevent the pannier from sliding and pivoting. The lower fixing hook serves for this purpose; it fixes the pannier to a vertical tube of the rack and secures it in the lower pannier area. The hooks may be adjusted easily to the distance required and tightened in position with allen key size 3
The QL1 hook system is adjustable using various inserts allowing compatible mounting on standard racks with an outside diameter of 8 -16 mm. The upper QL1 hooks can be reduced in size by inserting reduction parts into the hooks for 8mm or 11mm. The hook then closes perfectly around the rack tube and securely holds the pannier in its position.
My Surly Cross Check doesn’t have chainstays as long as those on most touring bikes, but even so when mounted on the Racktime Tour-It rack these panniers had adequate heel clearance.
Overall I’m quite impressed with the design and construction of these bags and they look like a great value. The rear panniers should fit on almost any rear rack including Racktime’s. Racktime doesn’t have a low rider rack currently for the front panniers but they fit nicely as shown on the Tubus low rider racks.
We just received the Tour-It rack and the Travel-It front and Travel-It rear panniers from Racktime for the Bike Touring News Store. Ortlieb, Tubus and Racktime all come from the same company with the Racktime products intended for those who don’t want to pay Ortlieb and Tubus prices.
Naturally, as with any new gear, I had to fiddle around with it and I mounted the rack on Norm, my Surly Cross Check bike and installed one of the rear panniers. I wanted to see what the hardware was like and how well the bags mounted and also I was eager to see how the bags differ from the Ortieb back and front rollers.
The Racktime racks are made of aluminum as opposed to the tubular chrome moly or stainless steel of the Tubus offerings. This rack actually weighed a few ounces more than the Tubus Cosmo stainless steel rack even though the two have nearly identical configurations. Overall the mounting of the rack was simple and straight forward. Screws attach through a hole in the welded plate on the bottom of either side of the rack and into the dropout eyelets on the bike. The spacing was perfect for the 135mm rear blades on the Surly and I didn’t need any shims and there was no prying or spreading of the rack legs either.
The braces which secure the upper platform to the bike are meant to be attached to eyelets on the seat stays, but could be attached to clamps if no eyelets are provided. The other end of the braces then thread through an eyebolt which in turn is bolted to the rack platform. Even though this is a versatile setup, if I was going to make this a permanent attachment I would bend the struts in order to achieve a better alignment. Or else I would cut them shorter. As it was, the vertical sides of the rack interfered and I was unable to tighten things down completely.
I like theminimal hardware on this rack since the fewer pieces and bolts to come loose the better when on the road. The top platform is wide enough to actually be used to carry a sleeping bag or tent and the lower set of rails allow for the attachment of panniers in such a way that they won’t interfere with a load on the top platform. The little pump pegs on the left leg of the rack are a cool idea, but I am unaware of any pumps that will fit on them. I was told that this rack is made as original equipment on some bikes for the European market, and they have their own proprietary pumps. The rack also will work with the Racktime SNAPit components. The rack is rated to carry up to 30 kilograms and the suggested retail is about $65.00.
I have been researching other resources for Honjo fenders in preparation for adding them to the store and to supplement my post on touring bicycle fenders.
I came across this article on Raymond Parker’s VeloWeb. The web address is http://veloweb.ca (he’s Canadian eh.) Very detailed and well photographed instructions there. While he is installing Honjo fenders, the guide will work as well for other metal fenders such as Gilles Berthoud and Tanaka.
Also, lo and behold, there is a Honjo Fenders group on flickr.com. Lots of good photos and ideas for mounting fenders there.
There are dozens of videos out there about changing a flat tire. None with background music by Sonny Stitt. Here’s one!
A couple of things. Notice that I just lay the bike on it’s side with the derailleur up. That’s an easy way to do it when you’re on the side of the road. Also, I shift the chain into the smallest cog. When I put the tire back on it’s easy to remember what cog to put the chain over so that the wheel will be centered.
This is what I carry on the bike to change a flat:
Pump. I use a Zefal HPX frame fit pump. This pump is all aluminum and the barrel is long enough to push a decent amount of air, so the tire is up to pressure relatively quickly. Plus, unlike CO2 pumps, it has never failed or frozen. It mounts to the underside of the top tube
on bikes that have a pump peg.
Or it can be mounted in front of the seat tube, but this precludes the use of a water bottle there.
Spare tube, tire levers and patch kit. The simplest and quickest way to fix a flat is to change the tube. But I only want to carry one spare and if I get another flat I need to be able to patch one of the flat tubes.
Seat bag. For shorter day rides I use a Zimbale leather saddle bag to carry these items plus a multi tool.
Arguably, fenders are one of the essential accessories for the touring bicycle. Even in Death Valley, one of the driest places in the world, it does rain. And I say arguably, because, as you can see on this Adventure Cycling forum, people argue. When riding offroad in wet conditions, mud packing between the tires and fenders can bring the bike to a standstill pretty quickly. Aside from that, when it does rain or there is water on the road, without fenders you will be soaked in short order with spray from the front wheel on your feet and spray from the rear wheel on the back of the legs. Besides being uncomfortable, on a cool day it could add to the possibility of becoming hypothermic.
Inevitably, if you are traveling by bicycle, you will get caught in the dark. Whether you are just getting an early start to meet the day’s mileage goal, or you get lost looking for that camp site. Either way you will wish you had a reliable, efficient and powerful light source. One on the front to light the way and one on the rear for safety.
There are three options for power sources for your headlights. And they each have pros and cons.
Option one: Lights powered by disposable batteries.