Comments on: Gear

By: cstandley

cstandley — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:12:12 +0000

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the compliments. I’m planning a trip to Iceland this summer and I’ll be posting about preparation for that and also blogging daily as I ride. I’d be interested to see your setup once you have it set.

Clive

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:52:53 +0000

Hello,

I came across Wheels of Chance purely by, er, chance while searching for the perfect balance of light weight and comfort/accessibility for touring. Hopefully you don’t mind my reading your blog.

This post and the video detailing your gear are both utterly fantastic, and have been so hugely helpful to me that I just had to comment here to thank you for sharing this, and for your clear, detailed explanations.

Before your blog, I struggled for a long time with planning the ideal setup for the tours (long and short) that my girlfriend and I will begin taking soon. While I may be slightly biased since I already have several similar equipment pieces (similar bike, Carradice saddlebag, and a Rainshadow 2 tent currently on order from Tarptent), I believe your approach provides the internet’s most sensible and enjoyable approach to a touring setup for developed locales. Great job!

I would love to continue reading about your experiences with all of this in the future. Please keep posting!

Best,

Dave

By: cstandley

cstandley — Sat, 01 May 2010 12:51:58 +0000

Hi Henry,
It’s great to read your comment and thanks again for that blog. I read it maybe five years ago and it got me off the four panniers, fully loaded bandwagon. Back then I was getting back into touring and and your blog was inspirational. Technology keeps moving on and I’m a bit of an equipment geek so tweaking my setup is something I enjoy. I was going to test it out in Iceland this summer, but those plans are on hold because of the volcano.

Yeah Tai Chi shoes are a great second pair of shoes. When I as in college I did some kung fu and we would go running around the city parks so they seemed like the obvious choice for shoes to wear off the bike.

By: Henry

Henry — Sat, 01 May 2010 04:53:24 +0000

Nice setup! Especially like the big water bottles. Also, thanks for the link to the Koopman story. Good one!

On that ride (Vancouver Island to SF), all of that stuff (Rambouillet, 2-lbs tent, handlebar bag, etc… ) except maybe the sleeping bag and shortwave was borrowed from Grant, a very generous guy. It was about the nicest rig I ever toured with. Grant always has the best things, the niftiest tents, the nicest wool. The (old style, no longer available) Walrus Zoid tent was really snazzy (if coffin-like). But, the $30 China-made tent I later bought from rivbike.com is (almost) just as good!

Me, I’m lucky to start each tour with a functioning bike. My tour prep list usually goes, you know, rebuild rear wheel, replace bottom bracket, new chain and cogs, replace tires and pedals… then, I’m leaving in an hour, and still need to pack. Sigh.

Fortunately, I’ve found “Oh well, I’ll buy one on the road” usually works out ok. The last tour, I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way out of town and bought an $8 child’s backpack to use as a saddlebag, with the straps laced through the saddle rails. (The Carradice didn’t fit my full-sus rig.)

I remember another tour in the early 90s where I took some Tai Chi shoes as a backup to full Look road shoes. Wound up walking all over Europe in those things… wonderful minimalism!

-Henry