mdilthey

Inspired by the "Out of the Box" thread... I put this together for you guys.

Ninety-Nine Bike Touring Lifehacks



Ok, lay it on me... What'd I miss?

grampa.sjb

Nice job, Max - thanks!

timdow

Great list!
Not sure if this would qualify for the list, but I carry a headlamp (strap around helmet) to use for all my lighting needs.

mdilthey

Me too, headlamps are excellent. I only skipped it because I was trying to really stretch out of the box with this one, and most campers are on board the headlamp train. They really are a cut above holding a flashlight in your teeth.

rhm

I'd add: carry extra patches and extra patch glue. Extra, unopened tubes. They take up practically no space.

indyfabz

Nice, but I will keep, inter alia, the cup as my days of drinking wine straight from the bottle ended after sophomore year of college.

mdilthey

I'll toast to that from my titanium pot. Though, Snow Peak has some cool little cups.

indyfabz

The one you are eating out of at the same time?

mdilthey

I'm already mixing coffee grounds into my oatmeal... Didn't anyone tell you the ultralighters were crazy?

mstateglfr 

Interesting list, some genuinely creative ideas. Some really absurd ideas too that border on questioning why give up the simple small item that doesn't make you act homeless.
Wear wet clothes to bed? Ditch all eating items except a spork and pot? A 3oz plastic plate is too much?
if I ever get to the point where I choose 3m safety glasses over my cheap plastic lightweight sunglasses that protect my eyes, my wife has permission to deflate the tires of all my bikes because I need to take a break and gain perspective.

But cool for you and all.



As a blogger, hopefully you know this- when did tips become hacks? Was a memo sent out to bloggers and magazines a couple years ago?

Machka 

Just a quick comment about ...

26. If your achilles tendons or knees hurt ...


You might be better off sorting out your fit issues before you go on tour. Have a read over this site to get some ideas:
CYCLING PERFORMANCE TIPS - Leg, Knee, and Hip Pain
CYCLING PERFORMANCE TIPS - Foot Syndromes

If you can't sort it yourself, you might need a professional fitting.

IK_biker

Not bad, Max.
However, in more detail:

#6
Leatherman Crunch has the locking pliers, the Charge does not.

#9
Loud wailing could be equally efficient in this situation. As would screaming. Whatever the user preference is....

#22
Not so true in the old US of A about metric fasteners...

#24
Only if combined with no blood-flow restriction whatsoever. Caveat emptor!

#25 is entirely wrong, on too many levels to be left unchecked.
A little hole in a blister is like opening hells' gates to all undesirables.... in this case it is eons better if all dead skin gets removed, and the wound gets bandaged properly. I won't bother here with quoting proper references, you can find those by yourself.

#36
Not expected this from you, given your familiarity with BPL.com!!!
A tennis ball canister adds extra unnecessary weight. The same items can be contained elsewhere. As I recall, this is the Touring subforum, where riders have luggage already available....

#39
Shimano pins are a scam bordering embezzlement. Use extra SRAM Powerlinks instead...

#40-49 are really good. I'd only wish you added a #49 .5 "Ditch your underwear"...

#53
add:
cleat positioning, biking shorts padding (presence, thickness, and / or positioning)

#58saddle
True only with properly positioned saddles... Unfortunately, lots of tourers have no clue what "proper" means in this context....

#6 3
True, as long as the user has a rear-view mirror of any sort...

#6 9
True for most people (all males and most females) for the upper torso. Not true for the lower body.

#73
nothing more than an anecdote... have you tried riding with not putting tape on the spokes, any difference of note? You still alive?

#77
Excellent, and I bet most riders would entirely miss this one.....

#78
Misleading. In case of a steel frame and Aluminum seatpost, grease won't do - only anti-seize compound would!

#9 5
Awesome. Most people have heard about the velcro-strap around brake levers and handlebar, but this is another gem right there!

#9 6
Way off on this one. Can you quote, just for grins, what is the manufacturer-recommended torque for outboard-shells of bottom brackets? And you want the user to turn this by hand?!
Phewww...

#9 8
Questionable at best.
How many disc brake systems are you familiar with - sufficiently to claim that this "tip" would work?
I am quite familiar with Avid BB7 - both mountain and road, and with the Shimano M375, to the point of having tens of thousands of miles on each, and still disagree with blindly following this tip of yours....
It is much simpler to leave this alone - to the manufacturer's suggested adjustment practices. A disc brake user knows what to wathc for, or if not - will learn quickly the hard way, your "tip" adds no real value.

Overall, given the quality of your blog, I honestly expected you'd do better on this one....

shipwreck

Some tried and true stuff, some opinion. I agree with IK biker on a lot.

Also, ditching your racks is not a hack but an opinion, and this from someone who has ditched their racks. In fact, many things that millennials consider "hacks" are kind of silly. Bringing an extra small backpack for overflow is a "tip" at best.

thumpism 

4. Laminate a photocopy...or better yet, top tube.
Good tip, but I think you must mean head tube or steerer tube. I don't know how you'd get that item into the top tube or how someone could get it out without cutting into the frame.

Machka 

Several times in that list, you mention building campfires.

Is that something you commonly do?

I haven't built a campfire in a decade ... most of the places I've been don't allow it. Here in Australia it is just not something you'd do, nor is there any need to do it. Most campgrounds have camp kitchens. I've never felt the need to build a campfire when camping in Japan or Europe either. And where building campfires was somewhat popular in Canada a number of years ago, I suspect you'd be drawn and quartered if you attempted to do that right now!!

We find it much more efficient to use the camp kitchen or one of Rowan's Trangias.

mdilthey

I probably shouldn't share this... but a little bird told me that the most important lesson they taught professional mechanics at the Specialized bike fit training was how to convince people they were getting their money's worth.

Read the sites Machka linked, sort your bike to nearly-there, make micro-adjustments as your patience and pain dictates, but don't waste your money on a $300 professional bike fitting. They aren't magicians unless you're brainless and floundering to begin with.

mdilthey

My bike has an access point for the top tube, not all do. Stow as your frame allows.

mdilthey

Alright, I guess I'll bite.


#6 , Thanks!

#22 , we have had different experiences. All my little local places have stainless metric fine-thread bolts.

#24 , Not sure what you mean, fleeces don't restrict blood flow!

#25 , I'm following the advice I got to lance, drain, cover, and disinfect. If you want to expose a square centimeter of skin to infection, you can go right ahead.

#36 . If you're using soft bottles in a framebag to save weight, but you still have room for a bottle cage, but you have no bottle, the tennis ball canister is made from very thin but durable plastic and is quite useful. Observe!



#39 , I'm surprised you're so vitriolic about such a mundane item. They work, and they're very uncomplicated, but to each their own.

#53 , 58- I decided not to put in "Do a full bike fitting" because that tip exists in 500 other places, so I just put in a few that struck me a certain way. This is not a compendium, just a collection.

#73 . You're saying because you're alive, having reflectors at night is BS? Okay, have at it!

#78 . I've been using grease, and it's not frozen! I've used anti-seize and didn't notice having to do things any less often, except the anti-seize cost more.

#96 . Forgot a step. You tie in a wrench, strong stick, or a borrowed metal pipe using the strap and that's your lever. I'll fix it. I was tired by this part of the list.

#98 . Told to me by a veteran 20-year mechanic and ex-professional Cat 1 cyclocross racer. I trust him more than I trust your personal anecdotes about your personal brakes that you personally tried. He's adjusted several thousand, you've adjusted a handful? At this point I'm just getting a strong sense that you're being pedantic to be pedantic.

So, there, I humored you, and thanks for the help with two typos, but the rest of your comments...

hilltowner

I love the list and have no quibbles with it. I might add that many town picnic pavilions are great places to take a break, munch on a snack and look for an electric outlet to charge a phone, etc.

3speed

While I appreciate some of these "hacks" (tips), some of them are just wacky. Who the hell wants to wear wet clothes to bed? What if it isn't that warm out? And what are you smoking with this black clothes in the sun nonsense? I know the internets is never wrong, but I've been in the sun exercising before, first hand. There's probably also a reason that desert folks (as in cultures who have lived in the desert for generations) tend to wear light colored clothes. I also really don't think you need to obsess about greasing your seat-post every time it rains. I think I only pull mine once or twice a year(depending on the bike's use) for annual tune-up. I've never had a post not come right out. The only stuck posts I've dealt with were from very old bikes that had been sitting for a long time. Thanks for making the list, though. Surely most who read it learned at least a couple tips.

Leebo

Food and cooking? I can't do bars all day, I need real food.

indyfabz

+1. Last month I did my first tour of more than 2 nights out on the road without cooking. Didn't like it. I might consider it again if I were touring in an area where I could be guaranteed easy access to a decent variety of quality food with an emphasis on carbs and nutrition. South Dakota really wasn't that place for the most part. Lots of meat, pizza and bar-type food like burgers.

Leebo

Here at least in the Northeast part of the USA, every camp site has a firepit. How do you make s'mores without one? They are graham crackers, toasted marshmallows and some chocolate bars put together. When done toasting, the marshmallow melts the chocolate for a perfect after dinner snack. Some people cook over the fire as well. Keeps bugs away and you can get warm if needed too. Camp kitchen? What is that?

indyfabz

I think she is referring to a building where you can prepare meals. At the Towne Campsite in Waterton Village, AB, there are several of them. They have long, wood burning stoves for warmth and cooking. Stayed there twice They are actually quite handy as the winds blowing off the lake can be fierce. I cannot imagine having an outdoor fire in a place like that because of the dangers posed by blowing embers.

When we were there last (in '09) the woman who checked us in at the campground unofficially suggested that we might want to sleep in one of the camp kitchens due to the wind and cold. We saw a pitched tent angled at about 45 degrees and understood what she mentioned. Entered the one closest to our site and found that a couple had already get a nice fire going in the stove. They had some sort of small trailer and were hanging out in there for more space. We pitched our tent inside and spent the night out of the wind and in relative warmth.

Personally, I love a good fire. Only made one last month while touring the Black Hills, due in part to rain several nights. Since I usually travel with a liquid fuel stove, I can start them easily assuming I have dry wood to burn. Sprinkle a little white gas, light match, get away.

Machka 

I know what Smores are ... when I was a kid, we'd build campfires in the middle of winter and make them. Never in the summer, though. But that was a long, long time ago. And they weren't a particular favourite of mine.

And a camp kitchen is a building found in many/most campgrounds here in Australia and also in some parts of Europe, Japan, and Canada. It might be fully enclosed, but is more likely to be open on one or more sides.

It might not contain very much ... perhaps just a BBQ or wood stove (and firemaking equipment is often supplied in those cases), a sink, and a few picnic tables. Or it might be fully equipped with BBQ, fridge, microwave, sink, tables, chairs, etc. etc. The ones in Australia are often fully equipped.

You could feed yourself on a tour here buying frozen dinners from the camp store or a nearby grocery store and heating them up in a microwave.

When I first toured Australia in 2004, my cycling partner brought a little camp stove and we used it the first couple nights, but then we discovered these camp kitchens and didn't use it again during the next 3 months. Nor did we build fires, of course.