Old 06-27-13 | 07:34 PM
  #17  
01 CAt Man Do's Avatar
01 CAt Man Do
Senior Member
 
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,152
Likes: 9
From: Columbia, Maryland

Bikes: Mountain bike & Hybrid tour bike

Originally Posted by SecondChildhood
I have touring in mind, and thanks to yours and others' comments, I think the Luxos U is the way to go for a headlight and USB for the cellphone and anything else I can charge with USB. By "computer" I mean what you refer to as speedometer, a Planet Bike Protégé 9.0 Cyclocomputer (at least for now). Yes, it does take a battery that lasts for years, but the point is not to use any outside juice at all. I may have to compromise on that point.
Thanks, everybody, for your comments so far!
To help us help you we really need a little more info on what kind of touring you are planning. Hard to recommend things when you really don't know what situations you will be dealing with. What I would consider doing during a tour might not be what someone else might do and vise versa.

Touring ( which I've never done before per say ) would mean making sacrifices. That would be hard enough as I see it without putting in the limitation of being overly green-minded. I figure it's enough to worry about how much food and water you have, whither you know where you are going to sleep next, what weather is coming down the pike..etc, etc. Many things to worry about on an unsupported tour. I figure it's better to have options. The more the better. If that means plugging into an electrical outlet somewhere along the way I'd consider doing that if it means more peace of mind. Now if you can limit your use of electrical devices to just minutes a day then the possibility of having everything charge off of a dynamo becomes more possible.

Things I might consider doing to help with electronic devices. : I would consider buying a good dynamo/ lamp. I doubt I would do much riding at night on a tour but things happen. I would use at least one USB/self-contain rear light and one rear light that uses standard AA's. Standard AA or triple A's you can buy almost anywhere. To help power the smart phone I would purchase a couple extra external ( USB )rechargeable batteries. I would then let one of the spare batteries charge all day on a solar charger and see how that works. The other battery would be supporting my smart phone/ GPS so I wouldn't have to worry about the internal battery fading after riding all day. Personally If I were doing the tour I figure I'd sleep in a hotel at least every four of five days just so I could get the stink off of me. I could also charge everything up to full capacity and be set for the next couple days ( good Lord willing and the creek don't rise )
01 CAt Man Do is offline  
Reply