Pine Cone

I just got back from a week in British Columbia where I was car camping with my wife and 13-year old son Jacob. We took two Downtube VIIIHs and a KHS Alite mountain bike. While I really like my bike, my son and wife both preferred her mostly-stock DT VIIIH. I replace the bottom bracket and crankset, adding a 39 tooth ring in front, but otherwise the bike is stock.

I have traveled with bikes and a car before, including several trips with a tandem, a MTB and 3 kids bikes. I have a small trailer that can hold 5 bikes on top, but for this trip we put the mountain bike on the trailer and the DT's in their bags inside the back of my Xterra. I wanted the MTB for some real single-track riding where I wanted better suspension and lower gears that the folders have, but I always worry about bikes and/or parts being ripped off the bikes stored on the trailer since you have limited storage options with full-sized bikes.

The folders were a total success! We mostly rode on gravel or dirt roads. The stock Kenda's did OK on everything we rode on except loose gravel where we really needed knobbies. My son and wife fought over who got to ride her DT VIIIH. Lucky for me they didn't like my bike because they thought my WTB saddle was too hard. The bikes were easy to fold and unfold, even when stored in their soft cases. Much quicker to get at than the old "unlock and get them off the bike rack" of previous trips and no worries about seats, pedals, pumps or tools going walkabout. I know I took some pictures of the bikes, but they seem to have disappeared off my camera.

We went on a small piece of the Kettle Valley Railway trail which we had biked 6 years earlier before the Myra Canyon area burned. By next year all of the trestles that burned will have been rebuilt, but this time we just went on the Othello tunnels portion near Hope. The other great ride was the Kelowna Mission Greenway trail which was perfect for the bikes. We also used them at the campgrounds we stayed at.

While not as exotic as many of the other trips posted here we had a great time and the bikes passed with flying colors. My chain came off on a rought dirt downhill once, but other than than no mechanical problems at all. Next stop our California trip in a couple of weeks!

Kettle Valley Railway near Hope, BC


Mission Greenway Trail, Kelowna, BC

JeremyZ

Thanks for the pix & post. I'm jealous of you west-coast fellas who actually have something other than flat farmland & suburbs.

Pine Cone

Just got back from a trip to northern California with the DT VIIIH's. Had a great time, but on steep dirt roads we could have used lower gears. We had to walk the steepest hills, but otherwise the bikes worked fine. Mostly dirt roads with fairly hard surfaces. Here is a picture of the bikes, my wife, and a pretty big sugar pine tree we rode by...

EvilV

Nice pictures. I've just been for 3 days with my Merc to the English Lake District and put another 62 miles on my bike. It rained a lot, as it is doing in England this summer. On one of the days I did 33 miles. It wasn't that tiring. My new policy of riding more is improving my stamina.

ricohman

My folder will always be along on vacation now.

14R 

18 more days and I will be on vacation with my Brompton: Washington D.C. then Brazil. But I have a decent picture of me and a Downtube in Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 2004.

EvilV

Fantastic picture Rafael. If you tire of fixing teeth, you can have another career as an advertising photographer. Yan would want to pay for the rights to that picture I'd say. Probably worth a free mini at least.

Simple Simon

14R - Rafael what a stunning picture ! ... i'm surprised Yan hasn't splashed it all over his site ... at 1st glance I was sure it was a dahon picture

14R 

Yan has the rights of this and several others stunning pictures that I hope one day he uses them. If you check www.downtube.com, you will see some others as part of the main menu, but I am sure he saved the best for later.

For those not familiar, that was taken at Ipanema Beach in Rio De Janeiro Brazil. The "Twin Brothers" are the signature mountains of the view of that beach.





There is a bike trail that is over 50 miles all the way from Downtown Rio to the base of that mountain. T - 29 days and counting.

SesameCrunch

14R: You've got some great photography skills!

14R 

Thank you. But for the record, the last 2 pictures are not mine.

EvilV

I know. Why do my pictures look so crappy?

lphillips

I'm heading out to the Grand Canyon and Zion with the family in August and am planning to take my Swift with me. I picked up a hard shell suitcase about a month ago and have tried packing/unpacking the Swift many times. Hopefully the suitcase won't be a problem on the airline, as I'm really looking forward to riding while I'm out there (and taking lots of pictures!)

Oh yeah, we'll be in Las Vegas for a couple of days as well and hope to get a few shots of the Swift on the Strip as well!

kraftwerk 

I took my folder to Seoul, not the best city for riding a bike!! but I never regretted having my own wheels to explore the city..

maunakea

kraftwerk.... you rode the Hangang riverside park, I assume, and maybe Namsan?

Bag your bike and train out to Kyongju?

https://user.chollian.net/~boonstra/korea/cycle.htm

https://user.chollian.net/~boonstra/blackwl/

TMB

Pine Cone,

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip, I go past this spot on the Mission Creek at least twice a day, every day.

It is within 2 or 3 miles of my house, I live just below Myra Canyon, right below what would have been the Myra Station in the old railroad days.

EvilV

That trail through Myra Canyon looks pretty fabulous. Just googled it and looked up a few photos ->

EvilV

Pine Cone

[QUOTE=EvilV;4973747]That trail through Myra Canyon looks pretty fabulous. Just googled it and looked up a few photos ->

Unfortunately the Myra Canyon area burned a few years ago. Most of the trestles that burned have been rebuilt and the remainder should be finished later this year, but it will take a decade or five before it has the same size trees and vistas.

Here's a few more pix from our visit in 2001 (sorry, no folders). The link below has the best info...

https://www.planet.eon.net/~dan/kvr.html

TMB

Yep, there were 18 trestles up there and 17 of them burned.

The fire was in 2003, the burn line came within about 1 kilometer of our house and we were evacuated twice during the fight.

We knew when the trestles went up, we were watching the fire progress from our driveway since it was burning up the hill from the us.

Whenever a trestle went there was a burst of bright flame followed by black smoke as the creosote burned.

It was pretty sad but happy to see the trestles re-built.

kraftwerk 

Yeah, I rode Namsan everday up the hill Which was hard with a 53 x16 single-speed let me tell you!!Otherwise I was riding down by the river. The road along the bottom of the Mt. Namsan is best but I discovered that it is not allowed to ride there, for some assinine reason. Bikes certainly get the short end of the stick in that town! I road down the river as far as I could go where the path be came dirt then swamp then highway.. something was under construction... It was a nice flat ride for the s-s.