This is the big plus for me, particularly as I like (and can afford) older bikes. I can adjust bar height easily to suit my preference or adapt a bike for a different purpose like touring. I suspect changing to threadless was more of a boon to manufacturers and shops than to riders.

As an aside, does anyone know a source for aftermarket wipers for old shocks (RockShox Mag21's). There's a set on cl and I found a source for seals, but not wipers. Threaded :D

Cool story. And good ride! I actually did the cross-Canada thing as well (check out www.whereisjer.com) in 2003. It's funny that I'm talking to you, simply b/c I have this friend who wants to do a cross-Canada trip this summer, and directed me to your site, saying he wanted to follow your same route! Don't know if he'll follow through, but he plans to do the ride on a tandem with a blind person. Fund raising is also in the plans.

I'm actually working for the Tour of California, so I'll be there for the whole race, however I wouldn't want to offer getting Hincapie to sign your jersey. Every rider/team is very accessable for me, with the exception of Disco. They're very private at the races: always park their team bus away from all the others, and they always stay in their own hotel (all other teams stay together). This is known as the 'Lance-factor', b/c obviously he was a publicity/attention magnet, but even though he's no longer riding for them, they still behave like he is. Good luck with the jersey, though.

I wonder if the other teams sleep better with Disco staying away from the hotel.

My actually city ride, long ride, lock up bike would be threadless for sure. My NJS glam ride would be threadless.

To everyone who has done cross-continental tours here: How much did you spend on airfare?

My buddy and I are planning on starting in LA, and then biking north to BC and east to Toronto. If we are lucky we can get flights for as little as $200 one way, which would mean our primary expense for the trip will be food and drink. We are planning on camping the whole way and cooking what we can, taking 2-3 months to do it.

We still need to buy the tent and a few supplies but apart from that we are pretty well set but my friend is still at school (no job like me) and needs to know if he'll have to borrow money from the parental unit.

Basically do any of you have a rough idea of how much you spent on airfare and food?

I've gotten flights to LA for sub 200 US one-way but there is no way to know when such deals will arise. I would budget 400 and then another 100-200 for on hand emergency transportation money incase you destroy a bike or body and need to get a bus somewhere.

Don't forget to check into additional charges for bikes as well. Air Canada are jerks about it and it's about $75 one way, as I recall. Many carriers won't take camping stoves, even without fuel. What I generally have done is mail it to myself poste restante and picked it up whereever I started out. You could consider hennessy hammocks instead of tents. That's what I've started using...

No answer for the primary question though :D

Oh yeah those Hennessy hammocks are all I use when surf camping these days. Easier set up, I find them comfortable, great protection from mosquitoes and OK protection from rain with the fly tarp set up. So much lighter and easier to pack as well. I can set mine up in under 5 minutes with a headlamp after a day of surfing no problem. The only issue would be in the prairies where trees are a rarity.

Reason #3450405423 that I love wikipedia: the zanta entry

Anyone ever tried one of these?

http://www.deanwoods.com.au/store/im...k_bikamper.jpg

http://www.deanwoods.com.au/store/prod964.htm

I got lucky with my airfare, b/c I flew when Air Tango still existed. Total cost for two tickets (TO > Van and then St. John's NL > TO) was $440.

Food was by far my most expensive 'item'. I can't find my trip budget right now, but maybe around $1500 for a 57 day trip.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I just booked a ticket from LA > TO for $262 USD on United, all taxes in.

I've been meaning to check those out. 32Flavours has one of those too and swears by it. You can set them up with no trees with trekking poles as well I believe, not that you'll (shiznaz) be travelling with trekking poles (I assume), but you could possibly rig something up with the bikes. :P

If it were me flying to LA, I'd look at Southwest flying out of Buffalo. It's a pain to get there, but my roommate flies within the US all the time and says that SW is usually WAY cheaper. They have $99 one way flights sometimes.

As for food: I think the $1500 idea is good. It will depend on the length of your trip though. I have no idea how long it takes to go from LA to Van, so I don't know. But, my experience and Tovi's (apparently) is to budget $30 a day. You can go cheaper, but budget that, you'll be sick of PB&J sandwiches quick!!

+1 on the Buffalo idea. I flew to NYC on JetBlue out of Buffalo a couple of years ago and it was fully half the price of the cheapest flight I found out of Toronto.

Tovi,

I know exactly who you are talking about, I went to law school with him. Last time I heard he had changed the plans to possibly either go from Toronto to Halifax, or Van to Thunder Bay. He has three weeks (apparently) and I told him that Toronto to Halifax is only two, and Van to Thunder Bay is four (or thereabouts) so who knows.

I rode with him in the fall and we made it about 25km, after three rest stops and he thought we should turn around. So let's hope he starts training. ;)

On the idea of food I've gotten into the habit of traveling with 3-5 MREs when I'm going to be away from civilization for any length of time. There great for when its raining and cooking is the last thing you want to do or if you do get stuck somewhere you at least have some food energy. I bought a box of US Military ones and that I'm still working through but I know that MEC sells similiar and much tastier versions. Just make sure you get some hot sauce in whatever you eat, there not exactly the easiest things to digest in the world.

Hah! Yigal Rifkind! Hilarious! Yah, he keeps insisting that Van > TBay can be done in 3 weeks, but I keep telling him no. Last time we spoke (maybe two weeks ago), I talked him into doing TO > Hali, which would make an excellent three week ride.

mmm Salisbury Steak in a bag.

You can buy boxes of american MRE's off ebay. Only one of them was good though. I think it was the rice with m&ms.

Has anyone ever felt the need to carry an EPIRB with them while touring?

Sorry, can't help with the question... but I'd love to hear where you found replacement seals. I'm not sure which part is exactly which, but I think the seal is the part I need for my old Judy XC. I gave up on it after calling RockShox and a few local stores but I still have the fork and would like to get it back together again if possible.

American? Good God man if your ordering military ration boilers get Canadian, the US soldiers would practically trade a Jeep for one of my meals.

I think Van to TBay can be done in three weeks, but it would be a hard three weeks, and it wouldn't be much fun. Toronto to Halifax in three weeks is simple. We should suggest Toronto to St. John's. It would add a few more days onto the trip, but at least it's more of a three week trip.

Hopefully he does ride somewhere.

Looks pretty cool, though I originally thought it was a tent to keep my bikes dry in the elements. Looks like a great idea for a tour, but would want it to cover the bike more me thinks.

I got a great deal on the US ones and I got to choose the types that went into the box which made it worthwhile. The honest truth is that if I'm eating an MRE I don't care what it tastes like I want the calories and thats about it. Ours are pretty good though, I never understood why some of the varieties are so horrible, if an army marches on its stomach then Iraq makes sense if there eating most of that stuff. They do, however, give you a ton of calories. I trekked through the jungle in Costa for 10 days once and survived on them because making fires was impossible or inadvisable most of the trip. I was happy to get back to real food but I was able to survive without any problems on two meals a day.

A question for you all since you seem to be experienced in the touring:

How far per day is reasonable? Would two weeks be a reasonable amount of time to do Sydney NS to St Johns with a side trip to Gros Morne national park?

For intake you can't go wrong. NOTE: Dehydrated potato flakes make neat trip flares,

I think I averaged 135km a day, and that was through mountains. But, that's a pretty reasonable ride on most days, in my opinion. So, since I"m not sure how far those locations are apart, I can't say.

http://www.enduroforkseals.com/id46.html

The also have pdf's for a stinkload of OEM manuals as well as pictorials for a number of forks. You can also go to angryasian.com if you have questions about your fork. Excellent resource for fork maintenance.

Enduro responded to my email query about stock instantly.

One way? That's probably about 1100km's of riding (not including little day/side trips obviously). My only distance cycling experience is riding to Montreal last Summer which was about 650km in 6 days (charity ride) which was a fairly relaxed pace, but that was easy peasy.