Dry it off and lube it up when the sun shines!

Yep, same as riding when it rains, or when I wash it. It's gonna get wet, relax and lube it afterward.

Okay, that's fair. Do you lube just the chain, or also the ball bearings, on a regular basis?

Yea, the chain is a good place to start. Be sure to wipe the chain clean of all excess oil after you lubricate it. Bearings are unlikely to require any lubrication unless they have been submurged. Lightly lubricate the pivot points on the derailure and put a little lubricant at the orifices of your cables. A little oil goes a long way. Over lubricating just attracts dirt and grit.

I bought a bike that's PAINTED and to my knowledge there's no bare metal anywhere.

My approach is to lube it really good every week to ten days and then just run it 'til it wears out and replace it.

Want to carry salt and pepper but don't want to bring individual shakers or the packets you grab from restaurants are always saturated by moisture? Use a clean contact lens case. Your salt and pepper will always be together and it never gets ruined by moisture. You can ask waitresses at restaurants to refill them for you when you run low.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=409794

The best garbage bags I've found are turkey bags. They're practically indistructable, don't leak oder and are just about the right size for 1 person up to a week or more in the back country . Thats what I use anyway. :)

What is a turkey bag? And where can you get one? I like to carry a couple of durable, light weight bags when touring. There is always a good use for them.

Turkey oven bags..that you cook a turkey in...but marijuana dealers probably buy most of them..pretty much a standard way to store/sell a Pound..lol

Something I learned in the military....

buy a pancho liner. They are made of silk and are extremely light and warm.

Cuz they're practically indestructible and don't leak odor!
You've already sold me!

Course waxed nylon thread is a good alternative to zip ties for securing housing or cables. I already carry some with the awl I use for bag repair and modification.

I was determined to carry my DSLR on my one week tour last year but could not find a handlebar bag and mount system (at least not one I was willing to pay for) that would work with the secondary "cross" brake levers on the bars. My solution: a Lowepro fanny pack camera bag and a cam strap. I ran the cam strap across between the front end of the drop bars, threading it through the tripod straps on the bottom of the fanny pack. This supported the bag and the remaining part of the loop ran across the back side of the bag and held it away from the brake levers. The cam strap helped to absorb the road noise and I felt much better about the camera being in a dedicated camera bag. If this explanation makes no sense and you are interested in how it works, drop me a note and I can make the effort to post a pic.

The the nicest thing about this setup was it only took seconds to unclip the bag from the bike and pull the belt straps out to use it as a fanny pack so I did not have to walk around with a handlebar bag in my hand. I also left the cam strap on the bike and re-routed it through the front wheel as a quick theft deterrent.

I love this thread, hope to see more replies about things people do on tour, it's very helpful. My two favorites that I've used are the velcro strap parking brake and the tube being used as a hose pipe. I added a small hose clamp and carry it in a small nylon bag, use it to wash off the bike and can be used to shower with.

There's a lighted cap for the malgene bottle fire fly works great and doubles as safety light it has blinking mode.

Got a zipper that sticks on your tent or whatever? Just rub some chapstick on it.

No special treatment for the bikes. Just use a motel "give away" shower cap to cover the saddle.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...27c9efdec3.jpg

I've always used an extra produce bag from the store. What you do is put an extra bag in the bag you have the produce you're buying. Now you have a nice bag that hasn't been unfolded. Easy to pack away till needed too.

I think its great fun that you call it a "hobble" because that is what I started calling it. Here is mine: http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=441030http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=441031

This may have been mentioned before but if your cycling shoes get really soaked after riding all day in the rain, stuff them with newspapers at night and the next day, they'll be much drier and more comfortable to ride in. If you have time to change out the newspaper twice, even better.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...fe7ff6d833.jpg

Good tip!

And a tip for drying clothes on a rainy night ...

If you camp with a tent that has a fly, drape your clothes over the top of the tent, but under the fly.

I did that on a rainy Golden Triangle tour, and my rain-soaked cycling gear was actually reasonably dry by morning. :)

Here are 2 tips that I have added to my touring over the years. 1) Road ID have had it for 6 or 7 years and giving it as a gift to my children and grand children. Initial price is $79 then its like $9 or 10 a month. goes beyond being a medical alert bracelet RoadID.com check it out. 2) Bicycle insurance covering medical and death $250,000 worth Created by Cyclist for touring most of the world. I paid $22 a month probably because of my age 63 much lower for the young in's at 64 November for me the policy will terminate planning to ride from Philadelphia to Saint Augustine FL before that happens. Great peace of mind. Balance for Cyclist (Assurant Insurance) are the underwriters.


wind at your back always

Apologies if this one has been posted but it saved me a lot of walking a few days ago....

I snapped a rear shifter cable while touring in the mountains with a buddy. We used a couple of four inch zip ties to hold the rear dérailleur in third gear. This allowed me to ride up hills that I could not have tackled at the high end of my 9-speed cassette. I was slow on the flats but overall, it was a great fix.

Somebody might read this stuff
99 Bikepacking Lifehacks - Bikepackers Magazine
be carefull what you wish for, you might get it.

sample from the link

1. Ditch your camp shoes.
2. Ditch your camp chair.
3. Ditch your clothesline.
4. Ditch your groundsheet.
5. Ditch your magnesium firestarter.
6. Ditch your mini tripod. Stack rocks instead.
7. Ditch your bowl, cup, mug, pan, and plate. A spork and pot is enough.
8. Ditch your stuff sacks.
9. Ditch your spare anything, except tubes.
10. Ditch your fear of not having something. You can buy almost anything, almost anywhere. If you can’t, you probably shouldn’t be wanting it. If your trip is an exception to this, you probably don’t need this list.

Use Galileo maps. Sweet to be able to download the map of the state(s) you'll be visiting and never have to worry about not knowing where you are

Touring Tips - Use Galileo Maps ? Madcap Cycle Tours

I use Here. It's rated a little better on Google Play store and far more users on it. It does have some things that I personally like. I can figure out where I'm at offline. You can also navigate pretty well offline too. You just need to download the region. It does have also a public transit layer you can click and add. Still looking for that perfect app for bicyclists, this aint bad, but not perfect.

also https://www.here.com

Nice, I'd never heard of Here but it's great from first glance. Thanks!

You can boil water in a small milk carton. I am talking about a paper milk carton box with a layer of wax. Not a plastic milk jug. If you've ever drank milk out of a small milk carton at school then you know what I am talking about.
I open a milk carton all the way up, at the top, with no sides touching or connected. About an inch down from the top, poke a hole and another hole on the opposing side in the same area. Take your shoe string and run through both holes and tie together with one end of shoe string way longer then the other end, like in a loop sorta with one end way longer. The long end of the shoe string is what you are going to hold on to. Put water in milk carton. Grab long part of shoe string at the end and pick up and place milk carton over small fire.
You hold the shoe string tied to the milk carton, with the milk carton barely above the flames. It doesn't matter to much if the flames touch the bottom of milk carton. The water and the wax stops the milk carton from burning. No water or liquid and the carton burns.
You can use the milk carton over and over just don't smash it or drag behind your bike to far. It's next to impossible if the milk carton has holes or cracks in the bottom. The water is also good for human consumption, If you can drink boiling water. Oh and you don't need a big camp fire or you'll burn your hand. You can use grass and twigs just fine or a sterno can or what ever small fire or flame you can make.

Now for the life saver:
Take two, 1 liter soda pop bottles, and fill with hot boiling water, put the cap back on the bottles and throw them in your sleeping bag and you have the most toasty wonderful heat ever, for 4 hours. I put the bottles down by my feet and if they are too hot, then wrap in a towel or clothing. I've never had them burn me without wrapping them up, though. When the temperatures are down in the teens you might have to wake up in the middle of the night and boil the water again. And save the water because the water is just fine to drink.
It will not melt your sleeping bag or harm it in anyway.
The bottles will crinkle up but just keep re-using. It doesn't hurt anything.Also don't use the really thin water bottles out of a grocery store. The thicker the plastic the better.

And now to save you when your between a rock and a hard spot.
Back millions and millions of years ago when harley motorcycles had tubes in their tires and that's all they had, smart people used carnation condensed milk as a fix-a flat type thing and here is how it all works.
1.Take valve stem out of tube.
2.open 1 can of carnation condensed milk and get a big mouth full of milk (Don't swallow).
3. squirt milk through valve stem into tube.
Fill your mouth 3 times and squirt and your good to go.
4. You know the rest! Put valve stem back in and air it up.
This technique works best if you put the milk in before you run through a patch of goat heads. However just make sure when you air up your tires that the air tries to shoot the milk out the holes, if any holes. I use tires that inflate to between 45-55 lbs and it works like a charm. Not sure about high pressure tires though. The milk works as slime but way cheaper and the milk doesn't clog up your valve stem like slime and let air out.
It also works best in high temperatures, 80 degrees or above. Doing this in cold or cool temperatures is somewhat difficult.
I'll probably get sued by the slime company for telling you this.L.O.L. You'll never use slime again.
Just try it when your out of patches and your in a lonely little town and no one sells patch kits. It's always worked for me. It adds weight so I use patches as much as possible.
May the tail winds be with you.
If you can re-write my directions in a more explainable way by all means, please do.