permanentjaun

Not sure why I'm being put on the chopping block. I'm sorry if I decide to give the bike away that I don't just give it to the first person that says, "hey I'm going on a tour, give me your bike."

I think my selection process is fair enough. The tour has to be long enough so that someone who just looks at it as an opportunity to get a free bike doesn't get it. I've already stated why I think it would be beneficial for someone to do the tour alone and more toward camping each night.

Maybe I don't want to give the bike to anyone. What's the point in that? I'd rather give it to someone who I think has a great chance of appreciating the experience and idea more.

You say it would be hard to meet someone who meets my requirements. In fact I already met someone like that. He was the only long distance tourer I met on the tour, Steve. He was still in grad school, going from Boston to Seattle, riding solo, had plenty of gear for camping, and was riding for the Lance Armstrong Foundation just because it was easy to get connected to the charity and for the additional benefits of discounts online. I'm sure he wouldn't have mind riding for autism either. There is always someone out there willing to do what you're asking if there is incentive. Hell, there's a scholorship given to a high school students for the couple that makes the best prom dress out of duct tape. https://www.stuckatprom.com/contests/prom/ It looks like they had over 4000 entries last year.

I would subject someone to the pitfalls of my ''inferior'' equipment so long as they're willing to do so. As I mentioned either in my journal, or on here, the experiences of the breakdowns added to the trip instead of detracting from it. I'll never forget the great people I met at Quick Service Cycle in Martins Ferry, OH when my rear rim destroyed itself, or the guys at Bike-n-Bean in Sedona, AZ when my bottom bracket failed. I wouldn't have gone to Wichita, Kansas and met the guys at Tom Sawyer Bike Shop when spokes started to snap. Besides meeting the people, figuring out for myself how to get past the obstacles of breakdowns made for the better. I think the gear is pretty solid now anyways. The rack probably won't break, the new rear rim is pretty solid, the new bottom bracket has been solid for over 3000 miles, and the drive train still shifts fine.

Not everything is always hunky dorey on a tour. I'm not going to give someone my bike if they want a tour with zero problems or challenges. Sorry if you don't agree with me, but some people are more deserving to receive a free bike and gear regardless if it's worth $100 or $1000 dollars. This is all moot if I decide to keep the bike anyways.


Anyone else have any thoughts on what I should do with the bike and gear?

Robert_in_ca

Nah, just turn it into a mountain bike and have some fun on it! You should keep that bike forever, it'll bring back memories about your trip.

robmcl

I have read about half of your journal. I am glad you made one because after this thread I was curious how things turned out. I just had a couple of questions though as I am interested in what of your equipment worked and what you would change.

After all the discussion earlier in this thread about bike frames and such were you comfortable on your bike? If you knew before you started what you know now, is there anything you would have changed with this set up?

If you were going to do it again on the same budget, is there any gear you think would be worth spending more money on if you could?

Was there a piece of gear that you were particularly pleased with how it performed?

All in all though it seemed to be a pretty efficeint set-up. It probably was not ideal but it got the job done on your budget.

mtnbiktn

Auction it off and donate the money to the very reason for the ride. Since the publicity has been good, you might be surprised what someone will give to help with the cause.

permanentjaun

Good questions.

The frame seemed to work fine. I wasn't in the most aerodynamic position since I wasn't using drop downs, but the frame seemed large enough. I didn't have any knee problems till the last 200-300 miles. I don't blame that on the frame. I think it was a freak condition that sprang up for some reason. It could have been internal bruising I couldn't see from when I wiped out in NY. I don't know. For the budget I was on, the frame worked wonders. My next bike I will be going to my LBS to be fitted though.

I don't know if there was anything I would change about the setup. When I eventually got rid of the radio and all the food that took up lots of pannier room it was real easy to pack and get around. I developed my system of what articles of clothing I could strap out in the open for easy access, how to secure the bags, etc.. There wasn't much to change about the setup though. It's 3 bags, a rack, fenders, trekking bars, mtb gears and crankset. Only thing I could reasonably do is change the tire size. I wouldn't go any thinner that's for sure. You never know when a shoulder is going to turn into gravel and rocks, or when a road you are taking is just a dirt path.

Gear I would spend more money on; I kind of touched on that in the journal in noting which items I discarded such as the radio, most of the food, solar charger, etc.. Out of the gear I kept I think I would have gotten a smaller dromedary bag for starters. I thought I was going to be relying on water a lot more than I actually did. When I started the tour I would be able to go around 15-20 miles per water bottle and at the end of the tour it was closer to 20-30. This was partly because I switched to gatorade and got more bang for the buck. I really only had to use the dromedary bag a couple times for reserve water as most of the time I would be able to refill my water bottles somewhere every 30-40 miles. I probably would have been fine with a 2L dromedary bag. It was a good purchase though because I used it as a pillow every night and it worked well like that. I also didn't have to fill the full 6L's and it essentially was a 2L bag. No big woop there.

I would spend more money on a decent cyclocomputer and a nice quality pump. I got the cheapies from nashbar for both. The computer started resetting itself with only 400 miles in to the ride. You need to have a computer not only to see how fast you're going, but also to keep track of how far you're going. All my directions were, "turn left/north on to madison ave. Ride for 3.6 miles." So I need to know when to start looking. It helps you stay on the right track a lot easier IMO.

A quality pump is really something that is essential. If you can't inflate your tires and you flat, you're dead. The problem I had with the nashbar is the mouthpiece that goes over the valve stem unscrewed itself somewhere on 74 in CA, and left me. I had no way to inflate my tires. My next section out of Palm Springs was heading east on I-10 into the desert. If I got a flat there the only thing I could do was hitchhike. I bought a minipump in Palm Springs, but it was one of these style pumps. It was the only style minipump the shop had. I had a difficult time holding it on the valve stem when I tried inflating it. I would cut valve stems since it jerks the stem back and forth if you don't hold it strong enough. It made fixing flats a horrible experience. Eventually I dropped $40 or so on a convertible mini pump in Gallup, NM. I'd say if you get the cheap one I linked to from nashbar, glue the mouthpiece on.

I wouldn't upgrade on tires. I had the Panaracer TG's, and they tore themselves up. I had a Specialized Armadillo and it was destroying itself when I switched it out. I now have the folding Panaracer TG on there with only about 1000 miles on it. IMO it doesn't matter what tire you put on there, if you ride enough miles it will destroy the tire. Of course besides the miles, all my weight was on the rear tire which didn't help. Only way to combat this would have been to get front panniers, which I didn't need since I could fit it all in my bags easily. Of course maybe I could have saved some time, money, and energy if I didn't need to replace the rear rims/tires, but like I said earlier it made the experience more enjoyable.

The rack I wouldn't bother to upgrade because my simple electrical tape fix did the trick. The welds snapped on one leg near the bottom. Could be an easy weld too.

Panniers got a little worked over, but I worked around them fine. Some highway gold elastic straps kept them on fine. I'd say get some industrial truck elastic straps any ways. Going west on I-10 downhill for several miles, hitting 30+ mph, I hit a section of little bridge that had a bump above the road that I didn't see. One of my panniers jumped up off the rack and then slammed down on the ground snapping off the bottom elastic hook. I wouldn't trust any pannier attachment system after that. Is it worth upgrading if they have a better attachment system? No. I found an elastic strap for free that fixed the problem, rather than spending another $40 on panniers.

The gear that I think is essential or performed really well: Compass. Go to your REI or bike shop and get a handlebar compass. Sometimes that's all you need to get through a town if your street by street directions fail you. Get a detachable and powerful front headlight. Even if you say you're not going to ride at night and won't need it, you will. I used my headlight mainly for setting up camp and getting organized when I was finally in my tent at night. It makes life a lot easier. Long sleeve jersey jacket. I thought leaving in late April in the southwest would mean the country will be warm while riding across it in may/june. It's not. There are plenty of areas in the country that don't get all that warm, and even if it's in the 70's it can feel cold when you're doing 30-40 downhill.

Get a phone with GPS. I got the spring katana with telenav navigation. I would use this to search for bike shops, pizza shops, motels, intersections if I got lost, etc.. Knowing where food is, is an important tool. Knowing what number to dial to get 3 medium one topping pizzas for $15 is important imformation.

I didn't bring a sleeping bag or mat, which was fine. After biking all day there was never a spot on the ground that I thought was too uncomfortable to sleep on. If it was cold I would sleep in a couple shirt, a beanie, and my rain gear. I wish I had more than 2 pair of socks when I started though because my feet would freeze. I had the heavy duty thermos blanket which worked good for my torso which generates a lot of heat, but doesn't help the feet too much. Big problem with the thermos blanket is sometimes it doesn't protect from the air all the time.

The most surprising piece of equipment I bought was my bivy. I bought it for $30 from sportsmanguide. https://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=328395 This thing did a lot for $30. I could sleep inside it with all three of my bags comfortably. I would put the bags to the left of me and would sleep with them as if I was spooning them or something. Most surprisingly was how resilient the thing was. I had several nights of rain, but two really bad nights of rain that I can think of. One was outside of Tucumcari, NM when I stayed inside the KOA and the other night was in Anthony, KS during my big storm where I slept in the public restroom. Both times I expected to come back to a bivy with a soaked floor, but ney it was not. It kept the bugs out great, packed efficiently, and still has no rips or tears in it. Unfortunately they're sold out on sportsmanguide, but it goes to show you don't need a $300 tent.

Rain suits. I bought a gore-tex suit for its water proof abilities. I should have done more research about how it worked. If the pores on the jacket fill with dirt then it becomes just a jacket. I bought the suit for only $40 though. I wouldn't buy a microporous suit because I need it to be durable. I used my suit for protection from the rain, wind, and cold. I wore it quite a bit. If a cheap, durable PVC suit can fold as small as the goretex suit, which I think it can, then I would rather have gone for that. I don't care about breathability. For the level of excursion you're putting out I don't think any jacket is going to breath enough to keep you cool unless it severely sacrifices its water proof capabilities.

Only last thing is I probably wouldn't bother with self sealing tubes. It may have saved me a couple times, but not worth dealing with the mess you get when its a blow out. It adds weight and makes the tubes harder to pack if they weren't already factory pumped with sealer.

Not much else to change. Everything else I brought was just repair junk and toiletries. I wouldn't bring my film camera. It was one of my larger and heavier items. The pictures were good, but better on my 6 MP digital camera. The camera overexposed several of the shots. On the digital camera I would just reshoot the shot if I wasn't happy with it. Not so much with film. Don't bother with solar chargers. You can't guarantee them enough direct sunlight to charge them.

If I think of more I'll post, or just ask some more questions. Matt

permanentjaun

Just had an awkward experience this morning. It's 7:30 AM this sunday morning and I just got awoken by a phone call from someone on the east coast who I assume read my journal and thinks I'm now qualified to give him advice on how to RV with his family to all 48 states. I got off the phone and within 2 minutes I found my phone number online, even though I've never posted it myself. I told him to call back tomorrow, but is this for real? Is someone who is capable of searching for my phone number not able to realize that I have no RV'ing experience and touring the US on a bike is completely different than in an RV?

Should I be irked that this person searched for my number? I feel bad for the other people who have my last name in this city since I assume he would have had to call them too before finding me since my first name isn't listed. Seriously though, 7:30 AM on a sunday and I get a call for RV advice? Are people that "off"?

Tom Stormcrowe

Welcome to my world!

I have a pretty wide readership and had to put my phone under a phony name because the number was searched quite a few times and I got calls from readers asking about weight loss advice! My blog is pretty widely read, which is something I never expected! I started it out when I started losing weight for a method to keep family informed and suddenly, blammo, I'm getting emails from people all over the planet with weight problems!

kipibenkipod

Well, you forgot to mention that you "have successfully lost in excess of 352 pounds".
Man even the queen of England will want to know your phone number
Good luck shelling more

Shadowcaver

Matt - just another wave and hey there from someone who thinks ya did good. Congrats again man.

As to the bike, I kinda like the idea of, if you decide not to keep it as a MTB for yourself, to maybe auction it, keep part of the proceeds for yourself to cover some costs, and then balance to your charity - for example. I can see, especially if you get that one guy involved, that an auction could draw some serious attention and potential dollars. But, would need to do it soon, while the momentum is still relatively high.

Tom Stormcrowe

Not a shill, it was an observation on unexpected effects...

robi

i just came across this thread and was going to say hammaock are the best way of sleeping, take one with you. but i was too late.


Congrats on the ride!

robi

McDave

Congrats on a successful tour Matt! While I was waiting for you to put your journal up I read another one just completed (1st leg across US) by BF member Tzou. One of the things in his journal that really impressed me was he used tire liners and didn't have a single flat the whole trip!

Here's a link to his thread...
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=319191

GothintheDisco

Congrats Matt - great story! I second the notion of auctioning the bike and giving the proceeds to charity.

Cheers,

Dan

neilfein

I thought it was just me that got this. I tend to get it more in my left hand, since I have index shifters and it takes a little more muscle to move the front deraileur. (This wouldn't work with your shifters, but I tend to turn the lever with my whole hand when my hands are acting up.)

Do you have music? Touring songs are cool.

Neil_B

Neil, do you wear padded gloves? I find the gel padding very helpful.

DukeArcher 

The conditions on giving your bike away are harsh. Using all the equipment until it breaks? Thats a bit silly.

neilfein

I do, but this issue isn't because of pressure, but because of the strain of shifting a lot. (Thumb shifters take some muscle to move.)