zoltani

My best buy was the bike. When a used Bruce Gordon rock n road bike showed up on craigslist in my size, for less than half the cost of it new, I just had to snatch it up. Turns out it that when I got it it hadn't been used that much, and It has been treating me very well since, even though I've put it through a bit of hell.

Next would have to be the brooks B17, but the real investment comes with the time put in to making it fit to my butt.

Trangia stove would have to be on the list as well, so simple, so easy, dependable, quiet, it just works.

A cheap pillow is worth stuffing in the sleeping bag stuff sack, provides better sleep, which is gold when camping.

antokelly

yeah great when you get a bargain i got a great bargain on a tent as well, mountain hardware spear gt2 100euro super tent though a wee bit heavy but loads of room so i'm well pleased .yeah one of my better buys as well.

SurlyLaika

all this equipment is nice, but I have met other bike tourists doing amazing things with less than ideal set up's. I wouldn't want to give a first timer the impression that you cannot tour without the lightest, most amazing technological advancement equipment ever. know what i'm saying? no doubt, quality equipment is very nice but I wouldn't let that discourage someone who cannot afford the best but who wants to try touring out.

rekmeyata

Exactly my point concerning less expensive panniers. They work fine for at least a couple tours. And with the lower price makes it easier to afford so one can experience the thrill of touring without going broke trying to do it.

The only thing I would not skimp on if I was touring with a heavy load is the wheels, but if your touring light perhaps credit carding it or just don't need to carry much weight heavy duty wheels are not necessary either. And a person can get heavy duty touring wheels for under $500 for the set.

Lou Skannon

Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tyres. No more punctures and you don't have to look so closely where the tyres are going when you have faith in them.

djb

MassiveD, might you be wanting to put this on a MEC National frame if perchance you were able to purchase a frame only??

(wink, yes I read it)

PomPilot

When I started touring, I used my old backpacking equipment, then upgraded to newer & lighter (oftentimes more compact) versions of same. But the best two items I've added to my LHT have been a brass Crane bell, and a handlebar mounted cup holder. The cup holder can handle my insulated travel mug (an extra 16 ounces of fluid on the road), or a 16 ounce drink cup from one of Oregon's ubiquitous coffee stands.

napoleoninrags

I see that there are plenty of suggestions on good quality touring gear and equipment. I am happy that I got an iPod touch 4th Generation. It is the single most useful (non-bike-related) gadget I've bought for my tour. Being able to quickly check e-mail, communicate with friends and family via Skype, look up routes on maps, searching for accommodation using apps like HostelHero, finding directions to places to stay, browse the web - these are just some of the things I use it for. I do everything but listen to music on it.

antokelly

man i just bought a garmin legend hcx and if only i knew how to use the bl...y thing .
and if anyone else tells me ah just plug it in to your pc and download maps and away you go i'll swing for them lol. complicated stuff these gps things .

djb

so Anto, how many bags of coal can you fit into the boot of the Morris Minor?
(big wink)

caveat, I could not resist having a poke at you, I have never owned a gps, only used one once in a car for a day (and the bloody thing only spoke in German! had to figure out what words were "left" and "right")...was not a complete disaster,but close--so in other words, I havent the foggiest....

neilfein

My Novara Randonee was worth every penny. I've since added a Brooks B-17, which has broken in quite nicely over the last two years and swapped out the handlebars for wider ones. It's not a perfect bike; over three years, I've had the adjustable stem and rear derailer fail on tour, but it rides great, adapts to loads exceptionally well, and climbs so well I named the bike Hildy.


IMG_3507.JPG by neilfein, on Flickr

Tubus racks are worth the cost. They're strong, light, and once they're on the bike I don't really think about them much. I brought them along from my old MTB touring rig, and they fit on the new 700c bike. Kudos to Wayne at thetouringstore.com for sending me some small plastic adapters instead of selling me new racks when I called him up about it.

I've also been pleased with the Ortlieb roller pannier set I have. I've only had one problem with them, at which time Ortlieb honored the lifetime warranty and replaced the bag. They have some water bottle cage accessories designed to attach to the front panniers that I've recently added for reserve water.

I do tour with a GPS, a Garmin Legend. While I love having GPS, the the legend is reliable, it has its faults: Expensive, a lousy interface, and slow. Maybe the next generation is better? But it lets me concentrate on mapping and routing when I want to, and I can instead spend time looking at the scenery and taking pictures. Also riding.

I'd also say that my Bikeforums and Crazyguy memberships were worth what I paid and then some. Until I had a few tours under my belt, I learned most of what I knew from these two sites.

Bringing a netbook along has changed touring a bit, but I spend a lot of time worrying about battery life so I don't always bring it along. On the other hand, my Moleskine journal has made it easier to keep notes, take down directions, and keep a journal. I can even draw when the mood strikes me. (Take that, battery-eating Canon prosumer camera!)

Russcoles11

My touring bike is a little more unconventional:

A 1975 Dawes Kingpin folder. My best buy has to be the front rack, I wanted a rack that would be quite high as with smaller wheels I didn't want panniers too close to the ground. I also try to keep all the weight at the front as on hills it keeps the front wheel on the ground. The only rack I could find was a cheap Bor Yeoh rack designed for full sized bikes, so to attach it I had to bend the bracket into an S curve to reach the bolt on the forks. One very fortunate side effect of this arrangement is that the bracket acts as a spring allowing some movement of the rack. This makes the whole pannier and rack system into an excellent shock damper which is very handy on a small wheeler with no suspension. The bike rides smoother the more I carry

Erick L

Some of the best, favorite, well designed, most reliable, most practicle gear I own:

- Cotton bandanas from the dollar store
- GSI Soloist cookset
- Sierra Design Clip Flashlight
- Tubus rear rack
- Polartec 100 zip-T fleece (any house brand, mine is MEC).
- Topeak Road Morph
- Brooks B17
- Onsight window pouches
- Schwalbe Marathon XR

I have lots of other excellent equipment but most is replacable or would change just for the sake of trying something else.

wicki

Oh please tell .....how did you die your Tadpole? I have the same and would love to camouflage it.

antokelly

ah poke away djb i deserve it lol .no I'm not giving up on this thing yet a friend of mine works for Microsoft **** hot on computers hopefully he will sort me out.

rodar y rodar

I hear ya. My wife gave me a schnazzy GPS package with map discs and the whole works for my birthday a few years ago. I hadn`t really wanted it, but when I heard about all the cool stuff it was supposed to do, I got really excited about the idea...

...until I tried to make it do all that cool stuff. Then I got excited in a different way. It went back to the store two weeks later.

antokelly

well it's great to know theres two of us in it.mind you i think when i do get my head around it it's going to be a great aid.

Ekdog

I like those Ortlieb bottle cages. They'd be perfect for carrying water on my folder. Anyone know where I could get a couple? I'm in Spain, so preferably a company that's not too far away, like Germany, the UK or Holland.

antokelly

ekdog you should get them from sjs cycles.(thorn)
btw meant to say i cycled the camino route 4 years ago now, and what a beautiful country spain is love to go back some day.

rekmeyata

I hate a lot of modern electronic technology too. Really I have never needed a GPS. After riding for over 40 years, and riding in remote mountain roads, I rarely got lost, and when I did it was just more like an adventure rather then fear or anxiety of being lost. Sometimes I would look at a map before I started out and memorized what roads to take like I did on my longest one day ride from Bakersfield CA to Santa Barbara Ca., other times I just rode guessing where I was going...that's half the fun!

antokelly

yeah here in Ireland i do the same but i would imagine the sat nav will come into its own when in strange lands.

MassiveD

Plus is it like the rest of the tech field, the charts are free or easily "acquired"?

Machka 

Antokelly ... where's the ride report? https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-advice-please.

You ask a question like that in Long Distance, you need to follow up with a ride report.

Ekdog

Thanks for the tip about SJS, Anto. I checked their site and they must have every Ortlieb product available-- except the bottle cages! I'm going to email them to see if they can get them.

Lucky you! I hear the Camino de Santiago is lovely. I want to ride the Vía de la Plata from here in Seville to Santiago, but I'll have to do it in the summer (35º - 40º heat) as I'm a teacher and that's the only time I can take my vacations.

neilfein

I got the bottle cages from thetouringstore.com.