Often I have heard of people opting for portable stoves with tanks, and I even did a few tours with one, and while convenient, it's very heavy and expensive. So I got into thinking of a simple, quick, economical heating tool for cooking and the coffee heating. Now, this idea originally came to me from dealing with studying the case design they use for Macintosh computers, and especially with the case design for the G5 iMac, which uses a chimney cooling system. My friend smirked, when we were looking at it, and she said "you know, you could cook toast on this thing". Well, in all truth, the first idea I got was having a 'toaster-computer' which would enable me to never leave the computer again. After debating the reparations, I decided against that idea, but it would make a great idea for cooking on the road.

So my first experiment was three metal rods drilled to a thick, small metal ring, with extra thick industrial shielding tin foil wrapped around it. The foil would be parted a little at the bottom to let air flow, and it would wood chips, sticks, charcoal, or any other burnable material you could find on the road. The immediate problems that I ran into with this was how the metal rods expanded under intense heat, and would be really hard to screw off for days after use, and the fact that lighting the fuel would prove to be a bit hard. Plus, you’re a desperate, uncaffinated man at 8 AM who wants breakfast hot and dead, you’ll most likely manage to poke your own eye out with one of the rods non-less quickly cook a meal and get moving.

Then, I found this. The fools, they did it for me.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...897568-2824904

It's designed for lighting charcoal, but I bet that if you stick a grill on the top you could even cook rice on the mofo. Would be great for cooking eggs in the morning in Sierra cups or the such, and simpler then assembling some tin foil triangle do-hicky. I had, at first, a problem with the size, but swear, my friend made the point you could stuff it, most likely with your cooking supplies and charcoal. Hell, if that’s not working, you could string the bungee cord you use to secure your sleeping bag/tent and let it swing baby let it swing. You could even light the coal or whatever you chose with just the sections of the map you don't need anymore. This is spiffy stuff, man.

So, any ideas? Complaints? Contradictions? I'm going to most likely try it out in the next month or so, and we'll see then.

Also, anyone tried this yet?

Economy, oh sweet economy.

Oh yeah, I'm also looking for a pair of front panniers. And gloves, cycling gloves with actual padding and an open back. These racing gloves are really starting to piss me off. Any suggestions, I'm still a young tourist, and I've been working on hand-me-downs to this point.

Check this Stove out. It may serve your purposes, the charcoal chimneys are on the large side to be toting around. BTW Campmor probably has the best price on it.

Aaron :)

I love my old 1978 Optimus 99; weight be damned! :p

I just can't bring myself to part with it, even though I probably should; I've actually developed a sort of weird nostalgic attachment to it. My Optimus is like a trusty old friend, from my old Cub Scout days to the present...My problem is that I keep adding diversionary items to my kit, and I need to start thinking about cutting weight more and more. I'll probably move to the soda can method sometime soon. :(

it is a good idea to cook without the liquid fuel, a lot cheaper ($50 less than my omnifuel, plus no need to buy fuel) i would really love to bring it with me on tour but i wonder how it actually performs in different weather conditions?

Schumius,
If you are refering to the zip stove? They work very well under all conditions. Dry twigs are actually very easy to find in my part of the US (East Coast) even in a heavy downpour. I have seen versions of this stove in use for the last 15 years and was constantly amazed at how well it performed. I, like Alekhine love my old Svea 123 and hate to part with it. But several years ago I did upgrade to the MSR Whisperlite International which is a multifuel stove, very light, but does require some assembly.

Aaron :)

Use one all the time for car camping / dutch oven cooking. Works great.

BUT: although lightweight, I think it's too bulky (around 12" tall, 6" diam) for cycle camping. Also, it gets dirty, of course - I keep mine in a plastic grocery bag for transport in the car trunk. Available cheaper than at this website (& without the shipping cost) at most stores which sell charcoal grills.

Don't forget the banana guard.

wahoonc good to hear the positive answer (because i´m very interested in it), think i would get one if they do ship it to taiwan. how do you like it compared to fuel eating stoves?


think i´ll check this one out too since it´s very cheap (too cheap!) and works not bad.

For lightweight, cheap stove take a look at the Pepsi-stove. I believe it only burns on liquid fuel, but it's probably the smallest, cheapest portable stove you can get.

--J

A buddy of mine hiked extensively with a zip stove. They work great, with the one caveat - you do need a battery to run it. I understand they don't work quite as well without battery power. He eventually decided to just build a small fire for cooking. You can actually build a pretty hot little fire for effective cooking with twigs and stuff, you just have to have the twigs ready to go when you're cooking.

Advantages of zip stoves over open fire: zip stoves are often allowed in areas where there are restrictions on open fires. Zip stoves will probably require less fuel gathering than open fires. Zip stoves have a built in pot-rest, open fires require gathering rocks or other supports for the stove.

Before choosing wood as a fuel source for your cooking, you need to consider where you'll be camping. Are there likely to be fire restrictions? Are there likely to be good fuel sources available (for a small, hot fire you don't need much). As noted, you can often find dry (or dry-enough) twigs even in rainstorms for using in a zip stove. Its a good idea to carry supplemental firestarters though.

Short summary: everyone has their own preferences for stoves. All come with tradeoffs. Figure out which tradeoffs you're willing to make.

they sell a "d" cell power supply, and i am thinking, though this might sound plain stupid, is it rechargeable?

I'm switching from a Svea 123 stove to a pepsi can stove. It weighs next to nothing and cooks a 2 cup Ramen nood pack with 1 tablespoon of fuel. Add a whole bunch of vegetables and fish and it requires only 2 tablespoons. (This is the no simmer method, when the stove runs out of fuel, you cover and insulate the covered pot to continue to cook with it's own heat) Here are three photos of the whole mess-kit. (near bottom of page)
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journ..._id=17715&v=3v

Make one from a larger juice or a coffee can.
Or look around Bicycle Touring 101 for some other great ideas!

I am most likely going to make the pepsi stove just because it looks so frikkin awesome. However, I'm going to find the smallest charcoal chimney I can and use that. So far, the only problem I've seen with it is simply that it is too big. However, I believe if it is stuffed with both charcoal, a foldable grill, and cooking gear, it can fit nicely into a bag, and probably be a lot more durable then the pepsi stove which I could see being flattened easily in a crash or other. Also, while the stove is nice for heating up liquids, it would be too good for cooking things such as sausages, eggs 'n bacon, etc, or at least the way I was taught to cook them on the road (with seirra cups, not a frying pan). I'm going to try it out, any case, and tell you how it goes.

Dio,
Someone did make the stove....check this out http://www.trailstove.com/

Aaron :)

I was waiting for someone to bring this up. I have one of these, and have used it to make coffee, but that's the most so far. I do intend to tour with it. Its constructed well and works just as advertised. No complaints! I just need to get experience cooking with it.

There is a great way of boiling water
http://www.safariquip.co.uk/acatalog...Stoves_32.html
the only problem is that you can ONLY boil water

Dam, I HAVE to try this out!

Just a little point:

In our World Heritage Wilderness Areas, fires are not permitted. Stoves with liquid fuel are. How does this trailstove rate in terms of fire bans, say, in national parks during the height of summer?

I have used a Sierra zip stove for several years, and it's great. Boils water very quickly, and very easy to fuel--twigs, pine needles, little bits of paper, whatever. I have used it in snow and high wind, works great.

As someone else pointed out, though, if your battery runs out of juice, you are out of luck. But it's a single AA, not hard to carry and/or purchase a spare.

I'm curious about this thread - -
Do you mean "Cooking on the Road" like frying an egg on the pavement in Death Valley?
Or do you mean "Cooking on the Road " like setting up your Whisperlite on the highway which might be dangerous if a Mack truck comes along?
Or do you mean "Cooking on the Road" like zooming down a long grade with a serious tailwind?

Best - J

Okay. I made the Pepsi-G stove and tried it out tonight. Frikking awesome.

And I did this before checking out the website, but let me tell you, there is NOTHING in the world like having your own portable stove that YOU made.

The trailstove chimney tho... that’s exactly it, I must have it, but alas, I'm leaving too soon. I'll have my mom order it and pick it up in Seattle, and just deal with open fires till then.

Here's my good workmanship with bad hole punching. At least my first try works great and boils water like nothing.

http://thisendlessroad.com/images/burningalum.jpg

And here's my site *shamlessplugwarning*
http://www.thisendlessroad.com

James "Dio Rallen" Schiffer
diorallen@gmail.com

You're right, the holes look like they were punched by a bunch of monkeys high on crack! :D

But who cares, it seems to work.

--J

I just bought one of those TrailStoves!! Worried about carrying a liquid fuel stove on the plane. Looks like a good idea......but is sure is bulky!! Not sure how to pack it.

One last post for this thread!!

Maybe it should be in it's own thread......anyway

Field test results of TrailStove.

It's BIG. 8.75" X 4.75" conical in shape. It doesn't break down, it doesn't nest. Pot bottoms get super grungy with soot. No chance of stealth camping with this thing, it smokes a lot. Lots of scary flames in the beginning of the cycle, smoke does settle down once it's burning well. I would think that the smoke it puts out would limit it's use to ONLY campsites and forests that allow wood fires. When this thing fires up, there is NO question that a wood fire is going on.

It DOES heat water well, though. Took about 12 min to get 3 cups into a rolling boil. Probably could have done better on the time, but I was new at it.

I think the bulk of this stove is a major drawback. Where do you pack it?

I think I will us my Trangia alcohol burner and just wash it out well for the airlines.

I've had good luck with the MSR WhisperLite International. The little bugger runs on just about anything and is rather compact.

http://www.msrcorp.com/stoves/whisper_intl.asp