RickBlane

Training and collecting gear for my first multi day trip.

$12.65, no sheath.... I want one but I have no idea why. free shipping if you are prime


Amazon.com: Cold Steel Special Forces Shovel with Hardwood Handle: Home Improvement

JerrySTL

Makes for a good weapon. However you might want to look at a folding model.

andrewclaus

It's a stage you'll go through. You might get over it, might not.

And you might find a use for it, depending on where and how you're camping. If you need to dig a snow cave, you'll be glad you had it!

I have never had to dig a latrine hole on a bike tour, or trench a tent site, so I don't carry one (any more).

joeyduck

A shovel multi tool is better.

Amazon.com : Chinese Military Shovel Emergency Tools WJQ-308 Ver 2012 : Camping Shovels : Sports & Outdoors

They are good for catholes for bathroom use. Potential heavy rain. Dig a trench around your tent. Find a vein of gold, dig for it.

Disclaimer: Sanitize after pooping before opening the beans.

Beat away dogs with it. Have it mounted behind you in a sheath you can easily reach.

I would get a strong hollow handle to store tent poles and pegs in.

Cyclebum

It's a guy thing, especially that Chinese multitool. Don't leave home without it. Or duct tape and cable ties.

indyfabz

Maybe it's the free shipping that is creating the desire. People love to feel like they are getting something for free. Do you really think you will need this on tour?

hueyhoolihan

you are doomed.

a shovel sheath (scabbard)? can't quite grasp what one might look like. should it hang from the belt? if so, how would one ride with it? have to mount from the left side, like the cavalry, and for the same reason...

indyfabz

Don't die wonderin':

Robot Check

In fact, this sheath is the companion to the product linked to in the original post.

Cyclosaurus

Get an Army-issue style entrenching tool...online or at your local Army/Navy store

Amazon.com: SOG Specialty Knives F08-N Entrenching Tool: Home Improvement

They are much better for portability and versatility

Tourist in MSN

And I thought I packed heavy. But I do not even consider bringing a shovel, trowel, hatchet, barbed wire cutter, or any other devices that were used to win world war II.

fietsbob

Latrine digging planned.. ?

joeyduck

I have found with a toddler on road trips it would have come in handy. I dug a cat hole a few weeks ago camping.

Grillparzer

There is also this one:

Amazon.com: Glock Entrenching Tool with Saw and Pouch: Sports & Outdoors

schlopartist

It throws, it stabs, it slashes....

12.95!!! *&%% Dirty rotten low down sheep herding ....!!!

I own one and paid I think 30-35 with free shipping.

Honestly, I can't find many campers that like the folding shovels. They break pretty quick. Mine arrived with the edges sharpened to a utility sharp edge. It is decent for shaving kindling, digging a latrine or in a pinch a not readily identifiable defensive tool, and you can even hack log with it.

I don't know where you would put it on a bike... maybe a trailer or Terminator 2 mounting somewhere, but GO FOR IT!

intransit1217

My vote goes to the one with the bottle opener.

Tourist in MSN

Does it come with a cork screw?

spinnaker

You will need a 3/4 axe too.

No idea what this person was up to.



Maybe the tin man tours?

stevepusser

You need one for the guy playing the banjo in the campsite next to you.

This woman has lugged an axe down the Pacific Coast and through the mountain West, even replacing it when someone lifted it off her bike. crazyguyonabike.com: Bicycle Touring: The Son Also Rises, by Linda der Weltenbummler

The Son Also Rises: Day 60 - Shoulda made 'em cry:

Of course, she ends up walking up even moderate grades. Her son didn't seem to be having a lot of fun on the tour, either--hopefully, this did not turn him off the outdoors forever.

indyfabz

I have read some of her other postings. She seems to have more trials and tribulations in one week than I had during a nearly 4 month tour, which happeened to be my first. Maybe some of it comes from the fact that she seems to overblow situations. The powerful shower on one of the days in the above link is a great example. So she stayed in a motel room that had a really strong shower. Welcome to the club. It's not the end of the world, yet she makes it seem pretty close thereto. When a motel owner wants you to put your bike on a sheet, don't debate her. Respect her wishes and be happy that you have a place to stay, or go somewhere else. And did your really expect fly specks of towns in that part of OR to offer a wide variety of services? If so, why?

If I ended up riding with her I would find her exhausting and ditch her within 48 hrs.

SparkyGA

Honestly it looks like a great tool for flipping pancakes

MichaelW

Soviet Spetznaz shovels are useful for cutting frozen loaves of bread
We have sliced bread so you need a Glock 1 entrenching tool.
Or more usefully, an ultralight trowel.

Booger1

Always wanted to be Johnny Appleseed?

Reminds you of an old girlfriend?

Neighbors dog been barking alot lately?

nun

To be boringly pragmatic, if you don't know why you want or need something it has no place on your bike.
You'll be far happier for leaving it behind.

Doug64

I've read most of her Journals, and can't remember her having to walk up a hill. IMO she is witty and fun to read

I also think she has a lot more moxy than some of guys on this forum. She does not carry a 9 mm Glock, motion detectors, 5 pound locks, her dog, or need turn-by-turn cue sheets, is not afraid to ride solo, and is not afraid to get off the "safety" of an ACA Route.

I was camping next to a guy on the coast and watched him as he set up his tent. He pulled out a rather large mallet and commenced to drive in his tent stakes. When I suggested that one of the large rocks lying on the ground nearby would work just as well; he admitted it was his first tour. I've also seen tourists with a banjo, guitars, mandolin, folding chairs, dogs, backpacks, and 40 mm tires; all of which seem a little excessive to me.

A small hatchet, which is still pretty useless on a bike tour, is still better than a mallet, and depending on the player, maybe the banjo

Doug64

After you carried it for 3,000 miles you would still be asking yourself "why"