The gear report
This one is mostly technical stuff. Be warned.
The one thing I wasn't quite prepared for when I started this whole thing is the pounding that these roads will dish out on your equipment. So, here's a list of the good, bad, and ugly of my gear so far.
Bike -- Fisher X-Caliber 29er, 2004 model. I bought this new and got a screaming deal because it was an old model. The bike gets two thumbs up -- nothing more than minor adjustments and tuning so far. The long wheelbase and big 29" tires have eaten up the washboards and bumps with ease. Props go to Chronometro (link here) for a bike fitting that fixed my tendinitis and gave me a lot more power on the bike.
Racks -- Old Man Mountain Sherpa front and rear (link here). Racks have held up great. The only problem is that to get the wheels off you have to take the skewer out. If you're not careful, this can lead to a lot of grit and crap getting into your wheels. But there isn't really any better alternative.
Panniers -- REI Novara rear, Avenir front. These were both Ebay specials. Both sets have held out well, although I have to use garbage bags to waterproof them. One of the hooks on the rear ones bent but I haven't had to replace it yet. In an ideal world I'd have some of the nice waterproof ones, but for the money these have held up well.
The main thing with keeping the bike in good working order has been cleaning it out as much as possible at stops, checking for loose bolts every night, and keeping the chain lubed. Otherwise you start to lose stuff.
OK -- library is kicking me out. Until next time...
The one thing I wasn't quite prepared for when I started this whole thing is the pounding that these roads will dish out on your equipment. So, here's a list of the good, bad, and ugly of my gear so far.
Bike -- Fisher X-Caliber 29er, 2004 model. I bought this new and got a screaming deal because it was an old model. The bike gets two thumbs up -- nothing more than minor adjustments and tuning so far. The long wheelbase and big 29" tires have eaten up the washboards and bumps with ease. Props go to Chronometro (link here) for a bike fitting that fixed my tendinitis and gave me a lot more power on the bike.
Racks -- Old Man Mountain Sherpa front and rear (link here). Racks have held up great. The only problem is that to get the wheels off you have to take the skewer out. If you're not careful, this can lead to a lot of grit and crap getting into your wheels. But there isn't really any better alternative.
Panniers -- REI Novara rear, Avenir front. These were both Ebay specials. Both sets have held out well, although I have to use garbage bags to waterproof them. One of the hooks on the rear ones bent but I haven't had to replace it yet. In an ideal world I'd have some of the nice waterproof ones, but for the money these have held up well.
The main thing with keeping the bike in good working order has been cleaning it out as much as possible at stops, checking for loose bolts every night, and keeping the chain lubed. Otherwise you start to lose stuff.
OK -- library is kicking me out. Until next time...
posted by Mike at 10:47 AM
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