Tips and Tricks for Bicycle Touring Equipment

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  cyclocamping

  How to prevent loosing your rear lugguage (copy and paste from biciclown)

  Safety for you back rack. I had a terrible experience going down to Beirut (Libano). all my back luggage went down, rolling over the asphalt, because the two screws that attach the rack to the frame, just under the saddle, were loosing. To prevent it I suggest to all of you, tide a small rope frome the rack to the frame, or the plastic belt (i dont know how to call it in english) that is very light and small. And of course check the screws every 500 kms. But that rope or plastic material, will help you to avoid problems. And is light. (from biciclown)

  3 months ago · report
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  2travleur

  How to clean your stove's jet without the tool

  You know how you have to clean the jet of the stove especially when using car fuel (at least once in a while)... wow I was using the provided tool (the MSR wire but this is the same thing with Kovea or Primus stove) until the wire broke and got lost!

  And there is no MSR nor REI store in the middle of Tibet!

  That's how I found out that my bicycle was carrying hundreds of km of that MSR tool ! the wire from derailleurs and brakes cable!!

  Yeah, just seprate one of the tiny wire from the cable, cut it and this works perfectly!

  3 months ago · report
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  cyclocamping

  How to keep your water cold, even in the Mojave Desert?

  Easy! just wrap your water bottle with wet heavy socks (the heavier the better) or even wet news paper (but it gets a little messy) or anything wet that takes a while to dry.

  This is pure physics; to evaporate the water has to take heat from your bottle. The drier it is out there, the better it works. In the Mojave, I even put warm water in my bottle and got cool water an hour later! Don't expect ice water of course! Make sure you have enough water to wet regularly... it's better to drink warm water than run out of water!

  By the way it also works for the bag with food and even for the biker (keep your hat, shirt or sleeves wet)… the best is to get one of those small water spray bottle used by florist and hang it somewhere handy on the bike (so you can use less water)!

  3 months ago · report

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    biciclown I dont use heavy socks, I use a kind of bags that in Africa is used to carry big fruits. I also saw it in Asia. It is very good. I used it Sudan (55ºC august). And not only to keep cooler the water but to avoid bacteries inside.
    The only problem is that when you wet your bottle it comes more heavy, but, you cannot get everything, isnt it?
    www.biciclown.com

    3 months ago · report
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    cyclocamping Yes Biciclown, you're right, you can't get everything, and I prefer carry a little more weight and not have to drink boiling water! Right? In the syrien desert, a nomad made a gift for me by wrapping canvas bag around my bottle (same used for coffee, is it what you're talking about?), just like they do when they travel by camels. It works perfectly, I didn't mention it, beacause socks are more readily available but I used the cnvas bottle for the last 2 third of my 5 year journey. Thks for your comment biciclown and thks for joining the group, I read a lot of your comment n this forum, often very interesting... I'm sure you have a lot of those tricks and tips, so, make sure to post one once a while... try to say a little more about the material you used in sudan, now I'm curious...

    3 months ago · report
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    bicyclebill Discovered a mıld form of this by accident myself by wrapping my drying travel towel over my spare water bottles on my rear pannier. I shall investigate further over coming days now... cheers!

    3 months ago · report
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    cyclocamping Yes, it does work! I used to do that but since I was using chamois as a towel it dries too quickly. However I also used a regular towel (or drying t-shirt) around a small foldable cooler that I always carry for the more perishable food, it's like having a fridge!

    3 months ago · report
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    cyclocamping Hey biciclown... I went on your website! fantastic photos! And I saw your water bottles! This is the same material that we used... I called it canvas... I am not sure... but this is the best you can use! Congrats on your travel... great stuff!

    3 months ago · report
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    biciclown http://www.biciclown.com/01/servicio319.html
    In this link you can see the bike I had used in Africa and the one I am using now (the second picture) and you can see the way I protect my bottles to keep the water cold.
    Other trick I used to do whey I cycled 3 years in Africa is cover my mouth with a turbant, as tuaregs does. Now is part of my cyclist personality. And also keep in my mouth a seed of a datil, the one you can get in palms trees. It keeps your mouth not so dry.

    3 months ago · report
  • 

    biciclown Safety for you back rack. I had a terrible experience going down to Beirut (Libano). all my back luggage went down, rolling over the asphalt, because the two screws that attach the rack to the frame, just under the saddle, were loosing. To prevent it I suggest to all of you, tide a small rope frome the rack to the frame, or the plastic belt (i dont know how to call it in english) that is very light and small. And of course check the screws every 500 kms. But that rope or plastic material, will help you to avoid problems. And is light.

    3 months ago · report

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