looking for a bike to go with me from Adeliade to Uluru

[tamlaw]

I'm Tammy, a backpacker from Hong Kong. Would like to try for the ride from Adeliade to Uluru with my friend and looking for my great partner.

Better to be Aluminium frame with 16+ gears, light weight.
However, I'm with limited budget, hope can find one under $500 or someone could sponsor me with great discount :p

I'm looking for accessories like stand and saddle as well.

Embarrassingly I now in New Zealand but would be in Adeliade end of Oct. Since I can't check the bike in person and I'm just a beginner, so that it would be great thankful if anyone could give me a hand.


Many thanks!

[The Bone Ranger]

Wow.

Can you expand on the word 'beginner'? I'm not sure I'd recommend someone who fits my definition of 'beginner' riding 1600 kilometres on barren, harsh roads, in what will likely be quite hot weather.

Anyway, can't help out with a bike, but good luck anyway!

Andrew

[tamlaw]

hi andrew, thx for reply.

I'm a beginner in bicycle as i prefer bushwalking, done the overland track with some side tracks for 11 days.
Knowing cycling is different from bushwalking, so will do some more training before the long ride.

Last x'mas I've riding from Perth to Jurien, while the temperture generally over 35 that time. Some of the roads are barren also, can imagine would be worse in this trip.

Working hard to do research for being well prepared, and the gears are the problem, hope can be fixed soon.
here are some links for reference, cheers
> Port Augusta to Darwin in July by Anina
> Cycling from Darwin to Adelaide by Rob
> pushie from darwin to port augusta

tam

[diggo19]

don't forget that even though it can hit 35+ during the day, it can also approach freezing at night. lots of people think it's always hot and dont pack clothes to cope with the freezing nights which can be just as dangerous as the dry heat during the day.

[gdt]

Most of the people cycling Adelaide-Alice-Darwin will have shipped their bike and gear over with them and will ship them back home. So, unlike cars, there's no great collection of touring bikes at the backpacker spots.

The minimum you'd get away with for a new touring bike is $1100, so you are necessarily looking at second-hand. Specialist touring bikes don't come up for second-hand sale very often: they last about 30 years and their owners love them. BikeExchange.com.au is a good starting point. If you do want to admire some new touring bikes, then St Kilda Cycles in Melbourne is the premier tour cycling store.

For $500 you are looking at a old mountain or fitness bike, altered for touring. The problem you've got there is finding one which has been maintained well by its owner. And realistically you're looking at about $200 for the minimum parts you'd want to replace on a well-cared for bike: tyres, chain and cassette. And then another $100 for rack and panniers. So you're looking to spend about $200 on the second-hand bike itself. That is just barely possible if you shop well. Shopping well is hard for beginners to do, so see if you can find someone to help you get the right size bike, determine that the bike has been well cared for and make sure the weight isn't excessive.

You also want to pick up some cheap clothing (knicks, summer weight long sleeve jersey, some sort of rain/wind jacket, see if Australian Bicycle Clothing has a sale), a multitool, and some basic spares (tubes, tube repair kit). We're talking the absolute basics here: most tourers would also have cycling shoes and specialist pedals, more cycle-specific clothing, more parts (spokes, etc) and more storage. Do put on a red flashing rear light, even during the day, as heat haze can make it very hard for drivers to spot things on the road. Because of drivers' fatigue and difficulties in estimating distance most people don't cycle at night.

Your bushwalking tent and mat are fine, strap them to the top of the rack. A bushwalking sleeping bag will fit a pannier (mountaineering bags to one side), a department-store sleeping bag will not (and would not be warm enough for desert nights in any case). You'll want your fuel stove too. Hang onto your NZ thermals, the oz ones are much thinner.

Note carefully that Australia is big: you can't just begin to cycle and make do. In particular, you cannot go northwards of Port Augusta without plans made in advance for provision of water and food. You may need to arrange food drops in advance, for Adelaide-Darwin that is commonly arranged with the roadhouses. You should have a Plan B to cope with a run of days of 45C or with a run of days of heavy rain. That Plan B should not be to rely upon the kindness of strangers. Outback people are generous in emergencies, but are not fond of people who's short-sightedness has created their own trouble.

[tamlaw]

thx for both, especially gdt replyed with details.

I've been in OZ for nearly 2 years with working holiday visa, and I'm doing so in NZ now. Since my fd will start his long riding journey from Perth, so I would like to join him in Port Augusta to rdie for the outback section. That's why I've to start from nothing in Adeliade as I will flight from NZ directly. I've been searching from gumtree for the bike. There are some good one, but unfortunately can't fit my size (160cm), sad. And I don't any friends in Adeliade as well, so looking for help from the forum

Sure I will wear the reflective vest during the ride, safety is the first priority. I'm serious, hope someone would give me a hand for the gears, thx. If the bike is light enough, may consider to take it back to NZ for another long ride next year.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Keep studying the journey blog done by other people.
Here is a good one, done by a Taiwan guy and he post his summary in backpackers.com.tw (chinese).
原文載於: 背包客棧自助旅行論壇 http://www.backpackers.com.tw/forum/sho ... p?t=475361
Translated some to share.

shared by Ryouhin for his ride from Adelaide to Ayers Rock Resort this May.
Day 1 Adelaide - Port Wakefield
Day 2 Port Wakefield - Port Pirie
Day 3 Port Pirie - Port Augusta
Day 4 Port Augusta - Ranges View(Rest Area)
Day 5 Ranges View - Woomara(Caravan Park)
Day 6 Woomara - Glendambo(Roadhouse)
Day 7 Geldambo - Bonbon(Rest Area)
Day 8 Bonbon - Bush Camping
Day 9 Bush Camping - Cooper Pedy
Day 10 Cooper Pedy - Cadney Park(Roadhouse)
Day 11 Cadney Park - Marla(Roadhouse)
Day 12 Marla - Marryat(Rest Area)
Day 13 Marryat - Kulgera(Roadhouse)
Day 14 Kulgera - Erldunda(Roadhouse)
Day 15 Erldunda - Curtin Spring(Free Camping site)
Day 16 Curtin Spring - Ayers Rock Resort

Planning the route
> riding distace per day better base on the rest area and roadhouse.
> it's ok to camping on the road side if u can't reach your planned destination due to some situations happened like a head wind, fitness, road condition,
> better to buy a map, the cheapest one is fine, just in case got lost.
> a good free map link that can show all roadhouse, rest area, mircowave tower etc with details
>>> http://www.raa.com.au

Water
> better to bring at least 5L water on the way even it's just 60km to roadhouse or supply point.
> u can get some water from people who driving pass, but not that lucky always.
> water tank condition in some rest area: (May 2011)
1.Port Augusta heading north 61K, tank with water
2.Pimba heading north 40k, tank with water
3.Glendambo heading north 84k(Bonbon), tank with NO water
4.Glendambo heading north 161k(Ingomar), tank with water
5.Cooper Pedy heading north 76k(Pootnoura), tank with NO water
6.Marla heading north 120K(Marryat), tank with water
7.Marla heading north 158K(Info Bay), tank with water


p.s. may translation more later, tired easily as get the cold at the moment (AT)(AT)

[gdt]

Thinking about this some more, why not try to buy the bike in NZ, where you can actually ride it and try it out and get some distance into your legs.

[BRLVR.v2]

Thinking about this some more, why not try to buy the bike in NZ, where you can actually ride it and try it out and get some distance into your legs.

That there is the best bit of advice this thread has thrown up, end of story!

[tamlaw]

thanks for suggestion, but I already did it b4 with no result, keep checking. Just want to make the network bigger.