Advice needed on gear

[saronmcm1]

Hi, I'm planning a trip next year and need some advice on the following.
Solar panel with charger, I have seen Goal 0 guide 10 which is reasonably priced.
Pannier racks tortec expedition stainless steel rated for 40 kg, half price of tubus.
Tioga panniers waterproof I think 21 lt capacity. Are there any things to look out for.
Spot connect for sat coverage and SOS.
If anyone has done a remote trip, can you please give me details on how you recharged GPS, phone etc.

Sorry if this post is in wrong area.
Cheers
Ron

[il padrone]

G'day, great to be preparing for a big tour.

Pannier racks tortec expedition stainless steel rated for 40 kg, half price of tubus.

Check the weight. There are some steel racks about that are boat anchors.

Tioga panniers waterproof I think 21 lt capacity. Are there any things to look out for.

The Tioga waterproof panniers are quite good, but not as large capacity as Ortlieb. Also the mounting system that they use is rather agricultural and flimsy. I love the Ortliebs for their quick, easy, mount/dismount - a big plus when you are taking panniers off to load bikes onto trains, ferries etc. And they seem to be mighty tough when stressed.

Spot connect for sat coverage and SOS.
If anyone has done a remote trip, can you please give me details on how you recharged GPS, phone etc.

I haven't used the Spot tracker. For remote area power I have a dynohub with a Busch & Muller e-werk that is used to charge direct, or charge a Powermonkey Extreme battery. It worked very well and I never had power problems, although I guess we were never more than 5-6 days between power supplies.

[fionahills]

re solar chargers: I recently spent 3 months on a remote island in Vanuatu on an aid project - no mains power at all so relied on solar - the phone chargers are great & cheap but do take quite a while to recharge and need strong sunlight (plenty of that in Vanuatu but still took about 4 hours to charge- don't know about GPS - wasn't using it.
I got mine from barefoot power - but saw many different brands working as well - get a bonus led light - and really cheap and hardy.
finding a charger for a laptop was really difficult (not sure if your are thinking of taking one) - my husband is an electrician - and he could not find one under $2000 that would efficiently charge a laptop -its the size of the battery apparently - mind you we had no access to mains and if you will be able to put up with a trickle feed just to keep it going til you get into town you might be fine.

have fun fiona

[Aushiker]

ON the topic of solar power this case study (based on a velomobile but still interesting) is worth a read ... seems to have worked well for Rob in the UK. I am now considering it as a serious option instead of a dynamo if I go with a Sinner Mango.

Andrew

[Aushiker]

Pannier racks tortec expedition stainless steel rated for 40 kg, half price of tubus.

I second Pete's comments above. Also check the pricing at the likes of http://bike24.net . You might be surprised.

Tioga panniers waterproof I think 21 lt capacity. Are there any things to look out for.

No experience with them but I am like Pete a very happy Ortlieb owner. In my case I have Sport Packer Plus and Bike Packer Plus panniers.

Spot connect for sat coverage and SOS.

I have the Spot Messenger 2 which I used on my recent Chasing the Dirt tour. Found it worked very well with the exception of one day. However I also found the Garmin Edge 800 didn't track properly that day either so suspect it was a satellite problem, not a Spot Messenger 2 problem. I used it in-conjunction with the http://spotwalla.com . If I was in the market today and based on my experience I would now go with a Spot Connect so I had the ability to text when in the remote areas. Having the communication channel, even through it is one way is important to me.

If anyone has done a remote trip, can you please give me details on how you recharged GPS, phone etc.

I have taken a slightly different approach from Pete in that I don't use a Powermonkey Extreme battery or a Busch & Muller e-werk; instead I went with a PedalPower+ Super-i-Cable which has disappointed a bit.

Andrew

[il padrone]

Pannier racks tortec expedition stainless steel rated for 40 kg, half price of tubus.

No longer available on Wiggle - discontinued. Described as "alloy" racks, I'd presume aluminium alloy so that explains the cost difference and I'd doubt they have the strength and durability of Tubus.

Weight of rack - 900g (approx), maximum load carrying capacity - 30kg

About 150g heavier than Tubus and 10kg less load capacity.

What was your source.... and were they really stainless steel, or just stainless steel mountings?

Note: http://www.bike24.com is the english-language site.

[RonK]

Solar panel with charger, I have seen Goal 0 guide 10 which is reasonably priced.

I use a Son dynamo hub.

Pannier racks tortec expedition stainless steel rated for 40 kg, half price of tubus.

Probably be false economy - get the Tubus.

Tioga panniers waterproof I think 21 lt capacity. Are there any things to look out for.

The tourists I met in New Zealand a few weeks ago complained about them falling off - said they were rubbish, but then they were German tourists.

Spot connect for sat coverage and SOS.

I'm using the Delorme Inreach. Connects via Bluetooth to my iPhone, so I can send ad hoc text messages, and if necessary trigger an emergency beacon with text message backup. Worked very well on the tour I've just completed. Only missed tracking one day when I forgot to turn it on.

[Aushiker]

Another steel rack option (this popped up on the Thorn forums) It is called the Avenir Steel Rear Bike / Cycle Pannier Rack.



Andrew

[saronmcm1]

Hi, thanks for the help.
Here is the link for racks.
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... ortrack330
They are roughly $56 aud. I might have to bite the bullet and buy the tubus.
Does anyone have any feedback on the freeload racks, durability etc off road.
The only problem I will have with any rack is making it fit a pugsley frame.
Has anyone used the spot connect with smartphone. Thanks aushiker with the links, did you find spotwalla good as a tracker? I was going to buy the service from spot.
Cheers
Ron

[}SkOrPn--7]

Hi Ron I use a combination of Brunton 26w solar panel that I drape over the trailer or use around camp plus 16000mah Solar Power Universal Charger For Phone Laptop Notebook PDA MP3 etc.

The unit below will charge a phone or GPS 6 times and take less than 2 hours from being flat to fully charged. It has a range of settings for many volts depending on what the device is and will power a laptop double the normal battery life so roughly 16 hours of use. The unit using it's own solar panel will charge from being empty to full in direct sun light in about 6 hours. You can charge your devices or use it to run them and it has a crap load of plugs to charge multiple devices at the same time. Bang for buck and durability it does the trick so for me it's been worth it. Apart from it's own solar cell it can be recharged using 12v, 240v or a separate solar panel and the link below is the guy on evilbay I got it from. Also both the Brunton panel and the device below have all the built in safety features so both are idiot proof you can't hook up things in the wrong manner.

The only thing I did was buy better quality cables and connectors for the devices I was using it for as I felt that the supplied ones were not up to my standard for touring but the unit itself is fine and robust with a outer shock proof rubber coating so no fear of dropping it.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/150889933720

It's about 6.5 inches long and 4 inches wide and 5/8 of an inch thick.





Ricky

[Aushiker]

Does anyone have any feedback on the freeload racks, durability etc off road.

Freeload NZ has sold the rack design etc to Thule, the roof rack mob. By all accounts trying to get Freeload racks is pretty damn hard at the moment. You may strike lucky with a US retailer.

Andrew

[Aushiker]

Has anyone used the spot connect with smartphone. Thanks aushiker with the links, did you find spotwalla good as a tracker? I was going to buy the service from spot.

You need to buy the tracking option from Spot irrespective of whether you use SpotWalla or not. SpotWalla is used as a website tracking service for family/friends/axe murders etc

Andrew

[il padrone]

The only problem I will have with any rack is making it fit a pugsley frame.

Tubus Logo Classic apparently works



75 Euro from bike24.

There are a whole range of other racks mentioned here for the Pugsley.

[saronmcm1]

Hi, I have now bought all the bike bags.
Framebag
Massive saddlebag from revelate
Handlebar bag thing a majing also from revelate
I am looking at buying the omm Sherpa rack.
Now with the panniers, has anyone ever used jerry cans as panniers. This system works well on mbikes.
Cut the top off and use dry bags.
I intend on going off road and would lie a system which is bombproof.
Cheers
Ron

[il padrone]

Now with the panniers, has anyone ever used jerry cans as panniers. This system works well on mbikes.
Cut the top off and use dry bags.
I intend on going off road and would lie a system which is bombproof.

No.

That would be very robust, but an awful lot heavier than good panniers. Drybags will be the same weight as panniers, then you add the jerry cans - steel or plastic?

I really don't see the advantage - even for off-road touring.

[Baalzamon]

One benefit I would see with jerry cans
Vermin proof. Not going to have mice/rats/squirrels chew threw a jerry can. I've seen on crazyguyonabike Ortlieb pannier vs squirrel. Squirrel 1, Ortlieb 0

[Aushiker]

One benefit I would see with jerry cans
Vermin proof. Not going to have mice/rats/squirrels chew threw a jerry can. I've seen on crazyguyonabike Ortlieb pannier vs squirrel. Squirrel 1, Ortlieb 0

My Macpac Cascade backpack lost out to a Bibbulmun Track rat

Andrew

[Cheesewheel]

One benefit I would see with jerry cans
Vermin proof. Not going to have mice/rats/squirrels chew threw a jerry can. I've seen on crazyguyonabike Ortlieb pannier vs squirrel. Squirrel 1, Ortlieb 0

My Macpac Cascade backpack lost out to a Bibbulmun Track rat

Andrew

Unless I am feeling lazy I always suspend my food pannier from a longish rope for the night (and religiously avoid putting any food in any other pannier that may leave a rat attracting residue - try not to get caught out by having crumbly museli bar crumbs in your jacket pocket ). Most rats are not smart or lucky (or sufficiently co-operative enough to stand on each other's shoulders to form a "rat pyramid") enough to work it out. An alternative is to house everything food like in one of those novelty full metal biscuit tins (if you put the tin in some other bag, be prepared for the rats to chew through that bag. Having lived in a country shack for some time you come to think that these guys have gps trackers for locating grains and the like.

If you cycle long and hard enough its conceivable that the body residue on your clothes could build up enough so that your garments may end up on a rats menu, but I am yet to have that experience while cycling ...

That all said, sometimes in the colder season they simply chew up anything to make a nest but my experience is that if you are constantly on the move and not setting up camp for longer than one night (and everything is well stored and packed), this doesn't happen

[saronmcm1]

Hi,
I have just bought a pair of ortileb classic panniers ql1 design.
They are on omm Sherpa racks, is it normal for them to move along rack.
I am using 11mm inserts on bags.
Bike setup is getting there, only need bike trailer fork for pug ordered thru biketrailershop.
Ordered rack thru omm took 8 days to get here.
When bike setup complete will try setup on munda biddi.
Cheers
Ron

[il padrone]

They will move, even with the inserts fitted. Mostly it will be forward movement under braking or when descending a bumpy road at speed. The placement of the lower hook will help to stop movement. I always have these with the opening facing forwards and the hook hard against the vertical rack strut. Also you should place the upper hooks so that they sit alongside the cross-struts on the rack, holding the pannier in place.

All these hooks are quite easy to adjust with a hex-key on the QL1 mounts. One reason I wouldn't mind getting the QL2 mounts though, they can be adjusted even easier.

[saronmcm1]

Hi, took the pug for a shakedown ride with touring gear on.
Bike was setup with panniers on back (ortileb classic) and bob ibex trailer.
We rode along the munda biddi over here in WA.
Points.
Geez its bloody hard pushing all that gear up rutted out singletrack.
Panniers worked flawlessy on OMM sherpa rack.
Bob trailer would try to pivot in if I stopped on hill, hard work to straighten bike.
Apart from that bob worked fine.
I need lower gears, hills were hard work.
I also had a revelate saddlebag, this bag is huge holds alot of gear.
I used a butane stove with kathmandu pots set, noticed that there is a difference with cylinders. I will buy the the good ones next time.
Cheers

[saronmcm1]

Hi, getting closer to my first big ride of about 2 weeks. The ride is east of newman in WA
Does anyone use puritabs?
What sort of meals do you carry, I will need to carry food for a week at a time.
What spares do you carry for your bike?
I have purchased a Spot, does anyone also carry at satphone on their journeys.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers Ron

[}SkOrPn--7]

I need lower gears, hills were hard work.

Get yourself a 36 tooth rear cassette and a 20 tooth granny front chainring and you will climb everything with ease fully loaded.

Ricky

[RonK]

Hi, getting closer to my first big ride of about 2 weeks. The ride is east of newman in WA
Does anyone use puritabs?
What sort of meals do you carry, I will need to carry food for a week at a time.
What spares do you carry for your bike?
I have purchased a Spot, does anyone also carry at satphone on their journeys.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers Ron

I always carry a sheet of Katadyn Micropur tabs, just in case. Others carry filters - there is a discussion about water here.

And discussions about food here and here.

I carry a Delorme Inreach- it lets me send texts messages via an iPhone app, so a sat phone is not necessary.