Search found 23 matches

by br8ker
3 Apr 2016, 4:39pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations
Replies: 20
Views: 3243

Re: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations

long overdue but thought it decent to finally reply and say actually that the wheels were brilliant.
9 months touring through Asia without a hint of an issue.
In fact my gf managed to get her front wheel stuck in a rut between some planks on a bridge, then proceeded to fall over sideways on the fully loaded bike (30kg ish). I expected the wheel to be pretty badly deformed, but it wasnt and only took a couple of minutes to re-tension the spokes again.
When i heard first-hand some of the stories of other tourers with persistent wheel issues, i was really happy we spent a bit more on having them hand built.
Builder was Hewitt Cycles in the UK. highly recommend!
by br8ker
3 Apr 2016, 2:58pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Marin muirwoods as a tourer
Replies: 2
Views: 1843

Re: Marin muirwoods as a tourer

i bought a couple of 1994-edition (i think) steel framed Marin Muirwoods as a way to get a cheap steel frame. replaced all the parts with new stuff.
We rode them on a 9month tour through Asia.

Frames were great... although i managed to snap one chainstay on mine halfway through the tour... though that's probably more a manufacturing defect.

Geometry-wise there's a couple of things to think about (i didnt notice either of these things until i swapped to the Surly Frame [same parts]) halfway through the tour.
* im not really sure why but the handling is quite jittery/noodly under load. particularly if you have a handlebar bag. we had decent headsets and there was no issue of headset play. put the same parts on my surly and the problem just disappeared. this wasnt really apparent when riding without pannier load.
* pedal stroking. maybe the frame was too small for me, but i feel like the seat position was too far behind the bottom bracket... so my pedal stroke was more a push forward rather than down. changing to the surly frame was a weird feeling bcos suddenly i was pushing down again. much more comfortable
* chainstay length. this was short-ish on the muirwoods and luckily i had racks that i could push the panniers an inch or so further back to avoid heel strike. even so it was a bit of problem sometimes.

totally agree with previous poster on upgrading wheels if going for a long tour as they will probably fail under touring loads/abuse.
by br8ker
22 Mar 2015, 8:58pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Getting contours on OSM of Italy for Garmin
Replies: 1
Views: 2464

Re: Getting contours on OSM of Italy for Garmin

Hey
when i was looking about a year ago, contour maps for garmin (outside of the garmin maps product) are only available from the guy at openmtbmap.org - he adds features to the openstreetmap maps & sells the product.
Great site. guy has put in a ton of work. well worth the subscription fee.
We used it on a recent tour through southeast asia. We didnt do route planning in a big way here, but it became REALLY handy when we realized we could plug in the day's final location into the garmin (etrex 30) & tell it to "autoroute" to it. One of the screens on the garmin (i forget which) gives you the full altitude profile of the day's route!! very cool. As we found out on a couple of demoralizing instances, it's not exact to within more than a km or so, but excellent to get an idea of the day's route.
I assume within garmin basecamp on your laptop you can do some pretty handy route planning through there too.

couple of links:
* here's is openmtbmaps dot org on how to do autorouting:
https://openmtbmap.org/about-2/autorouting/

* here's openmtbmaps again at the main page, do a search for "contour" to get some info:
https://openmtbmap.org/

* one other option is map2mapc which can apparently be used to digitize your paper maps, then geo-locate them & then put them on your garmin. ended up being way too complicated for me.
http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/mapping/help/begin.html

lastly, a couple of tips:
* make sure you have a fat internet connection as the contour maps are done by region and are HUGE (multiple Gigs). Once they're in basecamp, you can select the smaller map area and save it to the device
* make sure you buy an sd memory card for the garmin & save the maps onto that bcos the main memory wont be big enough.
* transfer the maps onto the sd card by plugging it directly into your computer. Dont leave the SD card in the garmin & attach the garmin by usb cable to the PC - it will take forever.
by br8ker
22 Oct 2013, 11:23am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations
Replies: 20
Views: 3243

Re: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations

I did a rudimentary test last night trying to slip 1mm and 2mm allen keys between wheel and brake pad at various points, and it looks to be under 1mm deviation probably ... strangely it seemed like a lot more the other day when adjusting the brakes.
anyway i can call off the hounds. thanks for all the advice and i'll be getting a copy of the book from that wheelpro.co.uk site in case anything goes wrong. hope not. i'll surely be writing here about it if it does!
it wasnt spa by the way.
choice of spokes was done completely by the builder - i told them i wanted something tough but not too expensive and that's what they specced.
thanks again all for the advice!
by br8ker
21 Oct 2013, 5:59pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations
Replies: 20
Views: 3243

Re: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations

thanks guys for all the info - much appreciated!
yep wheelbuilding is one thing i decided to leave till next tour.... maybe i should have tried it..

i'm measuring the deviation just up against the brake pads while mounted on the bikes - so not at all accurate. Any recommendations on how i should check this more accurately?

Note that i did have to get this delivered in a box so it could well have been mishandled during the trip - although it was packed really well and no damage to the box..

some stats:
* rigida sputnik rims
* Cassette side - Sapim Strong Single butted
* Non-Cass side - DT Double butted
* Front - DT plain gauge.
* Deore Hubs except for one of the fronts which is Son28 dyno hub
* spare spokes for both sides of rear and front

I called the wheelbuilder and the guy i spoke said to sort it myself if im confident or if not to take it to a local bike shop. as for what to do on the way he said that because they've done all that pre-tensioning stuff it should stay straight. interesting. as for how they could be out of line he offered that they might have got banged around in the box which is entirely possible. he said they always send them out true.

ultimately i think i'll just check out those two websites (park and wheelpro.co.uk) and learn to keep it straight myself. as i'm more worried sending them back, and not getting them returned in time to get my plane... or in worse condition than now!
by br8ker
21 Oct 2013, 1:51pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations
Replies: 20
Views: 3243

Re: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations

thanks for the quick response!
yeah i wasnt aware that they needed bedding in - i thought that's what all the pre-tensioning was all about..
trip is going to be 7months actually, so i guess i'm going to have to retrue them myself - do you by any chance have any links/videos you recommend for that sort of stuff?
by br8ker
21 Oct 2013, 8:09am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: excellent budget camera for touring
Replies: 17
Views: 5751

Re: excellent budget camera for touring

yep i'd second the recommendation of the Canon S95 - excellent camera in a tiny package.
for a slightly bigger version check out the Canon G10 or G11 - secondhand these should be aroun d£100 these days.
both these cameras give you full manual control and more flexibility. great sensors too!
by br8ker
21 Oct 2013, 8:05am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations
Replies: 20
Views: 3243

Hand-Built Wheels - Expectations

Hi all,
i'm after some advice...
i bought two sets of wheels from a well-known wheel builder as i decided i wanted something bulletproof for our upcoming tour.
received the wheels about 6 weeks ago, & made the mistake of assuming they'd be ok.
I finally mounted everything (brakes etc) on the weekend and 3 out of 4 of wheels are out of true by a mm or two.
I could re-align the wheels but was just wondering what my expectations of hand-built wheels should be? is this normal? or should they be dead-straight and stay dead-straight?
I've only got 6 weeks before i go so my options are limited in terms of getting them to e.g. redo the job....
by br8ker
13 Oct 2013, 7:43pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: 26 x 2 touring tyre.
Replies: 44
Views: 9858

Re: 26 x 2 touring tyre.

andymiller wrote:
br8ker wrote:you probably already know mondials are the replacement for the discontinued (and apparently much better) marathon XR.


The Dureme was a marketing own-goal: if they'd said 'they're XRs but with a different tread pattern there wouldn't have been anything like the fuss. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the tyre.

I wouldn't mind betting that the Mondials are also the same compound but with a more aggressive tread pattern.


cool thanks for the info - first time ive heard anything about the duremes/XR link - nice to hear your getting excellent use out of yours too
by br8ker
13 Oct 2013, 7:38pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: best maps combination for touring asia
Replies: 4
Views: 1843

Re: best maps combination for touring asia

guys thanks for all the info - some really great advice! - will check out lonely planet maps, nelles maps, and take a good look around when we arrive in each country
Marble looks quite cool, i'll definitely give that a shot
@simonhill - thanks for the warning about the military maps! and for the advice on the GT rider maps as well - was wondering if they were worthwhile picking up..
by br8ker
10 Oct 2013, 3:15pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: 26 x 2 touring tyre.
Replies: 44
Views: 9858

Re: 26 x 2 touring tyre.

if you're after something a bit more robust, spa cycles have the marathon mondial folding 2.15" at half price at the moment. the compound of the folding tyre is meant to be much better than the non-folding one.
you probably already know mondials are the replacement for the discontinued (and apparently much better) marathon XR.
got a few sets of these for the bikes im building up, so i cant speak from experience. but meant to be super tough with pretty low rolling resistance.
one thing to watch out for - make sure you check frame clearance AND front derailleur clearance when you test out the tyres. i only noticed the latter quite some time after i could return the tyres. fortunately i found a workaround...
by br8ker
9 Oct 2013, 7:39pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: best maps combination for touring asia
Replies: 4
Views: 1843

best maps combination for touring asia

HI

what do you guys recommend as the best maps combination for touring asia?
looking at most of the east-asian countries.

the options i've got are:
* basic road maps i can buy from here (may not have elevations, normally on scale of around 1:1mil, sometimes much less, probably dont have local place names etc)
* get road maps in-country (might not be able to buy them here & just see what we get when we turn up, though at least these will have local place names)
* google earth - could download this and view from a laptop at night to plan routes
* old US military topographic maps - good for elevations but obviously wont have any roads since the 70s!!
* any garmin digital maps that cover rural areas?
by br8ker
24 Sep 2013, 7:35am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Excellent Pro Camera for Touring
Replies: 101
Views: 55688

Re: Excellent Pro Camera for Touring

hmmm got a panasonic g6 (also has top quality video) and a 40mm pancake lens the other day for our upcoming trip. the set together is tiny - like a miniature DSLR, and really lightweight.
i think micro 4/3 range is the sweet spot for size, high image quality with interchangeable lenses....

i was convinced by the blogs of these two cycle tourists:
http://www.whileoutriding.com/photograp ... -lumix-gf1
http://walksworld.wordpress.com/2012/06 ... el-camera/
by br8ker
1 Jul 2013, 12:57pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: 26" Tubus Cargo rack, £25
Replies: 23
Views: 1833

Re: 26" Tubus Cargo rack, £25

legend thanks!!!
by br8ker
21 Jun 2013, 1:01pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Stuck seat posts & frame heating discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 149789

Re: Stuck seat posts & frame heating discussion

thanks for all the replies guys!
yeah i've tried so far
* ice+boiling water method to try and shrink the seatpost, then expand the frame quickly
* ammonia (3 days)
* wacking nose of seatpost with a hammer
* pathetic wrenching and turning of the seatpost

i've considered the caustic soda method but think i'll end up injuring myself or someone else.
considered the cutting method but dont trust myself not to cut up the frame....
thanks for the offer landsurfer but given im touring im a bit too paranoid to let someone else cut it either...

@531colin - when you say "replace the ammonia solution daily" do you mean replace it with a fresh new bottle bought from the shop? sounds a bit expensive

thanks for opinions on heat issues...
might give the hair dryer trick a try and if that doesnt work, i'll just buy a new frame.....