Cycling UK Forum

I just did some repairs and modifications to my set of panniers

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/forum/b ... sted=0&v=Y

Well I too need a little extra weight.

Credit card touring vs tenting.

We just flew and did 27kg per bike and a 15kg bag. The boxes themselves weighed 6kg (for 2)
Throw a cooker, tent, bags, mats tools (for a long 6 month tour finishing in India) toiletries, oh and the Thorn Ravens with front and rear panniers and the indestructible Marathon plus.
We're going through 4 seasons and have already hit hail on day 3.

Ryaniar didn't weigh the bikes but she was nice enough especially since we bought an extra 15kg bag that we didn't have. I asked her if she could give someone else a freebie, and she just laughed

Hey Harry

If there are Ryanair staff on the check in counters/bag drop or whatever they are more likely to check. I've seen Ryanair staff at the boarding gate weigh cabin luggage and charge for anything over 5kg

I thought it was 10KG for cabin baggage??

What we did was buy an extra 15kg bag but don't actually have one. If they do weigh it have an extra empty bag, tape and knife (that we'll throw away) and will put 15kg into the extra bag. Kinda like a £20 insurance as opposed to a £150 excess bill.

Am now really confused after finding this one.

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/taking-a-bike-on-ryanair.132339/

it says 30kg.
Ryanair is like any budget airline, which I have no issue with, but it leaves a lot open to interpretation.

I did a search and haven't quite found the answer

Am flying with Ryanair out of Gatwick and have prepaid the Large Sports bag and thought it said 30kg.
On closer reading I think it means thats the max is 30kg and the weight paid for may be 20kg.

What is the allowable weight for the bike?

So am again looking at Warsaw to Delhi with Aeroflot.
Any recent experience with their baggage allowance. It sounds like its 2 pieces ant 23kg each???

Any serious answers out there?

This is the cheapest way now.

Leaves the bank fees for dead and at a much better rate.
Forget paypal and western union.
It goes direct into their bank account. I used it last year to get money to the UK from Oz. No problem

http://www.currencyfair.com

This one weighed a ton and still got nicked.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1&page_id=330745&v=Y

Stolen in Nepal earlier this year and insurance wouldn't pay. They're not in the business of paying out.

Be careful as many insist that if the bike gets stolen you need to prove you have a locked the bike with a lock worth $100. That's sure to weigh an extra 1kg. 2 persons means 2 locks.
Then there is the depreciation as nobody will pay more than what you paid for it. They won't replace it. Then there is all the little extra's you purchased. Racks, pedals, speedo, etc.
You'll need receipts for everything too.

From now on will have different ways. ie remote sensor alarms.
Take a look online on how to steal a bicycle and will soon realise its a lost cause.
If they want the bike, they'll get it.

Recently started looking again for insurance and saw one that specialised in cycle touring. Great.
I wanted many of the things removed. Such as car rental, computer, jewellery in exchange for extra fee on the bicycle component. But I thought they specialised in touring?
Anyways, No Deal!

Has anyone ever taken or done a cycle touring workshop before .

I've approached a a local college with my proposal once and got knocked back.
I've taught before and proposed with a good vision of outcomes, goals etc.

My idea was to have a 1 day question and answer workshop explaining all the good and bads. Even had a a few local bike shops involved to give a 2 hour lesson on repairs and servicing. Bringing a loaded bicycle in with a plenty of websites for future referral.

Because there are so many lifestyle workshops about thought this would work.
Here in Australia I have access to the Munda Biddi trail, and would like to incorporate that.
Any ideas how I can make this work?

Transferring funds to other countries used to be difficult and expensive.

I recently used http://www.currencyfair.com to get money from AUD in Australia to a private account in the UK in £. Worked a treat and heaps cheaper than any bank.
I had an issue and they rang me within 10 minutes . Unreal.

When we go away we do take cash.
Also take a credit card and have a automatic monthly transfer from our savings account to the card so effectively have the card in credit.
The credit card is a platinum and doesn't charge for overseas transactions or foreign ATM's.

We too are heading to France in early spring.

May see you there.
Starting In Sardinia Mar 22 and heading to Corsica and north to Poland via Germany.
3 months worth,.

As for maps.
We'll get ours when we land, and rely on tailwinds and a compass.

Another flying with bikes question.


Am starting to find some cheap European airlines but on the Norwegian airlines site can't find the actual charge.
It'd only allow a price check once I logged in or bought a ticket.

Any ideas what excess bags are worth?
Stockholm to Bangkok

Plenty worse airlines than that around. Try flying some of the smaller airlines to mining centres of Western Australia, and thats with sober pilots.

All very amusing but what about the baggage issue?

Life was easier when we were younger.
We thought we'd live forever and would just quit work and hit the road.

Years later we hunkered down (does anyone actually still use this word) to set ourselves up. Thats done thanks to the Australian FIFO mining boom. So many months away from home living at camps was a serious cost. Its just not right. Along the way we still took the occasional 1-6 months off, as our theory was short holidays weren't really worth it.

Now at 53 the thinking is we're closer to the end than the beginning, and a lot less healthy years are coming. You may as well use them.

The hardest thing now is what to do with the house. Most times we just lock the door and gate and leave.
Have tried and failed to get house sitters in as it was more work for us when we came back. People did just that. SIT. Amazing the damage someone can do in 8 months.

From now on its a minimum of 6 months off every year. The wife doesn't like long tours but once on the road it gets easier.
The hardest part is the few days before fly out day.
Next one is March 2014.

Is it not possible to just camp wild?