Best equipment for _racing_ 'round the world

[Danneaux]

Hi All,

Here's one to get the creative juices flowing...

Ever wondered what lasts and what doesn't when selecting equipment for touring the world?  Of course; we all have!  But what is the proven equipment to have when trying to race around the globe?

The June/July 2010 issue of Cycle magazine had an article on just that topic, titled, "Going the Distance", with the introduction...

Touring 18,000 miles around the world in record time is tough on both bike and equipment. Rob Ainsley asked Mark Beaumont, James Bowthorpe and Julian Sayarer what they used and how well it did distance.

Sadly, there's no Thorn content, but plenty about Schwalbe, Brooks, and Rohloff to make up for it.  The article gives some good insight into the special equipment required when a global tour becomes a global race.

PDF here: http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/Magazine/201007048.pdf

Best,

Dan.

[jags]

wow thats amazing i certainly thought they woul have a much bigger toolfit i take more on my day rides and not a hilleberg to be seen.
shoild have used a thorn me thinks 

[Danneaux]

i certainly thought they woul have a much bigger toolfit

<nods>  I agree, jags...that's what surprised me most.  Though I very rarely if ever use my larger toolkit/spares while on-tour thanks to advance preparation, it is still reassuring to have them along.  If going solo, it's not like you can split the load with someone else and each carry half. 

In 1992, I toured through Oregon's Diamond Peak Wilderness Area with my father, and we stopped so I could fix his flat (it was the week before his 74th birthday).  I pumped like mad so we could get back on the road and on to camp before a storm, laid the pump down behind me, stood up and...stepped back, right square on the barrel of my Silca, neatly snapping it in two. Fortunately, we still had his pump in reserve, but it turned out to have a deformed pump leather. Remembering how slim my margin would be in the event of a pump failure alone in the middle of nowhere, I've always tucked a small emergency spare (Crank Bros) in my underseat bag. Worth the weight for the peace of mind. One can plan for the Big Things, but it's the little ones that get you in the end, it seems.

Best,

Dan.

[jags]

i got a novice cyclist out of a jam last summer,we stopped in a pub on our return trip  for a nice cool pint of larger i don't normally drink but we needed some refreshment anyway too cyclists came in   to the bar the lad looked in a sorry state we just nodded at one another, when i was leaving he followed me out and asked if i had an alan key to adjust his saddle ,he had hired it up by a full inch before he left for his 50 mile spin poor sod was in a bad way.well i got my tool kit out and sorted him out in jig time he was ever so greatful but was amazed at the amoung of stuff i had, i told him if he carried half of what i had he would not be  suffering like a dog,as the man said better to be looking at it that looking for it.

[Andre Jute]

Topeak sells an allen key kit that weighs 68g if memory serves, called the Tool Bar. http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/topeak-topeak-toolbar-compact-multi-function-tool-prod16114/ It's wonderful, well worth the money, don't leave the house without it. It forms the mainstay of my toolkit. In fact, with an 8x10mm spanner (wrench to you, Dan) for setting a Rohloff in gear after the cables break, that's an entire get you home kit for those of us with kevlar (etc) banded tires.

I'll tell you what I'd take in a toolkit to go around the world:

Topeak Tool Bar, 2.6 to 6mm hex bits, ali tyre levers, keyring
2mm Allen bit, fits Tool Bar, for Rohloff

8mm Allen bit, fits 6mm bit from Tool Bar, for crank bolts
T20 Torx bit, fits Tool Bar, for Robhloff
8mm hex socket to fit Tool Bar (from Xtools set http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10197 bought to get only that bit, rest in other toolkits)
Rohloff sprocket tool
Brooks saddle tension spanner, because it doesn't weigh much and anything else is just too fiddly to use

I would replace the only 10mm nut on my bike with 8mm and leave behind the 8x10mm spanner I now carry because the weight doesn't matter to me at present. (Park makes a lightweight 8x10mm flat steels spanner, if you'd rather.) I would also replace the 1/2in nuts on my Brooks B73 with fittings that can be operated by Allen key. Those with single rail Brooks saddles can replace the entire mounting with a Brompton Pentaclip, see http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brompton-penta-clip-for-rail-frame-saddles-qpentaclipa-prod13716/?src=froogleus&currency=usd

That lot, which can all fit on a keyring, will dissemble my bike and repair the entire transmissionm including fitting a new chainring as I use Allen/torx ring bolts. No chain breaker is required if one uses quick links.

Topeak Peak DX, the only mini pump I know that works at all with big volume tyres.
Patch kit (the Topeak Tool Bar has two ali tyre levers on it)

2x spoke, rear
2x spoke, front
Good quality brake pads for the specific brakes fitted, in my case Magura rim hydraulics. (Not so sure I wouldn't prefer disc brakes for a world tour: the grit on roads in 2/3 of the world will grind through rims faster than I would be comfortable with.)
Rohloff service kit, for an emergency washout, presuming routine service kits have been sent to stops in advance.
Small tube of teflon grease, doubles as assembly grease, or marine grease if available in container so small, for regressing skewer tips and external small maintenance on the road. (No disassembly of major components is contemplated. Rohloff and Son hubs are not intended for users to disassemble, never mind beside the road, so they'd better deliver the reliability you pay for. The only other major assemblies, the headset and the bottom bracket, are "sealed" chuck and replace parts, not serviceable. If replacements are carried, the teflon will do for assembly grease.)

Assuming that I won't carry a bottom bracket or a spare chain ring, I'll assume that those who supply them along the way will also have relevant tools. If I carried a bottom bracket, I'd make it a Shimano tapered square type, because the tools for that fit securely without contortions with penny washers and duct tape and are light, which cannot be said for the Campagnolo tool required for my fave Kinex BB.

I could of course replace the Tool Bar with a torque wrench such as the BBB kit I keep in my toolkit at home, with again the additional bits, but I reckon that, if you are so inexperienced that you need a torque wrench not wreck the threads on a steel bike (nobody's going to try to go around the world on a plastic bike, are they?), you'd better wait a couple of years and a practice a bit.

Andre Jute
http://coolmainpress.com/BICYCLING.html