Equipment 1: What we're riding ....

CAUTIONARY NOTE: Before you go any further on this page I'd suggest you read a nice little 3 page article posted here on CGOB by Greg Garceau, http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/naive "Be It Resolved: Bicycle Tourists Over 50 are Over the Hill" http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/15727
Once you've read this article, if you find yourself agreeing with the affirmative position put forward in it, I strongly urge you to stop reading this page right now and proceed straight to Day 1 of the trip. You've been warned.

However, if you're a gear junkie, read on....

We plan on being fully self supported. We will camp when we a) need to or b) want to. We'll also book into hotels / motels when we a) need to or b) want to. Ditto for staying at friends (both old and new) and at Warm Showers hosts.

The Bikes:

Singles - Toute Terrain Silk Road - newly built by Peter White Cycles

A few years ago Kirsten very kindly gave her 25 year old, but still very serviceable Dawes Super Galaxy touring bike to the daughter of one of her good friends. The bike was quickly cleaned up and with a few refurbishments, transporting the young woman down the Pacific Coast on a tour from Vancouver to San Diego. It been in constant use as a daily ride and extended tourer ever since. Nice to see this happen!

We've been doing our tours over the last few years on one of our tandems, a beautiful s&s coupled Rohloff equipped Bilenky, built by Stephen Bilenky in Philly (it was shown in a couple of NAHBS bike shows).

When it came to this trip though, Kirsten didn't fancy the idea of spending 8000+ km's sitting behind me. Can't blame her for that. She wanted to do a good portion of the trip on single bikes, but since she'd graciously given away her touring bike a few years earlier, she obviously needed a new one.

That's where the Silk Road and Peter White comes in.

When we did our Rhine source-to-sea trip in 2013 we used our Samsung 8" tablet as our navigation tool (OsmAnd app, highly recommended). Our only real problem was battery power, so Kirsten gave me the green light to get a dyna-hub. Who's the main source for these in North America? Peter White Cycles. So after poking around his web site a bit we discovered the Toute Terrain Silk Road bike. It was decided that this would be a great replacement (upgrade??) touring bike for Kirsten. The only problem was that it would be much nicer than my 25 year old Dawes Super Galaxy, which is used April through October every year as my daily commute. The solution to this problem was to buy two Silk Roads. And here they are:

UPS Guy (blurry) delivering bikes, Monday 25 May around noon. Almost exactly one week before we plan on heading off to the west coast. Should have enough time to get them 'debugged'

Bikes 98% complete Tuesday 26 May pm. Had to change the stems (longer, less rise), shorten the handlebars from 710 mm to 570 mm (shortest we could go), fit pedals, front racks and handlebar grips. Have been out for a few test rides. Very smooth and sturdy but these are not lightweight bikes! Tried to fit Thorn accessory t-bar for Ortlieb front bag but way to complicated with cables and light interference issues. Will just have to attach them to the main bars.

Silk Road small Frame

Rohloff 14 speed rear hub, 19 t Gates Centre track cog

Schmidt Son SL28 front hub (with SL compatible fork)

Mavic EX729 rims, 32 spokes ws db-14

Schwalbe Marathon Supeme foldable (26x1.6) tires

Middleburn RS8 cranks (170 mm)

Gates carbon-drive centre track 50t chainring cog (and to answer the question, what do you do if your belt breaks in the middle of nowhere?... You simply take your spare belt (90 grams) from the bottom of your pannier and replace it in about the same time as it takes to fix a broken chain)

Chris King headset

Plug III USB power outlet in headset

Phil Wood BB

Shimano XT-785 hydraulic disc brakes and levers (let's start the debate about hydraulic brakes on a touring bike ..... these are GREAT on our mountain bikes, and VERY durable, why compromise when you're on the road?)

Shimano 180 mm ISO Ice-Tech rotor front

Rohloff 160 mm rotor rear

Salsa Pro Moto stem and handle bar (5 deg)

Ergon GR3 grips

Ritchey seat post

Schmidt Edelux II headlight

SKS P65 Fenders

Brooks Cambium C17 saddle (Lyle), B17s (Kirsten)

Tubus duo front rack

Shimano T780 Deore XT pedals

Full Pitlocks (might as well ... should only need a single u-lock and no cables)

The Tandem:

We'll use this for the Canmore to Sudbury section. Lot's of loooong stretches of open highway to cover. Much more convivial to do that on a tandem.

Bilenky S&S coupled, Rohloff equipped custom tandem:

Our Black and Gold Bilenky Tandem - nicest place I've ever had to build it. Lobby of the River House Boutique Hotel in Andermatt Switzerland, the start of our 2013 Rhine Source-to-Sea tour

Bilenky Signature Tandem, S&S coupled, filet brazed, custom paint

Rohloff rear hub, 16t sprocket

Rigida Andra-30, 32 spoke rear rim, Sapim 14 gauge db spokes

Chris King front hub

Velocity Aeroheat 32 spoke front rim, WS 14 gauge db spokes

Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 26 x 1.6 tires

Salsa QR Skewers

Cane Creek 110 headset

White Industry Drive train - square taper BB's, The ONE cranks and sprockets (rear drive 42 t)

Whipperman Connex SS chains

Thomson Elite 50 mm captain stem

Nitto Noodle 42cm captain handlebars (upgraded by me)

Berthould Rohloff shifter (upgraded by me, a bit of work to get this on the Nitto bars but it worked!)

Control-Tech stoker stem

Deda bull horn stoker bars

Cane Creek V-Brake Drop levers

Paul Component Cross levers (upgraded / added by me)

Avid SL Ultimate V-brakes (front and rear)

Avid BB-7 Rear disc (203 mm Rholoff rotor) (upgraded / added by me)

Thomson Elite seat stems

Brooks B-17 and B-17s saddles

SKS P-55 fenders

Thorn 110 mm accessory t-bar

Tubus Logo rear rack and Ergo front rack

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