Yes. I though it only fair and proper to share so as to avoid the impression that I was in any way "bashing" them.

Great result Keith

Reading between the lines of the emails I got made me think similarly.

The exact same thing happened on my New World Tourist. I had folded it and placed it the trunk of my car so I could sneak in a bike ride when I was not caring for my mother in upstate NY. I pulled the bike out of the trunk and one of the rear forks had sheared off just like yours. I was not a happy camper.

Bike Friday had me ship them the bike and they did the repair. It took a few months.

Makes me wonder if this hasn’t been a common problem for Green Gear.

There is, though they tend to del in complete bikes that get sent to less fortunate areas of the world. When they get higher-end bikes in their donations they often re-sell them to generate operating money. But it's worth thinking about- a much better outcome than simply scrapping everything.

Bad news Keith. Is there a bike recycling charity in your area?
They may be able to reuse the components.

Mike

I don't relish the idea of the LHT or Disc Trucker's empty weight of 31 pounds. I know it's unrealistic to expect *any* touring model to be close to the gossamer weight of my road bike, but even Odysseus is only in the middle 20s, with all the racks and gee-gaws included.

I think my long gone yet still mourned 1984 Trek 620 was only around 22 pounds. In many ways it's still the bike I most enjoyed riding. It's tempting to see if I can find one on FleaBay (they pop up from time to time) until I think about the number of changes (and the lack of provision for a disc brake, which is now a must-have qualifier for consideration) that I'd have to make.

Keith,

I think I forgot to reply to you, about your potential bicycle shopping. I had suggested a Rodriguez. Jacinto also has a Long Haul Trucker, purchased in 2008. This is his favorite date. She doesn't go out often anymore, but when he takes her out, he always comments on what a good ride, and always dependable. Now he's more into internal geared hubs, Rohloff being the most common. Jacinto's reason for going IGH is that he doesn't like to clean chains! We might laugh, but it's the truth. He did have a spectacular failure at the end of our 2021 tour, but other than that, the Rohloff has been very dependable. He has encouraged me to switch one of my bikes to a Rohloff. If there were someone in our area familiar with them, I'd probably give it a try.

I got sidetracked there - what I really wanted to say was to keep the LHT at the top of your list. It's an inexpensive, dependable ride.

Did the GAP/C&O with about 6 other frinds. plan was to camp but due to rain we camp 0 days. both trails have plenty of Air B&B and little hotels that it makes it easy to do both trails.

It's not perfect, but it's way better than the soft keyboard.

Oh, it folds too! Cool!

Thanks Gretchen. You need to learn to be a little more enthusiastic. 😁

Seriously though, thanks for the encouragement and support.

I was following your journal and then life interefered, so I tonight I went back to read the rest of your trip. AMAZING! Absolutely AMAZING!
I can't believe all the mountain passes you crossed. The photos were incredible. I loved "meeting" all the people who crossed your path. Thank you for sharing your adventure. TOO COOL! - Gretchen Carlson

Thanks Andy.

Proud of you, cousin! What you’ve already done is epic.