Bike and gear
Bike - 2018 Salsa Timberjack
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- I swapped out the handlebars to a flat Richey bar and added the bar ends, Ergon grips and a mirror. Good stuff (I stopped wearing gloves because the grips were so comfy I no longer needed them - gloves would help protect from road rash, of course, but I'm happy to forego that protection since gloves get so, so stinky and gross).
- Drivetrain is a SRAM Eagle NX - 1 X 11 - had no troubles with this but replaced the chain 4 times and rear cassette once. Will swap out front 32 tooth chain ring to a 30 at some point.
- Hydraulic disc brakes - absolutely life-changing. Loved, loved, loved these! You can bomb down anything at any speed and know you can stop quickly. High maintenance though - I went through 4 sets of brake pads on the trip and the brakes are probably due to be bled post-trip.
- The bike shop told me the rear hub was of crappy quality and not likely to last, so they swapped it out for a DT Swiss hub. This worked great but the oscillating freewheel sound takes some getting used to.
- Tyres - the WTB tyres that came with the bike weren't all that great. Switched to a Maxxis Recon+ on the back and like these. Went through 3 rear tyres on the trip. Front tyre swapped to some Bontrager thing that worked fine - it was the only tyre a bike shop in a tiny nearby town had available that would work after the original tyre developed a blister.
- I rode flat pedals - you aren't riding steep and slippery enough stuff if you are riding clipless. There's no way I could have pushed the bike up some of those tracks if I had cleats of any kind. It was hard enough to push up the hill, slipping and sliding, in hiking shoes!
- I did not replace the saddle. This bike is the most comfortable I've ever ridden and I never ever had butt pain or chafing. So the saddle that it came with stayed.
- The rear rack is from Salsa and designed to work with the Alternator frame. I'm not sure how robust this is, but it's going well for now.
- I used a Salsa Cradle with side-loading bag and handlebar bag. This set up is bomb proof and awesome, though a bit fiddly.
- I carried my stove fuel in a water bottle cage under the frame. Worked great - my ex tied some paracord to it with a squeezy cord clamp as a retaining system and that was perfect.
Bags and such
Salsa front roll - awesome piece of gear. It held my tent. It had the capacity to hold much more though. I just don't like that much weight that high.
Salsa handlebar bag - this integrates with the Cradle and Front Roll. Absolutely perfect for my guys, Verne and Kermit. Didn't put anything else in there other than a pen, camera tripod and lip balm.
Oveja Negra feed bag - Camera and sunscreen only in here. Could easily grab the camera for pics while I rode.
Bike Bag Dude fork bags on Topeak Versacage - Versacage worked fine but, oh my god, are the straps ever fiddly. The BBD bags were good, but not waterproof. I think you could make them better if you used tent seam sealer on the sewing lines.
The fork bags carried my basic first aid kit, a very basic sewing kit and almost all of my food (I carried up to 10 days of food at a time). That's it.
Salsa Timberjack framebag - Made to fit the frame. Not waterproof at all and not of great construction. A lot of reviews talk about zippers and seams pulling out. I did not have this problem as I didn't get in there very often, but I could see how it could be an issue. Not overly impressed with this piece of kit.
I carried spare tubes and all of my tools in here. Nothing else.
Ortlieb Panniers - Carried all cooking gear, sleeping bag, clothes, journal, phone, solar panel, etc in these. These panniers are from 2009. Still waterproof and still going strong.... but oh man, they stink!
Rear rack - This was purchased from Salsa as it is made to go with the bike. Carried my tent poles wrapped in my closed cell, 3/4 length Thermarest pad I've had since 1994. I still have no comfort issues sleeping on this, so I like it for its simplicity. I've never known anyone with an inflatable pad that lasted nearly 30 years with no maintenance, lol.
Other gear I loved (not an exhaustive list of all gear)
Sawyer squeeze water filter - OMG, this thing is awesome. Not fiddly, worked simply and easily and doesn't even need backwashed that often. Fits in the palm of you hand and is quite light. Used this daily and never got even slightly sick, even from questionable sources. Only drawback is that you cannot fill the bladder by sticking it in the stream - need to pour the water in. I just collected water in my cooking pot and poured in, so not a big deal.
Trangia stove in a Firebox Nano titanium set-up - This combo was fantastic. I love the Trangia stove. Not as quick as a Jetboil, but much easier to find fuel for it and much more environmentally friendly than single use cannisters for the JetBoil. Much simpler to use than MSR whisperlites, etc. The Firebox nano is tiny, very light, folds flat, and is much smaller to carry than the Trangia set-ups. Loved this as well. I have an MSR windscreen that I use with it. I have an 800ml titanium pot with a little frypan/lid. This has been very good, too.
Sea to Summit - Ultrasil packable backpack - Superlight - like 70 grams or so and fits in the palm of your hand. Absolutely fantastic for packing valuables to take with you on a hike or for carrying food from supermarket etc. I got mine on sale but would have been worth it if I paid full-price.
Anker solar panel - they don't make this 3-panel kind anymore, but it was great and meant I could be off-grid for 10 days at a time, minimum, in summer. Definitely worth its extra weight - though it wasn't very heavy at all, actually. Charged my phone in an hour or so and charged a 10,000 mah powerbank in 3-4 hours. Never really had to worry about phone, camera, blinkie light, powerbank running out of power - with summer sun anyway. Note - I rarely used my phone though, as I rarely had any reception. I also do not carry a GPS unit (because of the charging issues and cost - I just used the free MORE TO EXPLORE app to look at topo maps at night and then had 1 regional HEMA paper map and one or two Rooftop maps that I put in a kayak waterproof map case carabinered to the top of the tent bag.)
Clothing -
On this part of the ride, I had:
- two pairs of hiking shorts (Lycra is too hot to wear, takes too long to dry and is too unhygienic for a camping tour with this long in the bush, plus my ride set-up meant my butt never hurt. I'll never do lycra again. I would wear one pair of hiking shorts while the other dried after washing out each night.)
- one superlight pair of hiking pants that fit easily over my shorts
- fluoro ride tshirt and one off-bike tshirt
- 1 pair underwear
- 2 pairs socks
- only the shoes I was wearing plus one pair flip-flops
- $1 gardening gloves for full-length gloves
- 1 raincoat and 1 pair rain pants plus fluoro vest to go over raincoat
- 1 merino wool thermal top and 1 light warmie jacket
- I also wore a PLB strapped to my waist with a belt.
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