Getting our Gear Organized

Every year, we find that the baggage rules and fees imposed by the airlines are increasing. For this reason, and also to ease our load while riding, we want to pack lighter.

Our much loved Trangia set is being replaced by the lighter and smaller Clikstand.

** Correction: after a week of using our trangia with the clik stand in Iceland, we got freaked out by how high the flame flared in the wind. As well it is not as stable. So, Georg came to the rescue and found a super lightweight Hard Anodized Trangia windscreen (that goes with our 25UL set) at the Globetrotter outlet store in Bonn - so we are going back to the style we like and at less weight than what we have at home. Thanks Georg!!

Our new Arkel GT-18 Backpack panniers. These will go on our rear rack. The panniers quickly convert into backpacks

We have loved and used our Big Agnes King Solomon double bag (bottom photo) a long time. However, it is quite heavy and large even when compressed. After much research we decided to switch to the Nemo Duo Tango Slim - so tiny and the weight saving is dramatic.

During our cycling trips we have been frustrated with the hassles of charging our electric devices. This year we are going to use a Powerfilm 20 watt folding solar panel. The solar power will be stored in a Voltaic V72 battery. The battery when fully charged will power up several smartphones, our iPad mini 2 and our Garmin GPS and camera batteries.

The Powerfilm folding solar panel is lightweight and folds up quite small. It is military grade and is, in fact, bullet proof! Being non-crystalline it is able to produce solar power even on cloudy days. If we're staying over night in a hotel the Voltaic battery can also be fully charged from a wall socket.

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