The Bike:

Overall, I was happy with the bike.

I had no mechanical problems, just 2 flat tires the entire trip. The Rohloff hub and belt drive worked flawlessly. Initially there was some squeal from the belt after rain that didn't seem to want to quiet down with the usual solution of rinsing with water, but as the belt wore in, that went away.

I do have a bit of a fit issue that I need to address before I use the bike for another trip. I need to get my weight off of my hands so they don't go numb. Also, there is a small toe overlap problem, due at least in part to my laziness in not trimming the fender struts. I'll add that to my to do list.

I rarely used my highest gear, and sometimes reached for a lower lowest gear when I didn't have one available. I have the standard Co-motion gearing set-up for the Pangea Rohloff. Before the trip I had asked about lowering the gearing and it was suggested that the way to do it was with a smaller chainring, and that was such a large change it wasn't reasonable. I need to investigate the option of a slightly larger rear cog.

I was happy to save some money on my outbound flight by taking advantage of the S&S couplers. I packed the bike myself in a homemade box. I used some fairly lightweight foam to pad the frame, and it was inadequate. There was a little bit of paint damage where the foam wore through and a small dent when it arrived. On the way home, I made an inquiry to a shop in Istanbul that claims to be oriented toward touring, about whether they could pack an S&S bike in the recommended size box. I didn't get a direct answer, which I took to mean "no". So I packed it myself in a standard bike box. It was so much easier to pack, and the bike arrived home without damage, so I'm not sure whether I would pack the bike in the S&S sized box again. Perhaps I will get a proper case to use for trips that come and go from the same location.

The dyno hub worked okay for charging electronics, used with a power bank in-line to buffer the on/off from the hub at low speeds. With my Garmin on the handlebars, the connector was exposed and got banged up and bent when I was mounting and dismounting the bike and during handling. It would be great to have a right angle connector for the mini USB end at the Garmin. One of my power banks (by RavPower) failed.

Ultralight Mirror:

This mirror seems to go by a few different names. It's the one sometimes sold by Ortlieb and sometimes sold as D and D Oberlauda, but always (as far as I can see) called "ultralight".

There is distortion in the mirror, the kind that used to lead to warnings on some car mirrors "objects in mirror may be closer than they appear". It seems designed to make close objects, like vehicles as they are actually passing, easy to see, but distant objects, like vehicles zooming up on you very quickly, a bit harder. It took a little while to get used to it, but then it became indispensable, especially on busy roads without shoulders. I wouldn't take a trip like this without a mirror of some sort, and this was a good choice.

The location of the mirror on my handlebar did make it vulnerable to being pushed out of position or potentially broken. Since I didn't have a kickstand, I sometimes needed to lay my bike down and had a choice of either putting it on the drive side or the mirror side. Neither choice was good. I left the attachment loose enough that I could adjust it a bit while riding, in case it had been pushed out of position and I couldn't see. The mirror surface itself seemed robust, and I was more concerned that the plastic mounting bits would break than the mirror itself, but the whole thing survived the trip intact, but with definite signs of wear.

Pedals and shoes:

My decision to use flat pedals for this trip was a good one. I was off the bike a lot each day, and not having clipless shoes, even MTB style ones, was convenient and comfortable. The pedals I used were Wellgo MG-1 magnesium pedals, reasonably lightweight but not too expensive. They have the BMX style pins to keep your feet in place. The pins were effective, but my habit of holding the bike with my shins on the pedals when stopped on uphills did bang up my shins a bit. Old habits can be hard to break! The large platforms and ability to reposition my feet kept my feet and knees comfortable. The pedals looked well-used by the end of the trip, with the finish worn off where my shoes contacted them and other places where there was abrasion.

I used Five Ten Freeride shoes. They are men's shoes, and really were not a great fit. I nearly took some old hiking shoes instead, but I noticed the lining in those shoes were worn through before I left, so I stuck with the Five Tens. The shoes softened up fairly quickly, and I could feel the pins from the pedals through the soles near the front of my foot. I tried to remove some of the pins when I was in Hungary, but the small allen screws were pretty trashed with dirt and impact damage, so it was hard to get a good grip on them. I only succeeded in removing 2 screws. This was not a big problem, just a mild annoyance.

I was glad I brought a spare pair of shoes with me. I was able to let my riding shoes air out while I walked around town in the evenings, and they were generally more comfortable than the Five Tens for long days of sightseeing off the bike.

Ortlieb Panniers:

I was quite happy to have water proof panniers. There were several days I rode in heavy rain, and everything inside stayed absolutely dry.

I had what I think are standard problems with the rear panniers. The bags rounded out a bit and the horizontal bar with the clips bowed. It made it just a bit harder to put the bags on the bike. The plastic inserts for the clips came loose and moved around, and I had to take some pliers to one of them to get it back into position so it didn't block the opening for the rack rails. These inserts need to be replaced before I use the bags for another trip. I grew to like the roll tops for the ease of packing and closing. I chose the white color for visibility. I'm not sure whether it helped or not, but it shows dirt and other wear very easily, and I wouldn't choose white again.

I have a tear in one pannier due to a dog attack in Romania. The tear is in the black sidewall where the upper edge was when it was rolled. I taped it, inside and out, with Gorilla Tape. The tape is peeling a bit at the edges, so I need a better solution.

The front panniers didn't give me any problems. They are the "plus" fabric, and I think it held up better than the standard fabric I used for the rear, at least in terms of visible wear. I appreciated the easy access to the sport packers when riding. This is where I kept my rain gear and also some food that I wanted to access during the day. My bike repair tools and cooking equipment were up front, too, but I didn't use these much during the day.

The handlebar bag was convenient and also didn't give me any problems. The magnetic closure was easy to use. I did overfill it some days, and one day I was careless about closing it and it flipped open during the ride and my phone fell out. I can only blame myself for that. The map case was handy, but a little awkward. It was difficult to flip to parts of the map that were not on the top, and that certainly could not be done while riding. I ended up using it as if it were one-sided.

Sleeping bag:

I used a bag with a 20 deg Fahrenheit rating. I didn't camp as much as I expected, but when I did, this bag was comfortable. I was glad I hadn't decided to use a summer weight bag.

Tent:

I chose the Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 based almost entirely on weight. It is one of the lightest 2 man tents out there and not too exorbitantly priced. I found it difficult to get enough tension so that I didn't wake up in the morning with the walls touching my sleeping bag. One solution was to toss my panniers into the corners, which help to hold the walls up as well as keeping the sleeping bag away. I had some issues with condensation, but not surprisingly, it depended on the weather. I'll likely use the tent again, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone shopping for a new tent.

Mini Trangia Stove:

Since I didn't camp as much as expected, I didn't use this stove as much as expected. When I did use it, it was for boiling water and for boiling eggs, nothing very fancy. I stopped once mid-ride and heated some water for coffee. It was easy to light, although it singed my fingers a couple of times, and worked well. I can't say how well it would work for more elaborate cooking. I was glad to have it with me. When I want a hot drink, I want a hot drink. The stove and pot were worth their weight.

I had a plastic "Light My Fire" spork with me. It broke in half inside my panniers. Perhaps that's my fault for not being more careful packing, but I've had other plastic camping cutlery (from the 1990's??) that suffered much worse abuse and did not break.

Smart Phone, Asus Zenfone 2:

This was an indispensable piece of equipment for me. I used it for navigation (using maps.me), for e-mail and keeping in touch with people at home, for researching hotels and accommodation options and even making reservations, as my only camera, and for updating this journal. As a GSM phone, I was able to get local SIM cards and use the 3G or 4G networks when away from wi-fi.

It was a huge help with navigation. My Garmin can provide turn by turn directions, but makes it hard to get an overview of the route and make sure that it makes sense. It is easy to zoom in and out on the phone, and make sure I am where I think I am, and that the route I am following is a reasonable one. I wonder how I got by in the past without this kind of GPS help! Maps.me is a good app with downloadable maps so I didn't need to have an internet connection to use it. The database of points of interest was useful, more so in the northern countries, as the database was less complete as I got further south.

As a camera, it was just okay. There were times when I couldn't see the screen when taking pictures, and took several shots hoping one of them would capture the area I wanted. I think a dedicated camera would have been better.

I was able to keep the journal updated without too much difficulty. The autocorrect both helped and hurt. Typing was challenging, and the autocorrect fixed many errors. On the other hand, it also led to quite a few incorrect words, which I still need to go back and fix. The one thing that did not work well was routing on maps in this journal. I could not get the points to land where I thought I had touched, and for routes it was impossible to correct. I could put markers down and move them to the correct location, so that's what I ended up doing. The routes were added when I had access to a computer with a mouse.

Whenever I did a search for accommodation, booking.com came up first. I found that booking.com was useful, but didn't have all of the options in an area, and despite the lowest price guarantee, did not always have the lowest price. Frequently a hotel would have other room options available that didn't come up in booking.com, at a better price. Sometimes it was a true single room, and other times it just wasn't as fancy. Once past the summer busy season, I found I could use booking.com to research hotels and read reviews, but then just go directly to my chosen hotel without a reservation. There were some small towns where booking.com did not show any hotels, but the maps.me database showed one or two.

I also used hotels.com and hostels.com. I booked my hotel in Istanbul directly with the hotel, through e-mail, and took advantage of a 20% cash discount.

Despite my love affair with the smart phone, if I get a lightweight laptop or tablet, I would be tempted to bring it on my next tour for the larger screen and easier typing.

Garmin Edge 800:

I've had this device for a while, and have found it generally useful for keeping track of rides around home, and for following pre-planned (and pre-loaded) routes when I don't know the way myself. I've been using it with Open Street Maps downloaded from garmin.openstreetmap.nl. For this trip, I downloaded the maps for most of eastern Europe, trying to cover the areas I expected to be in as well as those that I might possibly wander into. I pre-loaded a couple of routes for the start of my trip. I was glad to have this device with me, but I couldn't rely on it for navigation. There were a few problems.

It cut off occasionally. It wasn't often, but seemed to happen at inopportune times, like navigating into a city. Usually I just had to turn it back on, but once I had to reboot.

2. It often errored out when calculating routes. It would stop at 80% done, and not continue. It did sometimes report an error. It didn't seem related to the distance, but perhaps to the number of turns. I'm not certain about the source of the problem.
3. When it did calculate routes, it sometimes sent me on inappropriate roads (dirt paths, super highways) and with distances much longer than necessary. There was one day in particular it calculated a route more than 50 km longer than the one I actually ended up using.
4. I have not discovered how to get a good overview of the route. The screen is too small to see any distance of over roughly 1 km very clearly, and scrolling back and forth with that magnification just doesn't work for me.

On the other hand, it did help quite a bit.

1. It provided the daily distances I recorded in this journal.
2. As I got closer to my destination, especially heading into a large city, it was more often successful in calculating a route, and helped me find my way in.
3. The database of points of interest was useful if not complete. It did help me to find my way to some of the hotels.
4. Scrolling through the screens, looking at various data including elevation as well as distances and the map, provided some distraction when I needed it!

General:

I had too much stuff with me.

A lot of it was driven by the expectation of camping more than I did, and concern about cold. I get cold really easily. I also had a few last minute additions. For example, I couldn't decide whether to bring tights or leg warmers. I own knee warmers, not leg warmers, and wanted full length coverage, so I brought the tights. I tossed in the knee warmers, too, "just in case". I used the tights in the rain. I didn't use the knee warmers at all. I also had rain pants that I used only for off-bike wear in rainy weather. All in all, a few "just in case" items added up. Next trip, I need to be a little less concerned about extremes, and to ignore the "just in case" options.

I was glad to have the cooking equipment including the mini Trangia stove, even though I didn't use it often, and would bring it again.

I also had quite a bit of weight in tools. The little Topeak Mini Ratchet is the tool I used most frequently, and I highly recommend it. I made sure I had the torx drivers I needed, and it made a nearly complete tool kit. I had extra hex wrenches that I didn't use at all. I also had a small adjustable wrench I used only when assembling the bike in Stockholm (to adjust the rear rack), and a pair of needlenose pliers I thought I needed to disconnect the dyno hub. The connection loosened over time, so I could pull it off with my fingers, so I didn't need the pliers. I didn't use the spare spokes or spoke wrench, the Rohloff oil change kit or spare belt. Since I didn't have any mechanical problems, it's hard to say what may have really been useful in an emergency. My pump, a Lezyne Micro Floor Drive, worked well and I was able to get the tires up to reasonable pressure.